India - Australia Test Series 2020 - 2021

 

The Audacity Of Youth Script A Fairytale Month For Indian Cricket!

By - Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)

 

Self-belief and the fearless spirit of a lionhearted young brigade who were unafraid to go after the impossible, scripts one of India’s proudest overseas series wins ever. This is as inspiring a blood, sweat and tears story, as one can get. A heartwarming story of the confluence of many young aspirations, that is fuelled by passion, sacrifices, toil, determination, perseverance all of which ultimately creating an epic of unprecedented success. It underscores the timeless wisdom of that old saying - "Where there is a will, there is a way."

It is the heroics involved in carving out impossible victories such as this one, that stuff legends are made of. Who would have ever thought in their wildest dreams after being down in the dumps on 19 December 2020, when India lost it’s first day-night Test at Adelaide on being bundled out for a humiliating 36 runs in the second innings which was the lowest ever test innings score by any Indian team ever. That a hastily cobbled together third-string team would exactly a month later on the same tour on 19 January 2021 chase down 328 runs on a treacherous, cracked, and wearing fifth-day pitch. They were facing arguably the best test pace attack in the world currently, and to tame the full-strength Aussies at their impregnable Fortress Gabba,  where they had remained undefeated for 33 years from 1988 for 31 consecutive tests. This splendid effort, allowed them to proudly retain the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy by winning the series convincingly by a 2-1 margin.  I am positive absolutely no one would have ever hazarded an ending like this. Not even the wildest fantasy script-writers of Bollywood  potboilers would have thought of such an incredible story. However, for me, it almost felt like real-life mimicking the victorious end of the Hindi film classic “Lagaan”.

For this final Brisbane test of this series, India ravaged by injuries and absences were without the services of 6 of it’s first-choice players including Captain Virat Kohli. The bowling attack had the experienced Bhuvaneshwar, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Ashwin, and Jadeja all ruled out because of crippling niggles sustained in earlier games. That meant India was forced to dig deep and blood their net-bowlers and muster a third-string team by enlisting from the remaining uninjured members of their touring party. The morning of 15 January the opening day of the test saw two debutants and the newest test cap number 301 being handed out to Washington Sundar.  The improbable playing 11 on the Captain’s list at the toss, was brimming with debutants and newcomers which included these 8 unfamiliar names - Natarajan, Washington, Siraj, Saini, Shardul, Mayank, Pant, and Gill. The rookie bowling attack had a cumulative test experience of only 4 tests among the 5 of them. These raw youngsters who are hungry for success, when they got their lucky, and unexpected call-up to don the India colours on the big stage, grabbed the opportunity with both hands and put on a performance that will be cherished for a long time. They made their selection count and created an unfamiliar, uncommon and unseen, magic with their unmistakable flair and uninhibited flamboyance.

 After a rollercoaster five days of absorbing and often times grueling test cricket at its best, we have this new and glorious page of cricketing folklore scripted by the audacity of this crop of Indian youth, whose love and passion for this glorious game of uncertainties overcame the impossible odds to fashion a most unforgettable and incredible series win Down Under.

What is heartwarming is the fact that this new young and fearless breed of cricketers, most of whom come from very modest backgrounds, backed themselves to dream big, and their hard work, dedication, passion and discipline won the day for India and made their childhood dreams come true. Cricket is a religion in India and this new set of small-town boys who did us proud today come from the length and breadth of our motherland from as far as Chandigarh in the north to Chennai in the south. They represented many different states like Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Telangana. Their achievement today underlined cricket as a team sport, and when it mattered most, each one of these young guns put their hand up and contributed in their own different ways to fashion this most famous away test win.

