When the minute-hand of the Feroz Shah Kotla clock wheezed towards nine and the hour hand shifted unfalteringly towards four on March 24, the silhouettes in Baggy Green were already stooping. Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed Nathan Lyon and the piece of ragged leather hustled to the midwicket fence. It was 3.45 pm and India whitewashed Australia in the four-Test series. Cheteshwar Pujara, the non-striker, grinned broadly through the helmet grills, and scampered for the souvenir stumps. Dhoni stood soaking in the moment before both were swooped and huddled by their teammates. It was a memorable triumph.
The verdict was perhaps not unanticipated, for the present Australian side is widely reckoned as one of the weakest in history. But even then, clean-sweeping a Test series is no mean task.
The win turned what had been hushes in different corners of Indian cricket into a loud statement of fact —a new generation of Indian cricketers had arrived.
Saurashtra Machine
A year ago, Rahul Dravid, playing in a league match in Chennai, predicted the next year or so would be an interesting phase in Indian cricket. With most seniors retiring and Sachin Tendulkar in his final leg, it was time youngsters grabbed the opportunity to fill the vacant slots, he said.
He could have well been talking about Cheteshwar Pujara, who had a modest debut against Australia at Bangalore in 2010, had to sit out for the greater part of 2011 because of injury, but is back with a bang. When most Indian batsmen failed against Alastair Cook’s England, Pujara scored 438 runs in the series, including a double-century in Ahmedabad.
Against Michael Clarke’s Australia, Pujara showed he had the game to stay for long in international cricket. He totalled 419 runs in the series to play a big part in India’s 4-0 series victory.
As former India captain Sunil Gavaskar put it, Pujara had improved with every series and cemented his place in the Indian team at the No. 3 slot.
Pujara with his warm, polite manners and cheerful attitude could pass of as any studious youngster, but when he dons the white flannel, he is a different person altogether. On the field he is dedicated, determined and has a huge appetite for runs.
An admirable quality of Pujara is his ability to adapt and fight for the team’s cause. When Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the Delhi Test against Australia and since the team management did not want to send debutant Ajinkya Rahane to open the innings, Pujara readily agreed to open and came out with flying colours by scoring half centuries in both the innings on a difficult surface. In fact, the match got over in three days. Battling a hand injury, Pujara remained unbeaten on 82 to guide India to victory.
According to Gavaskar, it was only a matter of time before Pujara was included in the Indian One-Day team. The question uppermost in most minds is whether Pujara can duplicate his sub-continent success in South Africa, when India tours at the end of this year.
Twister and Turner
Ravindra Jadeja was a revelation against the Aussies. Known as a prolific run-getter on the domestic circuit, he revelled in the bowler’s role against the visitors from Down Under. Starting from the first Test at Chennai, he became an ideal foil to Ashwin, putting the Aussies in a spin with his nagging line.
His ability to make the ball spit and jump troubled the Aussies throughout the series. The left-arm spinner from Saurashtra had the measure of Aussie captain Michael Clarke five times and became the second highest wicket-taker in the Aussie series with 24 scalps.
If Jadeja improved his batting in Tests, he could become a quality all-rounder, which India has missed since the heady days of Kapil Dev. For a batsman who has scored three triple centuries for Saurashtra and performed impressively with the bat in the shorter formats for India, it’s a matter of time before he makes a mark in Tests with the bat.
Jadeja’s is a classic case, for his is a conveniently, and commonly, misinterpreted tale of stereotyping. Though the all-rounder’s worth in the shortest version is invaluable—best exemplified by the EPLesque sum he fetched in the auction—his credentials in the First-Class cricket were grossly undervalued. That he is the only Indian ever to rack up three First-Class triple hundreds—two of which arrived last season, puts his orientations into perspective.
But doubts lingered when he was handed the Test cap against England in Nagpur, but four Tests from thence his utility has been proved without a doubt.
While his batting hasn’t yet gotten into terms with the Test-match level (he comes too deep down the order to properly exert his stakes with the willow), he has defined the course of matches with his bowling.
While it can be argued that the spin-doctored pitches have aided his type of bowling, dependent on unflagging accuracy and clever alterations of angle and length than prodigious turns and flattering variations, Jadeja has fulfilled more than what was expected of a third-choice, hold-one-end-up, partnership-breaking spinner.
Whereas he bowled as much as Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh combined, he has taken 24 wickets. It remains to be seen how Dhoni would use him in unfriendly conditions overseas, but if groomed properly, he can fill in the all-rounder’s slot and lend the team the much-needed balance.
The man who is affectionately called RJ, Rockstar and Revadi by friends and fans, recently opened a restaurant in Rajkot and named it Jaddu’s. Not surprisingly, the theme of the restaurant is cricket.
The Delhi Dasher
Not since the heydays of Sourav Ganguly has a left-hander infiltrated the arc from point to extra cover as Shikhar Dhawan during his momentous debut hundred in Mohali. He wasn’t quite as elegant as Ganguly, but as prolific in his placement and timing. Every time the leather veered off his bat, it coursed to the boundary ropes.
Such was his ease in threading gaps that one had to pinch oneself to be convinced it wasn’t a dream. His 187 had that kind of a surreal allure. It didn’t matter where the Australians pitched the ball—on the toes or towards the rib-cage—he had fitting repartees in his repertoire.
Though the cover drive was his hallmark, he demonstrated his adeptness in dealing the short-pitch stuff, as he emphatically pulled Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle, both unrestrained in pace. He didn’t cut as often, perhaps he did not have to, as more often than not he square drove the cuttable deliveries. His balance on the back foot was reassuring, and should bode well for him when he tours abroad, a real test of his character and technique.
