Rohit's Redemption: India's Test Ballet – Twists, Turns, and a Spin Masterclass

Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar and Rahul Dravid’s big calls need to be credited for India’s 4-1 series win over England

What a remarkable turnaround by Rohit Sharma and his boys.

To win a Test series 4-1 after losing the first match, is indeed an achievement for Sharma & Co.  But what was even more remarkable was the fact that they achieved it with key players missing at crucial moments during the series.

Even before a ball was bowled the talisman of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli, pulled out, initially for just two Tests and then eventually for the rest of the series as well.

Mohammed Shami was out injured, had to be operated upon and will probably miss a major chunk of action in 2024. Lokesh Rahul played well in the first Test but also got injured and his rehab became a mystery. Ravindra Jadeja missed the second Test but returned for the rest of the series.

Then there was the mysterious rest for vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah in the fourth Test with the series still hanging in the balance. Senior pro Ravichandran Ashwin had a slow start to the series, and he had to miss out a day’s action in the Rajkot Test owing to family emergency.

Then there was outside noise about the status of Ishan Kishan and the confusion surrounding Shreyas Iyer compounded the matters further. Right through all this India kept blooding debutants throughout the series and at the last count had five new entrants to Test format. All the fresh faces contributed, and it resulted in the team winning the series 4-1.

It was a tremendous result for India considering all the problems listed above, because it forced the non-existent system to dig deep and it kept throwing up players to be considered for selection.

The biggest credit however goes to three men who backed themselves all through the series and took some hard calls. The trio of skipper Rohit Sharma, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and head coach Rahul Dravid. No one knows the real story about Indian cricket currently better than this trio and they kept backing themselves to make tough calls.

At the start of the series with senior pro Kohli missing out it would have been easy to go back to the veteran Cheteshwar Pujara who is still plying his trade in domestic cricket but the trio instead opted to back their younger players like Rajat Patidar.

Then with Rahul missing out, they could have again looked at either Pujara or former captain Ajinkya Rahane, but they still went for the young Sarfaraz Khan. It was an emotional debut for Khan but one which was well deserved. In the middle of the series, it was suddenly a young and inexperienced middle-order up against England, the marauding bunch of entertainers. It was a tough initiation but one for which the younger players were ready.

Then there was also the temptation to drop Shubman Gill since he was not scoring runs since the South Africa Test tour but the trio instead chose to back the youngster, again instead of opting for experience.

There was this other important call the trio took when they brought in young Dhruv Jurel who was not in anyone’s list of prospective Test players. This was more than anything else a selection punt which deserves credit, especially because it came from nowhere. It showed that Agarkar and Co are seeing potential and not just numbers when it comes to upcoming players. Jurel was picked only because Kishan played truant and opted to take matters into his own hands.

The fact that Kona Bharat completely muffed up his chances with the bat, meant that the selectors and the team management were ready to throw Jurel into the deep end. Jurel stood up not just with the gloves but also with the bat. Towards the end of the series, he showed that he was even ready to fight England verbally which helped the cause of the bowlers to a large extent.

Sharma was the elder statesman right through all this, as he led a bunch of inexperienced young boys. He was guiding them with experience and was also one of the boys as he joked with them, pulled them up when required. This was a job that was right up Sharma’s alley as he mingled with the young bunch of boys quite easily.

The only other experienced players in the line-up Jadeja, Ashwin and Bumrah missed out on action at some point or the other. Sharma stood tall and led from the front. After a slow start Sharma too stood up with the bat ending with two hundreds.

But the biggest gain for India from the series was the return of Kuldeep Yadav to the Test match format. He completely bamboozled England with his bag of tricks. Their batters just could not pick the Indian spinner at any point during the series as he bowled several magical deliveries.

It is now going to be interesting to see how Kuldeep is not accommodated in the playing XI when India’s Test squad is in Australia at the end of the year. He has a skill which very few possess as there are very few wrist spinners playing Test cricket currently. With the bat too Kuldeep stood out because of the way he showed grit in the face of adverse situations. India will need all these skills in Australia.

India was faced with the toughest possible threat to their proud home record of being unbeaten in Test cricket since 2012-13. The younger lot stepped up and protected that record with a massive effort. It will now need a superhuman effort to defeat India in Test cricket at home. England with their band of Bazballers could have done that but they forgot that they need to win apart from entertain. The English have missed a golden opportunity to upset the Indian applecart.

English players were caught up in their own image of wanting to be the ones ‘bringing crowds’ to the game. Also, statements of certain English players smacked of arrogance which was just not good enough. You need to have results to back your actions on and off the field.

For India’s Test squad though the challenge will come later in the year in Australia and then next year in England. India has 15 Tests in the next 20 months which will define the next generation.

The home series against New Zealand and Bangladesh will not test India as much as the series in Australia. India won the last two series in Australia so the host will be hurting big time. India will have a fresh bunch compared to the series win in 2020-21. So, it will be an interesting battle.

But in Indian cricket a lot must happen before that because unfortunately our cricket and our fans are guided by performances in white ball cricket. If India does not end up winning the T20 World Cup, things could change rapidly in Indian cricket.

There is this unfortunate urge to play all players in all formats which is a classic rookie mistake which the selectors and team management need to avoid this time. Do not mix up formats and end up with disappointment.

Enjoy this Test series triumph, celebrate well and then move to the T20I format with the specialists of that format.