Washington Sundar, Ben Stokes and a handshake at Old Trafford: Why Test cricket is still beautiful

Indian Express

a day ago

Washington Sundar is no stranger to extraordinary things. In his first Test with India six down, almost 200 behind Australia, he combined with virtual newbie Shardul Thakur to lay the first step for the now-famous Brisbane heist. But a century is a century, and Washington Sundar's first was even more special because the hero of Brisbane was now among India's saviours at Old Trafford. So, when the English captain offered a handshake, an admission that his tired team had given up trying to win, Washington and his partner Ravindra Jadeja, who was also closing in on a century, were right to deny him any moral high ground. More than an hour of the game was left; why not savour the spoils of hard-earned battle? If the issue was that of the spirit of the game, the question could well be asked who hurt that in the first place – the Indian batsman who chose to carry on, for personal goals, or the English skipper who took their refusal to call it a day as an affront and asked part-timer Harry Brook to serve donkey drops.
The last half hour was an anti-climax, the only period when the Old Trafford match wasn't engrossing. Till then, everything that the English and Indian cricketers had done showcased a perfect response to the perennial question asked of Test cricket: Why play a game that goes on for five days – 35 hours, sometimes more – and yet produces no result? Test cricket essentially is a sport in which a team of 11 ideally attempts to beat their competitors, failing which, they try to avoid defeat. The entertainment in a fight to the finish is, of course, unmistakable. The first three Test matches of the India-England series were great examples of such contests. But there is also something spectacular about a team fighting with its back to the wall to come up equal at the end. That's why former England captain Alistair Cook put the hammer on the nail when he said in times to come, the Old Trafford Test will be remembered for, not happened during the closing hours, but for Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja's rearguard action.
There was, however, much for the lovers of the game's longer version before India's best all-rounder and the man touted to be his successor came together. The team lost the services of Rishabh Pant in the first few hours, a turn of events that only the free-spirited wicketkeeper could have scripted. Batting with nonchalant ease, he decided to reverse sweep Chris Woakes, who can occasionally make the ball talk even in the evening of his career. The shot boomeranged onto Pant's feet, leaving it with a gash the size of a table tennis ball – it turned out to be a fracture. But the Indian wicket keeper, who seems to have made it a habit to push the pain barrier higher, delayed putting his injured limb in a cast. He came back to bat, scored a 50, helped his team add runs and spent precious time at the crease. This was much more than heroics. It may not have been apparent then, but the battle of attrition, which the match turned out to be, actually began with Pant's defiance.
These seemingly small moments are also why its devotees savour Test cricket. There was also Washington Sundar, even before he had made his mark with the bat. Two drifters, that would have made the classicists among off-spinners proud, snapped out the centurion Joe Root and England's newest prodigy Harry Brook, and made sure that the poms had to fight extra hard for the lead. Of course, what happened after India were 0 for 2 in the first over of their second innings, 311 runs behind in the first innings, is sure to be part of cricket's lore. Reams have already been written on Shubman Gill's coming of age as a batsman, and consistency, at last, seems to be making friends with K L Rahul.
Spare a thought for the English team, though. The ifs and buts are another reason that make test cricket beautiful. What may have happened had Liam Dawson held on to a difficult chance when Gill had not passed 50 or the chance offered by Jadeja, first ball, had struck in Joe Root's hands? Or what may have happened had the pitch, that had begun to play tricks, not gone for a lunchtime nap on the fifth day, from which it would never wake up.
And, spare a thought for Ben Stokes. It would be a pity if the English captain's petulance in the last half hour is even a footnote in the annals of the match. He was the only bowler that batsmen could never be sure against, often willing his body to come up with sharply swerving induckers or wickedly climbing bouncers. And, bat with the tail to score a wonderful century and extend England's lead to a point that a draw was the only option for India's batters. Stokes was rightly the Man of the Match. But even one of the greatest ambassador's of the modern day game would admit – perhaps grudgingly – a draw was a victory for the Indian team.
[e-mail]