When India's red-ball squad turn up again they'll be the coolest act in town

Hindustan Times

a day ago

When on Sunday night did you think India could level the series against England? Okay, for sure not at tea time but the fall of Harry Brook's wicket, surely? Not because of his extravagant dismissal but what it did to the incoming batsmen. Or rather what India did to them. Over the last two hours of the series, the Indians sighted the opening, then imagined the magic and went about manifesting it. From 301-3, with 73 runs to play for, India pulled not rabbits but an entire menagerie out of their pockets and had it run amok over England's plans. India players acknowledge the crowd following the team's victory in the fifth Test match against England, at The Oval. (PTI)
If you were looking for fantastic cricketing beasts and wondering where to find them, the Oval on Monday was it.
That 'thankyavermuch' finale brought to a close this showstopper of an India v England Test series of the kind that has not been seen for oh, let's say, as long as some of us can remember. Yes, some of the game's biggest names from both countries have put in heavy shifts and produced exceptional displays over the decades, but 2025 will always be a history-marker in Indian cricket.
Its reasons are simple but the ending seals it: A match and a series win was snatched out of England's grasp with India pulling off its narrowest Test victory (by runs). Everything hinged on those last final hours of a series that had gone the distance in every single match. A relatively inexperienced team held their nerve in a high-pressure situation – in Test cricket, an unusual occurrence because after 25 days of gruelling cricket, the bets are on the most seasoned rather than the least to pull through.
Had India lost, respectful commiserations would have meant nothing for the team. But to snatch victory when hanging at literally the very end of their rope and leave England with a 2-2 result from a contest where they were always trying to snatch some carelessly ceded territory now means much.
It has suddenly widened horizons, provided clarity and optimism in Indian cricket, put much into perspective and like Test cricket does repeatedly, schooled us all once again. Cricketing ones like dot ball upon dot ball creates wickets and big totals appear surmountable but smaller ones can suddenly suck the atmosphere of oxygen and confidence. That sometimes logic can actually be stood on its head by on-field performances. That weird selections around lengthened batting line-ups or a rash of all-rounders cannot be argued against a result in your favour.
There is another Test lesson from the series we must accept and absorb. That the Indian game particularly abhors vacuums of any kind – talent, ambition, striving, even stardom (not forgetting power, of course). The bigger the name leaving the Indian game doesn't mean the bigger the vacuum. It only creates more space for someone new to stand up to stand out and make a name for themselves amongst their peers and fans. (Broadcasters/advertisers take a while to sheepishly follow).
India's Test team has gone from being an unregarded mix of rookies and strugglers to now a melting pot of possibilities and promise; every apprehension of what appeared doomed about this series for India has been dismissed. Before this series, India's new Test captain's average outside Asia was 27.33 and his only Test scores in England were 17 and 4. Shubman Gill's run-scoring was stratospheric in Gavaskar and Bradman seven hundred-run territory. The workload management of Jasprit Bumrah and the absence of Mohammed Shami retreated into the background, replaced by a spirited leadership of the bowling pack by the ever-effervescent Mohammed Siraj. By the last day, everyone who mattered in the Indian team was there, ever-present, ever-alive. Nothing and no one could be missed because something else and someone had taken their place.
What was visible across the board with the Indians in England this summer – be it the stellar names like Rishabh Pant or the newcomers like Akash Deep, the on again, off again Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna – was their appetite for a fight. That they have drawn the series having collectively willed victory the Oval will add another layer to that most precious component of cricket teams with a common purpose – bouncebackability. That they can win anything from anywhere by putting mind and body to the task as one. 'We never give up,' Gill said and that's all fans need.
This was the first series being played for a new piece of silverware. After some cynical boffins replaced the name of an England-India Series prize from the Pataudi Trophy to the mouthy Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which we can now refer to like we do the US telecom company, ATT. To add to the absurdity outside cricket, after the drawn Old Trafford Test, an unnamed BCCI official was quick to tell The Telegraph newspaper that BCCI was contemplating sacking in the team's support staff, particularly bowling coach Morne Morkel and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate with chief selector Ajit Agarkar and his colleage SS Das also under some invisible scanner. As of Monday evening, no squeaks or leak from the same quarter.
Before the series began, India's white-ball teams appeared secure but its red-ball bunch was causing anxiety. When India's red-ball squad turn up again they will be the coolest act in town. But to extrapolate what the ATT series will do for Test cricket as a whole is an overreach because it involved two of the game's three biggest teams. But there is a possibility that the new generation of Indian post-IPL cricketer who must now fill up the Indian Test team has had chance to look at the game's longest format more closely and be mesmerised, curious. Captain Gill called it the game's most 'rewarding and satisfying format', one where 'you have to work the hardest to be able to get a win'. Then he added the kicker, 'and the best thing about it, it always gives you second chances'. The series against England was his team's first big chance and they embraced it with their big, big hearts.