The longest format of the game brings out certain subtleties to the fore that may not be on display in limited-over cricket. We saw glimpses of it with KL Rahul’s technical efficiency on Day 4 of the Duleep Trophy encounter between India A and India B.
Just zoom your lenses on the 31st over of the second session. The first ball was angled in from round the wicket by the left-arm pace bowler, Yash Dayal. Rahul duly loaded up his back foot, then pressed and released it. Subsequently, the front foot covered the off-stump and he showed the bat-maker’s name to the bowler. That was copybook front foot defence on display.
On a track offering some seam movement and low bounce, the next delivery straightened a wee bit after pitching. As Rahul was committed to playing the initial inward angle, he looked set to be beaten. However, at the ‘nth’ moment, Rahul held his bat inside the line. At most, the bowler had won a consolation prize in the duel.
In a few minutes, there was something else to observe: Rahul seemed to be doing a bit of gardening just outside the pitch with his bat. He also nodded his head a couple of times before continuing his innings. Perhaps, he was telling himself to refocus after facing a testing over from Navdeep Saini, where he had negotiated a sharp lifter.
Having showered praises on Rahul, one couldn’t help but wonder whether he has fulfilled his potential, as he made his way back to the hut after losing his wicket to Mukesh Kumar. Despite notching up a couple of tons on tough decks at Centurion and Lord’s in 2021, Rahul averages a tick over 34 after playing 50 Tests. At 32, he isn’t getting any younger either. Hopefully, we would get to see Rahul at his very best in the upcoming home season and the Test series Down Under.
The last day’s play was also about Akash Deep, the Bengal seamer. Right from ball 1 of his spell, he made his opponents play. Akash also invariably hits the seam with a straight-seam grip. So, he is bound to extract consistent movement off the deck. And with the final day’s pitch having some indentations, alongside patches of grass, Akash used it to his advantage and ran through the batting order. Later on, Akash also enjoyed his time with the bat, landing some lusty blows.
So, what were Akash’s favourite scalps from the match? The seamer picked the wickets of Nitish Reddy in the first innings and Washington Sundar in the second dig as his two finest moments from the game. This is what Akash had to say about how he outsmarted the left-handed batter in the presser: “I had bowled a lot to Washington Sundar in the nets at the NCA. I had bowled a lot from round the wicket. So, I thought I would try something different. And I came from over the wicket and got his wicket.”
The bigger question still remains to be answered: Should Akash get the chance to play in the home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand, and more importantly, Down Under? He certainly has the attributes for the two different climes. At home, Akash’s skiddy style of bowling, and his ability to target the stumps could prove to be useful. In Australia, if Akash plays in the XI, he might have to shift his line slightly as a first-change bowler. But as he is a hit-the-seam bowler and repeatedly gets the ball to hasten off the deck, he could be a useful bowling option in Australia too.
Returning to the Duleep Trophy game, the efforts of Akash and Rahul went in vain. It was the precociously talented Musheer Khan who took all the headlines with a stunning innings of 181 in the first dig, which turned out to be the difference between the two sides.