Shamik Chakrabarty
Mohammed Siraj was rightly celebrated. It was a series that saw his rise from a cult hero to an icon. Befittingly, exhilaratingly, the fast bowler took the last wicket of the series decider — a pinpoint yorker that castled Gus Atkinson. From India’s point of view, it was the perfect denouement for a gripping drama that lasted six weeks.
In Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Siraj carried India’s attack on his back. But the team returning with a 2-2 scoreline was down to collective effort. New India kept stardust at arm’s length and revelled in being greater than the sum of its parts.
Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, doesn’t like the word transition. “I don’t see it like that because it’s still an Indian team,” he told reporters after the fourth Test. “This is the best 18 that is going to represent. It is only experience and inexperience. And that is how we see this.”
Gambhir is a master of keeping a stiff upper lip — unless Akash Deep is swinging his way to a Test half-century, tongue firmly ensconced in cheek. But the whole world knows how the Indian team went through the busy fingers of regeneration in the lead-up to the five-match series in England.
The wind of change started to blow in Australia with Ravichandran Ashwin’s mid-tour retirement. Then, the galacticos — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma — called time on their red-ball careers. Mohammed Shami wasn’t picked for the England series. Reputation no longer remained the currency for the Indian team selection. Current form mattered.
A few old hands were standing, players like KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja. Yes, Jasprit Bumrah, too, was there but his presence, with the precondition of playing just three Tests, had an asterisk attached to it. The batting group was raw. Suddenly, Rahul became a senior statesman with added responsibility. His first challenge was to get over the culture shock.
“Yes, it hit me when I joined the team,” Rahul told the host broadcaster at the end of the final Test. “I was here about two weeks earlier, playing for India A and it didn’t hit me back then. But once I joined the team and I looked around, and I didn’t have a Rohit, a Virat, an Ashwin.”
The 33-year-old, on his third tour to England, became the reference point for the youngsters. “That’s when it hit me that everyone else is looking at me, coming to me to ask about English conditions, what they need to do, how they need to prepare,” Rahul elaborated. “That’s when it hit me that, ‘Okay, I have stepped into a different role now and it’s time for me to help the younger guys, use all the experience I have had of playing Test cricket and international cricket over the years and really put my hand up and stand up for this team.’”
And how seamlessly he fitted into his new role, leading by example — 532 runs in 10 innings, including two hundreds and as many half-centuries, at an average of 53.20. He faced 1,066 balls, only second to Shubman Gill’s 1,150. At Old Trafford, match-saving centuries from Gill, Jadeja and Washington Sundar accounted for column inches. Rahul’s 90 only received honourable mentions. He didn’t mind. He has had the respect of the dressing room, something that matters. Also, in a series of catching profligacy — India dropped 23 catches over five Tests — he was one of the safest slip fielders.
There was the small matter of being mother hen to Gill and helping a young captain during his bedding-in period. Rishabh Pant was the designated vice-captain, but Rahul was Gill’s sounding board. The process, in fact, started about a month prior to the series opener, after Gill was informed by the selectors that he would be the chosen one. An Indian dressing room can be challenging for a young player, especially a callow skipper, who was thrown in at the deep end. Unlike Australia, the atmosphere wasn’t toxic, and Rahul’s support to Gill was a big contributing factor.
Before the series, Rahul was the third in the list of top three Indian openers post-Sunil Gavaskar — Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay and Rahul, in that order. After the series, a recalibration is due. Rahul has surpassed Vijay to take the second spot.
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