Against all odds: India’s historic Test series win

It is natural to draw comparisons in the immediate flush of delight and enthusiasm, and so it’s hardly surprising that some are hailing the Australian Indian Test series as the greatest ever. ‘Natural’, as I say, but it’s also, pointless – how do you begin to measure it against the 2005 Ashes or the Australia-West Indies series which began with a tied Test in Brisbane almost sixty years ago? Nevertheless, if the series was not the greatest, it must be judged as one of the most remarkable.

Consider: India lost the first Test, being bowled out for a miserable score of 36 in their second innings. They had arrived in Australia without some of their best bowlers and in the match, would lose another, Mohammed Abbas, to injury. Then, their captain and finest batsman, Virat Kohli, left the tour to return home for his first child’s birth. In spite of this, India won the second Test, thanks to a fine century by their stand-in captain Ajinkja Rahane, and remarkably drew the third. Two injured batsmen defied the Australian attack in the last leg,  even though one of them was unable to hobble a single. “Can’t wait to get you at the Gabba,” sniped Australia’s captain and wicketkeeper Tim Paine. The Gabba is the feared Brisbane ground where Australia haven’t lost a Test match since 1988.

Yet, when they reached Brisbane, Ashwin wasn’t fit to play. Neither was his fellow spinner, Jadeja. Nor were any of their first-choice pace bowlers. Remarkably only two of the Indian side that started the series were available and fit for the last round: Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, the number 3 batsman, a veteran of 81 Tests. All the others were youngsters; some brought to Australia as net-bowlers. Few of us outside India had ever heard of them. Meanwhile, Australia, at home and in full strength, fielded an attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, and Nathan Lyon, three fast bowlers and an off-spinner with more than a thousand Test wickets between them. If ever the odds were heavily tilted in favour of one side in a Test, this was one such occasion.

Australia batted first and made 369, with a century from Marnus Labuschagne. Then, they reduced India to 186 for 6, with the New Ball due in another dozen overs. Again, two young Indians, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur – whom few knew anything of – held firm, putting on more than a hundred. India reached 336 – still in the game. Australia scored 294 in their second innings, with the unheralded young Mohammed Siraj taking 5 for 73. India was set 329 to win. They lost an early wicket and the rain set in, ending the fourth day’s play. One thought, this could give them an outside chance of a draw.

The first part of the last day was irritating for Australia, with a partnership of 114 between young Shubman Gill, playing his first Test series and the experienced Pujara. Gill batted beautifully to score 91, while Pujara – ah Pujara! He is no dasher, Pujara, not a man for T20 and the IPL. To cast you back in time, he is more Boycott than Botham, John Edrich than Kevin Pieterson. India’s batting coach, the great Rahul Dravid, used to be known as “The Wall” (though a very elegant and stylish Wall). In Brisbane, Pujara was himself a wall (but a battered and bombarded Wall). He was hit on the helmet three times: he was hit on the chest, on the arm, on the fingers – accepting it all stoically. Nobody ever said a Test cricket game was for the faint-hearted. Pujara put India in a position from which the match might be saved; a draw would enable India to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

But though India was not even half-way to the winning score when Gill was out, they weren’t ready to settle for the draw. The captain, Rahane, made 24 from 22 balls, and, when he was out, Pujara was joined by the young wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant – they were just over half-way to victory.

Now Pant, unlike Pujara, really is a player formed in the white ball version of cricket. A couple of years ago in England, he played some sparkling stuff. But now, aged twenty-three, he played an innings of sparkling maturity. There were some T20 shots, but the fact he never went wild, was indeed judicious. The figures prove it. Pant batted for three hours to make 89 not out, off 138 balls, a strike-rate of 64.49. Cummins had ended Pujara’s vigil with the new ball at 228, India still needing 101 to win. Pant, with a bit of help from Washington Sundar, saw them home. The Australian coach, Justin Langer, generously and fairly compared Pant’s innings to Ben Stokes’s extraordinary one at Headingly in 2019. You might say that once more, Australia had let a match they should have won slip out of their grasp, or perhaps, it would be fairer to say the victory had been torn away from them.

One of my first memories of Indian cricket dates from the First Test at Headingly in 1952, when in their second innings they lost their first four wickets before they had scored a run. Three of them went to Fred Trueman, making his Test debut – he terrified the Indians that summer. At Old Trafford, he took 8 for 31 – it was not surprising. They had never encountered anyone as fast as the young Fred. For years there were no truly fast bowlers in India, so batsmen had little experience of facing pace. There were always great Indian batsmen and great Indian spinners, but their opening bowlers were rarely more than military-medium – now things are different. They have a host of fast and fast-medium bowlers; with the spinners, they have an all-purpose attack, fit for any conditions and opposition. Jasprit Bumrah, who broke down injured in the Third Test against Australia, has already in fewer than twenty matches taken 79 wickets at an average of 21. Despite his ready smile, he’s as nasty a proposition for any a batsman as England’s Jofra Archer, even Australia’s Pat Cummins cricket is to India what football is to England.

Enthusiasm is enormous, and so are the rewards for young stars, fame and fortune await them. Talented youngsters are quickly spotted, recruited, coached, supported. Many of course, fall by the wayside – just as is the case with football here. Many youngsters are chosen, but few become the cream that rises to the top.

England now goes to India for four Test matches – it has always been a challenge going there. There was a time when some of the best opted out of trips to India, and even further back when the MCC sent below-strength sides to the sub-continent. Now we can see that Joe Root’s team are facing a challenge that is every bit as tough as an Ashes tour.

In the meantime, while India celebrates, Australia scratches its collective head. They have lost a home series that they should have won and their batting was far too reliant on Labuschagne and Steve Smith, their bowling on Cummins and Hazelwood. Nathan Lyon, their number one, often only, spinner for years, had a dismal series: 9 wickets at more than 50 runs each. No young player has quite broken through. There are also questions about their captain, Tim Paine and his form behind the stumps.

Still, no counting unhatched chickens – it’s almost a year to the Ashes. Who knows what state either side will be in by December? Today is the time for celebrating India. While doing so, we should admit that the pleasure taken in seeing Australia lose is a part-tribute to the quality and formidable nature of Australian cricket over the years – nay – over the generations.