An incredible victory

That India would defeat Bangladesh was more or less a given. The series suddenly found traction because of Bangladesh’s performance in Pakistan. It gained steam on the first day at Chennai after they claimed 6 wickets for a meagre amount of runs. Bangladesh has finally arrived at the international stage. That is what everyone thought but Inia proved that they have a long way to go. What made the victory sweet was the attitude shown by the Indian team in the 2^nd Test at Kanpur. That is heartwarming for any Indian supporter who was born in the 1970s or 1980s. India of that period would not even have thought of winning a game that was seemed destined to draw. It was an incredible victory. There is no doubt about that.

Gains for India

First and foremost, was the positive attitude. Granted that it was only Bangladesh. With 2.5 days lost to rain, the game was to end in a draw. It required India to show that side of their game that was hitherto unknown. The India before 2010, would have safely settled for a draw. They would have thought that with a large part of the game lost to rain, it is better to get some batting practice and prepare for tougher series against New Zealand and Australia.

However, under Rohit Sharma, that thinking has moved aside and now, the team is playing as positively as they could. Rohit himself is leading that charge from the top. Against Bangladesh, you can try this sort of a plan. Score a breakneck speed and hope to bowl them out cheaply the second time around. It remains to be seen whether India will follow similar flexibility against better sides but on this day, this was refreshing.

Rohit said

“We had to think a lot [about] how the game can keep moving forward once we lost two-and-a-half days,” Rohit said after India wrapped up a seven-wicket win on the fifth day. “When we came on day four, we thought, okay, let’s try and get them out as quickly as possible and then see with the bat what we can do. Once they had got 230-odd, we said it was not about the runs we get but it was about the overs we wanted to bowl at them. It meant we had to try and up the run-rate and score as many as possible because the pitch did not have much for the bowlers.”

Second, is the bowling attack

Mohammed Shami is still missing and it is doubtful whether he will travel to Australia with the latest injury but Jasprit Bumrah, ably assisted by Siraj and Akash, elevated the bowling to greater heights. Akash especially, was quite impressive. Needless to say that he has already booked a spot in the Australia bound squad. Infact, if he can get a lot more wickets against New Zealand, he could even replace Siraj in the eleven though with the expected absence of Shami, both will feature in the playing eleven at Perth.

Bumrah seems to pick up a wicket whenever he runs into bowl. The impact that he has had on the minds of the batsmen worldover, is what makes him get wickets. Ofcourse, as his wont, he bowled some magical deliveries. It is an art whenever he gets a wicket either bowled or caught at the slips. India need the best of Bumrah in Australia. I do not think that he has another tour of Australia in him and hence, Bumrah will want to make a lasting impression.

The spinners

Ashwin picks up wickets as and when he wants. He is an absolute champion when bowling in favourable conditions. In this series, however, he showed the beauty of his batting. I have been a staunch advocate of Ashwin the batsman. Let us remember that he started his career as an opening batsman and later, became an off-spinner, ably assisted by Aniruddha Srikkanth, D. Vasu and others. He has mentioned written about this in his book, I Have The Streets. During the middle phase of his career, he completely forgot how to bat which showed in the average which came down to 27 from 35. It resulted in him losing the spot outside of India. More than what he could do with the ball, the perceived what he couldn’t do with the bat, weighed heavily on the minds of the team management under Kohli and Shastri.

The hundred at Chepauk, showed the true qualities of his batting. At the age of 38, It probably is too late for him to realise his batting prowess but if he could make his batting count in the remaining couple of years, he would have done well. He has equalled Dhoni interms of number of hundreds shows his capability as a batsman.

As for Jadeja, it is vital that he contributes with the bat. In Australia, his batting will be vital in the 5 bowlers theory. Off late, his returns have not been eye-catching. He is not expected to take a lot of wickets in Australia and will have to make amends with the bat in hand.

Gill and Jaiswal

Gill is an enigma. He seems to be fond of scoring runs in the 2^nd innings but his inconsistency is worrying. No one is sure that Gill will score runs. It is time he corrects his anomaly. As for Jaiswal, he is off to a good start in his career but on the 1^st morning, he got out to a short ball. Cummins and company, would have watched that with glee. If he is having a shortball problem, word will spread easily at the highest level and the sooner.

Wrapping up an incredible victory

There is no doubt that it was an incredible victory. India needs to sustain this for the next 6 months to become only the 2^nd team in history to win 3 consecutive series in Australia.

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