If first impressions are anything to go by, he has the requisites to perform abroad. For all his aggression, he isn’t flashy and can adapt to situations. In the domestic circuit, he is renowned for his ability to score hundreds on green tops. Significantly, his footwork is decisive and economical and not cluttered by any initial trigger movement.
Seasoned observers of domestic cricket would vouch for his temperament as well. He is not an unbridled aggressor as Virender Sehwag. He can entrench and graft as well. Rather, his philosophy is to punish the loose balls. But those who watched his hundred would disagree, for even good balls were disdained through covers.
When he replaced Sehwag, Dhawan knew the enormity of the shoes he was filling in. And as if paying a glorious tribute to the former, he nonchalantly hit the fastest ever hundred by a debutant, a knock Sehwagesque in impact, though the stroke-play was more refined.
Dhawan oozes style both on and off the ground. Twirling moustache, tattoos on his biceps, love for superbikes and a regular at Page 3 parties till sometime ago. Affectionately called ‘Gabbar’ by his teammates, Dhawan would often arrive at Feroz Shah Kotla in his sleeveless vests and shorts riding a customised 1000cc motorbike.
Mister Flamboyant
The present competition in Indian cricket means no youngster can be secure in the knowledge that his place in the squad is safe. The key to longevity is performance, at every given opportunity. With Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir forging a good combination in recent times, the door for a third opener had almost shut. Then Gambhir’s long spell of failures and a good show in the Irani Trophy gave Murali Vijay a chance to make a comeback after the poor tour of West Indies.
Few know that Vijay’s good show for his club helped him regain confidence and get back the vital ball sense. One expected him to click in the Chennai Test against Australia, but the failure, particularly in the second innings, rankles Vijay and his followers.
“I gave my wicket away in the second innings. Basically, I was thinking that I made a mistake in the second innings of the first Test match rather than the first. I should have just come back not out, which didn’t happen. So I was just ready for this game (Hyderabad),” said Vijay after his century.
In other words, Vijay was aware that the Hyderabad Test was his last chance to give his flip-flop career a life.
Vijay at Hyderabad was a different player altogether. Known for his penchant to play shots, he curbed his natural instinct and played the role of a grafter to perfection. Even when Cheteshwar Pujara at Hyderabad and Shikhar Dhawan at Mohali were scoring runs at a fast clip at the other end, he did not get tempted to play shots. This ploy of playing the waiting game to perfection enabled Vijay to score 430, the highest run-getter in the series against Australia and also bag a ticket to South Africa later this year.
Vijay too benefited from returning to the basics. Between his maiden hundred in 2010 and the recent run-glut was a phase when he was too impetuous in stroke-play and indiscreet outside the off-stump. But against Australia, he showed patience, embracing a grit-and-graft approach and forsook his flashy instinct. And the runs rushed forth. The postgraduate in economics from Chennai’s RKM Vivekananda College has reasons to smile.
Cerebral Spinner
Ravichandran Ashwin is a modern-day cricketer in every sense. He never cribs about the past nor worries about the future. He lives in the present. Not rattled by competition, he knows that as long as he bowls well, everything will be fine. When he hits a low, he does not panic, instead puts in extra hours to iron out flaws.
When the Australians were in Chennai ahead of the Test series to practice, India was still smarting from the drubbing handed down by Alastair Cook-led England. Sensing an opportunity to add fuel to fire, the Australians indulged in verbal warfare, particularly targeting Ashwin, who had become India’s leading spinner in the last one year.
Opener Ed Cowan fired the first salvo by stating that the Australians were not scared of Ashwin, adding that they would make mincemeat of him. Cowan was confident that Clarke’s Australia would a do a Cook on India.
Ashwin replied with his bowling. His Man of the Series effort (29 wickets) helped India achieve a rare brown wash (4-0). Ashwin was aware that he did not perform to his potential against England and worked on his bowling.
Ashwin’s ability to analyse and put that extra effort to rectify flaws paid rich dividends. Like quality spinners, he recalibrated and reverted to the basics against Australia. So was back in his armour the off-break, which he spun hard, and on conducive surfaces it ripped and spat back to the right-hander. Gradually, the drift and dip returned and Australian batsmen struggled to judge his flight. The carrom ball and the sliders were used sparingly, mostly to bait the batsmen or to the lower-order batsmen.
A cricketing nerd that he is, he smartly varied his angles and trajectory. Like for example, he wasn’t reluctant to bowl from round the wicket to the left-handers right from the start. Often, in the same over, he bowled from over the wicket as well as round the wicket, a ploy that paid dividends against Australia’s left-heavy batting order. For once, since Anil Kumble’s retirement, was his absence not felt in a home series.
Ashwin will next be seen in the IPL, where he has tasted success in the past. The big question is whether he will be a success when India tour South Africa later this year.
Meerut Magician
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the stylish right-hander from Uttar Pradesh, has of late been compared by some with David Gower.
Kumar’s first noticeable contribution with the bat came as he escorted Dhoni to his double hundred in Chennai. Interestingly, his 97-balled 38 didn’t feature a single unorthodox heave. It was cultured and conventional.
With the ball, on spin-doctored strips, his assigned role was little more than scuffing the ball for the spinners to take centre-stage and supporting the experienced Ishant Sharma. But as it turned out, he exceeded his senior partner, providing early breakthroughs in Hyderabad (first innings) and Mohali (second innings). He exploited the moisture on offer in Hyderabad to knock out three prized Australian wickets, that of Ed Cowan, Shane Watson and David Warner. Again, in the second innings in Mohali, he creamed off the Australian top-order, setting the tone for spinners to strike.
He was especially lethal with left-handed batsmen, as he consistently shaped the ball back before slanting one across them. To the right-handers, he predominantly bowls the out-swinger. Though not express pace, he’s skiddy enough to rattle top order batsmen.
with Ashok Venugopal