All of these amazing 20 somethings have inspiring little stories to tell us all, about their own individual triumphs over adversity. Be it the boy from Fazilka whose family moved to Chandigarh for the sake of the son’s cricket - Gill who laid the foundation with a solid 91 as an opener on a fifth-day pitch, the hardworking bowler Saini from Karnal who was batting at the winning moment, our debutant Natarajan from Chinnappampaty who took 3 wickets including dismissing the dangerous centurion Labuschagne, the indomitable Shardul who commutes 170 km by local trains on his daily round trips from Palghar for his love of cricket, who was the top scorer in the first innings with 67 and took 7 wickets in this match, the other debutant Washington from Santhome in Chennai, who took 4 wickets and scored a half-century on debut 62 to be precise, and stitched together that crucial 123 runs 7^th wicket partnership with Shardul, that reduced the first-innings deficit, the braveheart spearhead of the pace attack Nampally boy Siraj, not picked for the first test, but later emerged as the leading wicket-taker for India in the series, who did not let even the death of his father in these Covid times, come in the way of performing his greater national duty, and knocked the stuffing out of the Aussies with a 5 for 73 in the second innings to set up a chaseable 328 target and finally the Uttarakhand lad from Roorkee Pant, who relocated to Delhi to chase his cricketing dreams, he was the Man of The Match today for anchoring the innings and scoring a brisk 89 runs that included the winning boundary, in our third highest run-chase.

To set up what happened today one must also not forget the invaluable contributions of Ajinkya Rahane’s astute undefeated captaincy. He kick-started this turnaround with a masterly Captain’s century which won us the Melbourne test. This was followed by the bravery of Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari who both, resolutely withstood a barrage of body blows for over 30 overs to ensure a draw in the Sydney Test. Finally, the contribution of rock-solid Cheteshwar Pujara who stoically took a battering and fought through pain and the Aussie aggression to score 56 precious runs in 211 balls today. He had also single-handedly taken care of 928 balls or batted for over 154 overs in this series.

The BCCI deserves to be complimented for their vision, meticulous planning, and forward-thinking in encouraging cricket so meaningfully over the past decade, with their robust and popular IPL, A-Tours and U-19 cricket program. They have thoughtfully created cricket infrastructure, including bowler-friendly pitches and grassy outfields which encourage diving while fielding, all around the country at the district-level. They also aggressively followed early talent-identification at the school and college-level which nurtures talent at the grassroots. Their patience and investment in these initiatives, has now started paying dividends as they have set up an efficient assembly line of batsmen and bowlers who can be moulded for the big time. Let us not forget that 'Cricket' is big business in the sub-continent, and BCCI is the richest and most powerful cricketing body on the planet. It is no small wonder then, that they are the owners of the best franchise cricket brand IPL. The NCA under the watchful guidance of Rahul Dravid has groomed this whole new breed of win-hungry cricketers who are confident and believe in themselves. The most encouraging development is having created an efficient production-line of bowlers who are capable of taking 20 wickets and bowling the opposition out twice on any kind of surface anywhere in the world. For us cricket-lovers, it is heartening to know that Indian Cricket is alive and kicking, with such a remarkable bench strength, and they are charting a new upcurve to emerge as dominant world-beaters anywhere they play. I am positive our cricket-crazy nation will have a lot to rejoice in the coming years with this embarrassment of riches, that we now proudly possess in terms of genuine cricketing talent. Today is a day to celebrate this new dawn in our cricket and our Prime Minister is leading the nation in congratulating our victorious team.

The mentally tough youngsters get fresh energy to the field and they also think differently and therefore get us these new bewildering results. Their familiarity and comfort with all the three different formats has allowed for a merging of the formats even in Test matches. Today’s generation of cricketers can easily switch modes, and change gears according to the development of a situation. As we witnessed today towards the end the T20 instincts took over the game and scoring 8 to 10 runs an over with the new ball which was unthinkable in the bygone days was easily achieved.

What we were all privileged to witness in this tour Down Under by the spirited young Indian Cricket Team, that was written-off after the Adelaide debacle and subsequent departure of Captain Kohli, by most pundits of the game, is one of the greatest sporting comebacks ever, in any sport.

Well Done Team India! Beating the mighty Australian cricket team in Australia is a feat any visiting team will be proud of, and this young, inexperienced Indian side eviably just did that, and that too in great style. Their fearless guts to glory saga has justifiably won many hearts in the cricketing fraternity. We as a nation are so proud of you all! We wish each of you the very best for all your forthcoming endeavours! God bless!