A high profile test series ends with a lot to ponder upon, discuss & conclude. It was just not a test series between two competitive teams, but there was “World Test Championship” finalist spot stake. Three teams, other than the black-caps were fighting for their spot in finals – India, England & Australia. Aussies were watching this series with more attention than England & perhaps for the first time,Australia was supporting England - their arch rivals, after the third test of the series.
This was an iconic series of players milestones, history created, new records formed, stunning performances, some strategically blunders, but wait – don’t assume that it’s only about players. In this test series, along with players - stadiums, pitch, ball, social media & ex-english cricketers were in the limelight. This series was as high profile as good as - Ashes for England & Australia, although kangaroos were not playing in it.
The final scoreline 3-1, in favor of team india, does not tells the complete story. The series was not a cakewalk for team india. It was not an one sided affair by any means & there were quite a few key moments & unrevealed stories for such result. Let’s take a detailed review about this series.
ENGLAND - DREAM START TO SERIES
England had a dream start to the series, in the first test at Chennai. Visitors won the toss, elected to bat & post a huge score, really a big one – 578 in first innings. It’s always going to be a herculean task for hosts to match-up. While chasing this monstrous score, hosts failed badly in their second innings & english team had a winning start to the series. Courtesy of skipper – “Joe Root(218)”, who score a double ton in the opening game of the series & his dominance with the bat in india, against india continues. Furthermore, “Dom Sibley (87) & Ben Stokes (82)” also made some major contributions. But, the master stroke from english team was – “Dom Bess”, who ran through the defenses of the ace indian batsmen. Summary of the match - visitors outplayed the hosts in all departments of the game. England leads the series 1-0 & it felt like, this time we might see a major upset.
ENGLAND - MESSED UP COMPLETELY
Although, english team won the first match but their rotation policy & the kind of choices made after that, asks a lot of questions. The choices looked impulsive & unjustified, like – Joss Buttler returned & england dropped their trump card - Dom Bess after first match. Broad & Anderson are not in playing eleven – together, until the last match. Too many changes in second test. Now, Moeen Ali joins the team, performed brilliantly with the bat & ball, but he is out from the next match. Too much of chopping & changing and the rotation policy puts the english team in complete mess. Eventually, wrong choices & inability of english team to handle their players properly, cost them a series which resulted in eviction from “World Test Championship”.
ROHIT SHARMA - THE GAME CHANGER
The sublime form of Rohit Sharma with the bat,especially his defining knock of (161) in the second test - as said by indian skipper - Virat Kohli, was the turning point of the series for me. It was a tricky pitch & batsmen were required to adapt to the situation, but almost every batsmen failed. On a tricky surface, where all the batsmen were fighting hard for their survival, this player was playing his shots at his will & dominating the bowlers. It was this daddy hundred from hitman, which turned the tide in team india’s favor & helped them to bounce back with a win to square the series.
Furthermore, Rohit contributed with his bat, in every match, every inning & helped the team not only with his crucial contribution with the bat(66 & 49), but more importantly in seeing through the difficult sessions & tough situations. He is truly a game changer & series impact player.
A QUIET SERIES FOR INDIAN BATSMEN - PUJARA,VIRAT & RAHANE
Team India may have won the test series, convincingly. But, there is a concern in the batting order for the hosts. Whether we talk about, the new wall of team india in test cricket - "Cheteshwar Pujara" or dependable "Ajinkya Rahane" - both had a very average series with the bat,only one half century to their name. Story doesn't change too much, when we see the scores of indian skipper "Virat Kohli - as batsman", in four tests, only couple of half-centuries. We understand, in such tight series even the small contributions are like a gold dust, but looking at the "World Test Championship", indian batsmen need to pull up their socks. One rarest of the series, where indian batsmen & their bat was silent.
THIRD TEST HEADLINES – PINK BALL, PITCH, STADIUM & TWITTER
The third pink ball test in india, that too at an iconic stadium – the largest stadium of the world – “Narendra Modi Stadium”. It was buzzing like anything & everywhere, way before the match & when it started, it was something. Truly an iconic stadium with a capacity of 1,32,000 with all hi-tech facilities & what not. But later, the talk of the town was all about “Pink Ball & Pitch”.
Pink ball has it’s own dynamics & both, batsmen & bowlers were required to make some alterations in their respective approach of play as pink ball, skid through, it comes a bit faster on the bat & more. Indian spinners, made most of it – Extracted turn & bounce. We saw some square turners from them as well.
What came next – was highly unexpected. Few ex-cricketers like “Michael Vaughan, Kevin Peterson, Mark Waugh” rolled a critic war on twitter, concluding the pitch is not of test standards. But, the bottom line is, both the teams played on the same surface & nobody was talking about the game, batsman's inability to cope up with challenges.
Eventually, the mystery of pink ball & demons in the pitch theory, cost one more game to the visitors but the breaking news of the match was – Pink Ball, Pitch, Stadium & Twitter.
INDIAN SPIN-TWINS - CREATES HISTORY & RULED THE SERIES
It’s the indian spinners,who ruled the minds of the english batsmen & eventually conquered the series. From the second test, whether it was debutant Axar or spin maestro Ashwin, they were all over the english batsmen. England couldn’t find a way, to deal with indian spinners & it cost them a series. These two indian spinners picked 59 wickets in the series,that sums up the story.
Ravi Chandran Ashwin - Milestone of 400 Test Wickets achieved & 32 wickets in the series. More importantly, he is the second fastest to reach there, only in 77 tests - behind Muttiah Muralidharan.
Axar Patel - A dream debut for Axar Patel, became the first player in the history of the game to have four - fifers & 27 wickets in the debut series.
THE RESCUE FORCE OF TEAMINDIA - RISHABH-ASHWIN-SUNDAR
Whenever, team india find themselves in some difficult situation, one of the impact player from the lower order of team india, take them through. We’ve seen this, right from Australia & in this series against England also. In last three matches, hosts were finding themselves in tricky situations, as the top & middle order (except Rohit) didn't performed to the potential. But, in such tricky situations these three men or either of them turned the game on it’s head with their gritty, attacking & adventurous knocks – be it Sundar’s (85* & 96*), a century of Ashwin or Rishabh’s (91 & 101). This is what, makes this team a champion.
THE CONCLUSION
The series is dominated by team india, as expected after a first shocker. But, we need to take this into account that, in england’s team there was no support system for skipper “Joe Root”. Neither batsmen scoring consistently with Root to support him, nor there were any major contributions from lower order. On the top of everything, the rotation policy - added insult to injury.
Team india made the right calls, adapted to conditions little better & a major factor was, Rohit Sharma's consistency with the bat, giving good starts to team & lower order contributing in every single match. Bowlers too, did their job with perfection. All & all, it’s a complete team effort & hosts deserves to be victorious. "Glorious Team India - Victorious Team India !!"
Team India Decimated England By 3-1 in this series & confirmed their seat in the “Final of World Test Championship”. KUDOS !!!
Written By:- Saksham
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