It is worthy immediately of two accolades – the best India-England series ever and the best five-match series ever involving India, says Partab Ramchand. The just concluded India-England Test series was riveting, engrossing and enthralling – this was Test cricket at its classic best and the game’s traditional format could not have asked for a better advertisement, he says, and goes on to describe how riveting the series was
It’s worthy immediately of two accolades – the best India-England series ever and the best five-match series ever involving India. Yes, the just concluded India-England Test series was riveting, engrossing and enthralling. Indeed, any adjective will fall short while describing the high quality cricket witnessed, the swinging of the pendulum this way and that throughout the five Tests and the end result – two matches all – was a fitting end to a contest between two evenly matched sides.
A victory – or loss – for either side would not have been a just result. Yes, this was Test cricket at its classic best. The game’s traditional format could not have asked for a better advertisement. India might claim a moral victory as it is never easy to draw, let alone win a series in England and Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. In fact, this is only the third time in 20 contests dating back to the inaugural one-off Test played in 1932 that India are drawing a series in England. They have won three in 1971, 1986 and 2007 but lost the remaining 14. Also, it was a young team just commencing a period of transition following the retirement in quick succession of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin. To that extent, besides putting up a great show, Shubman Gill and his men have given the distinct impression of being a potentially great team whose peak could be in the near future.
The series produced heroes aplenty and if the stats favour the batsmen, there were times when bowlers too called the shots. Simply put, there was much classy batting and lion-hearted bowling. The sight of Gill playing one ethereal cover drive after another and Mohammed Siraj coming up with one lethal delivery after another was manna from heaven for the cricket connoisseur. But then Gill and Siraj were only the leaders of a band of cricketers who performed heroic feats more than once. They would be the first to acknowledge the help they received from others like Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, K.L. Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Prasidh Krishna, Akashdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah. Indeed, all the Indian players contributed in no small measure to the ultimate result.
Of course, the noteworthy part played by the England players in the series cannot be overemphasised. Their by-now well-established Bazball approach was seen at its glorious best in the first Test which they won by chasing down 373 in quick time for the loss of only five wickets. In the second Test, they continued with this approach even as they were at the receiving end and, in a series which saw several purple phases, perhaps there was no better entertainment when Jamie Smith and Harry Brook in a rearguard action shared a sixth wicket partnership of 303 runs in just over 60 overs, with the first session on the third day producing 172 runs. All this after they came together, with England 84 for five in reply to India’s 587.
There was really no let-up while continuing with Bazball despite the loss in the second Test and by the time the fourth Test drew to a close, England were in a position from which they could not lose the series. But this was also the time when India achieved their most heroic feat of a contest that saw so much heroism. Being 311 runs in arrears and losing two wickets without a run on the board the second time around was a clear losing situation. But displaying remarkable resilience over five sessions, India came out with an honourable draw by comfortably drawing the game and giving themselves a chance to square the series which they did at the Oval.
If Gill was a joy to watch, no less sublime was Joe Root who went past Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis on his way to chasing Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record aggregate in Tests. Runs, including three hundreds, flowed mellifluously from his bat but then he was not alone, as Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Ben Stokes all contributed to the mountain of runs England piled up. The bowling, with the exception of Stokes and Josh Tongue, generally came a cropper against the Indian run-machine but the batting helped England hold their own.
Both sides had their share of injuries which robbed them of key players at crucial junctures. Pant was injured in the fourth Test and, though he gamely carried on for some time, missed the decider. Bumrah and Akash Deep were restricted to three Tests and this weakened the pace attack considerably. England for their part could not call upon Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer till late in the series while Ben Stokes had to miss the all-important final Test through injury. But perhaps the most vital was the shoulder injury to Chris Woakes early in the final Test. Indeed the sight of Woakes all bandaged up slowly walking to the crease during the final minutes of the Test provided a theatrical end to a truly dramatic contest.
(The writer is a veteran sports writer who spent his career working for The Indian Express and The Telegraph and Sportsworld. He lives in Chennai.)
from Webdoux