They are 17 turning 18, and with each passing day the sound of music in the India camp is getting sweeter. At least the seasoned members of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s squad know the pain of home defeat and losing a Test series again.
It’s been fifteen matches and the last home test series loss by the Indian team was against England in 2012 and hasn’t lost a series thereafter, an amazing record. Even the opposition teams knows that they are really fighting a losing battle.
Few days back, in each of the interactions that the Bangladeshi players or support staff had with media, the mantra was: “Yes, we won in Pakistan, but this is a very different Team India.’”
Rohit is keen to book a spot in the World Test Championship Final without having to travel to Australia and has already achieved the first part of the objective after winning Bangladesh by 280 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
The striking realization is not only the width of the victory but the feeling of a home team winning. It looks like they want to make it even harder on themselves so that by the time the team faces Australia, they will have all been properly tested.
In Chennai, they did not take to the field on their preferred black-soil pitch where the best spin trident was available. A red-soil pitch with reasonable bounce appeared as a good rehearsal for Australia and after getting downtrodden to 144/6, the contribution of the two bowling all-rounders Ashwin and Jadeja underlined the batting depth of India once again.
There was hardly any stone turned in Chennai apart from two consecutive low scores from twin Indian batting superstars Virat Kohli and Rohit. Luckily, all the others scored and the five bowlers did what was well within expectations.
“It was a great result, considering the chances that lie ahead. We were playing after a long time and though it was hard, we were able to touch the game. It was important that we function as a unit and that’s what happened here as we got the win,” said Rohit.
For now, there is hardly a grey area to bother oneself about and it will be more exciting to what India’s gameplan will be for the Kanpur Test starting Friday. It is a bit of a school of thought that Jasprit Bumrahs workload should be managed properly before the tour to Australia but he has bowled a mere 21 overs in the first Test and there is no cause to preserve him in Kanpur.
Will Kuldeep be given a chance?
In case, it is a black-soil pitch at the Green Park, which means a left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav should be given a go. He was in world class form in the last test series when Indians were playing against England in India and can be an X factor in Australia. If in the case that there’s a possibility of the ball spinning a little bit, the throater has to be a reasonable option in place of Akash Deep.
Not that there’s any justification to rotate the Bengal pacer. He picked two key wickets in the first inning and was growing well with the new ball but the Indian team management must see to it that they manage to hold the spirited chinaman in high spirits.
