What an amazing Test series we witnessed between two brilliant teams. India take it 4-1, and learnings for England as they move forward to next summer. But first, a word about the venue for the fifth and last Test. Dharamsala. What an amazing ground it is. I tried to go to Dharamshala with an open mind, in terms of what to expect, and it is only when you reach the ground you realize how gorgeous the setting is. It is a bit like going to the Taj Mahal in Agra.
HPCA stadium is as incredible as the Taj Mahal experience. This was an amazing choice as a venue to hold the last Test match. England surrendered themselves after winning the toss. They were at 100 for 1 on the cusp of lunch and then Ollie Pope ran down the pitch, unexplainably, and the game sort of started to move towards India. That was the moment Kuldeep Yadav went into overdrive, and effectively the contest was over. India, throughout the series, have not let their position of strength go. That was the hallmark of their cricket in this series. India took advantage of England’s poor batting
performances.
One of the major differences between the two sides in the last game and the series was how seniors played. Indian seniors excelled in this series, taking the team out of trouble and inspiring the youngsters in the process. England did not do that. I know that, inevitably, the major talk has been around India’s five debutants, four out of which did well. It also reflected the strength, depth, and bench strength in Indian cricket which I fully agree with. However, these youngsters’ jobs became easier when they had senior players setting the game up nicely. No better evidence of that than in the third Test in which Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja came together when they were 30 for 3. It massively helped debutant Sarfaraz Khan, who got pushed to number 6, and came in when there were 300 on the board.
Bumrah’s spell in the second Test changed the course of the game. Rohit, Jadeja, and Ashwin’s form along with Kuldeep coming forward, India seniors rose to the occasion. Compare this to England seniors: Jonny Bairstow struggled, Root was not consistently among runs, Ben Stokes did not get runs. The middle-order which England hoped would fire didn’t fire at all. In my view, this was a big reason why the outcome of the series was 4-1.
Devdutt Padikkal, I thought, was terrific. His performance was much deeper than just the half-century in his first Test innings. When Padikkal came in, he was facing Ben Stokes and James Anderson were bowling and the ball was beginning to reverse. That was the only time in the match when they got the ball to move laterally. Padikkal had to work himself through this tough period in the game. He did not give Stokes and Anderson, who had just picked wickets, any way to get another. That really bodes well for Padikkal, not just the runs he scored but the fact that he scored at that point in time when England briefly went on top. For Padikkal, this innings and how he constructed it would be a big takeaway from the game. It would not just be the half-century but making it when the going got tough.
The future for India looks great. Four out of five debutants grabbed their chances and played beautifully. A word on Yashasvi Jaiswal, who I feel is no longer the star-in-the-making but a real star already. At 22 years of age, his best years are yet to come. What a series he had, scoring over 700 runs. He does not seem to be a player to me who will ruin his form. What I like about Jaiswal more than his technique or his six-hitting ability is that when he starts the innings, he is respectful to the opponents and gives himself a chance to get in. He assesses conditions and then he goes big. That is not an easy mindset to adopt when you keep on piling up hundreds and double hundreds. When you are scoring runs like this, you can fall into the trap of starting your innings the same way you finished the last one and here, you get into trouble. I have been hugely
impressed with how he has gone about his work in this series.
Rohit has flourished as captain, both on and off the field. His role changed a little bit as captain in this series with some senior players missing and an influx of young debutants. He has empathy for the players. One could see Rohit’s support and encouragement for them along with Rahul Dravid, who is an outstanding coach. They have given them an environment where they can go and shine.
Kuldeep was one of the stars of the tournament. You don’t very often see a spinner picking up a five-wicket haul on the first morning-afternoon of the Test match. That was a brilliant display of spin bowling in those conditions. His control over his variations is something that makes him hard to play. He barely gives you a ball to hit these days. He is at you all the time, therefore building pressure. It helps the captain to be aggressive and put players around the batter. He fully deserved the player of the match award in Dharamshala.
What more can be said about Ashwin? Nine wickets in his 100th Test match was a reflection of his genius. He is a professor of his game, and I love watching him speak as much as I love watching him bowl. He understands why he is so good, and he can translate his thoughts into action beautifully. He is not complicated in his head and simplifies the game. There is no better bowler than him with the second new ball in Indian conditions.
England suffered from a lack of substantial runs really in Dharamshala but also throughout the series. Zak Crawley showed good signs and development with the way he played spin and looked much more measured against the turning ball. He will be one of the top players in Test cricket in years to come. His game has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 12 months or so. But despite him being good, England struggled because their middle-order crumbled consistently. Root showed some form, but he didn’t score as consistently as required and that is a big reason why the series was lost.
Bairstow played several cameos but there was only a single innings of substance. England were looking for style and substance. There was a lot of style at times, but not enough substance. England just never had enough runs to work with. I think the one area that they will look at is identifying match situations a bit better. I feel, at times, some of the England batters go in with a pre-conceived idea of what’s going to happen rather than seeing what is happening. The pre-conceived idea of how they might play rather than playing the ball on its merit. Sometimes, doing this, you outthink yourselves.
I have no issues with how England approaches the game. I fully recommend they continue
playing in the manner they are. Inevitably, there will be an odd change here or there. Selections will be discussed going into next summer. But in terms of approach, it should be more of the same. However, a bit of refining needs to be done. Someone like Ben Duckett can add a layer on top of this approach, not distracting from how he wants to play but it is also important to understand the match situation and having the technique to deal with it. Batting defensively against spin is that layer and adding that will only refine this approach that he currently plays with. He is a very fine player, and he should continue to sweep and reverse-sweep but adding a
layer of defensive technique will do so much.
I will finish off by talking about James Anderson. 700 Test wickets and counting and what an extraordinary achievement that is. When he started out, he was one of the best fast bowling talents, and when he finishes, he will retire as one of the greatest bowlers the game has seen.
Having said that, I feel his 187 Test matches are as incredible a number as 700 wickets. Both numbers reflect his skills and fitness levels. At 41, he looks the same as he did in 2002 when he started out in international cricket. I hope he continues to play a little longer because you still see that desire in him on the field. You watch him run on the field to save a single and work hard for the team when the chips are down, you see the enthusiasm and hunger for this game.
To sum it all up, I feel that India is an awesome side at home whether with the full-strength side or not. It was fitting that the last game was played in the foothills of the Himalayas. It was a metaphor of sorts for England as for them the summit was too high and unreachable in the end. Taking the learnings back home, they can always return for another hike next time, hopefully, to finally conquer it.
