Gukesh for chess fans. Neeraj Chopra for track and field fans this Olympic season. But when it comes to cricket, the grand national obsession, now that is when Indians keep finding new heroes every day, more so with the IPL carnival going on.
We shall however dare to shift a few gears and move to another day and age, actually not from that far ago, when the longer form held sway and brought to the fore the talents of two young men who many believe will hold sway for long. Are they destined to be Indian cricket's new kings in waiting?
We are harking back to the period of January to March 2024 when India achieved a comprehensive 4-1 victory over England in their five-Test series. How it wasn't 5-0 given that the home side squandered a 196-run lead in the First Test remains a mystery? One cannot imagine the great West Indian and Australian sides of the past allowing opponents to recover from such positions. Perhaps it was to lull England and Ollie Pope into a false sense of security (other than his match-winning 196 he made only 119 runs across nine innings without even a half century)!
The series win itself was unsurprising.
India were playing at home where they have been dominant for a decade. The bowling attack -- Bumrah, Ashwin and Jadeja -- supplemented by a rejuvenated Kuldeep Yadav were always going to be a handful. What was particularly meritorious was that the victories were achieved despite the absence of several experienced and proven run-scorers -- Kohli, Rahul and Pant. It was not the first time in recent years that this has been the case. In 2020/21, a weakened Indian side unexpectedly defeated Australia 2-1 in Australia.
India's victories over England owed much to the emergence of two young batters we mentioned at the beginning -- 22-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal and the 24-year-old Shubman Gill.
Jaiswal, who has now returned to form in T20s too with a scorching IPL ton, made 712 runs in Test series at an average of 89 including five scores of over 50 in nine innings. Gill made 452 runs at an average of 56.5 including four scores of over 50 in nine innings.
To put their efforts into perspective, Zak Crawley, the best-performing Englishman, made 407 runs at 40.70 per inning including four scores over 50 but was unable to convert any of these into a defining century.
Cricket-mad Indian fans and commentators were quick to hail the coming of these two new heroes. They have been lavished with favourable comparisons to earlier stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar.
The adulation may be hasty. It is worth remembering that many talented Australian cricketers suffered from being dubbed the 'new Bradman' only to fall short of the original.
While both Jaiswal and Gill are undoubtedly gifted, it is too early to elevate them to the pantheon of 'greats' just yet.
First, as both are in the early stages of hopefully long and fruitful careers, the sample size is small.
Jaiswal and Gill have played nine and 25 Tests respectively. Jaiswal's statistics are distorted by his outstanding series against England. In contrast, Gill averages a middling 35.52 runs per innings over his longer Test career.
Second, the quality of opponents needs to be considered.
Jaiswal's runs have come against modest opponents. The West Indies against whom he made his debut are ranked eighth out of 12 Test-playing nations and are a shadow of the sides of the past. England is ranked third but fielded one of the most inexperienced bowling line-ups of a visiting team in a long time.
With the exception of Anderson, the rest were inexperienced at both Test level and in Indian conditions. This was especially true of the spinners, once Jack Leach was injured. The regular release balls -- long-hops and full tosses -- perhaps exaggerate the runs made against them.
Third, both are yet to be tested across a wider range of conditions.
Jaiswal has played in the West Indies and India. He struggled in his two Tests in South Africa when the seam bowlers tested his skills.
Gill has a longer track record and has played against a wider range of opponents under different conditions. His contributions in his debut 2020/21 series in Australia against Australia's high class bowling attack in alien conditions were important in securing India's success. However, his record across series in various countries since then has varied.
Fourth, greatness requires longevity. While both have made promising starts to their careers, their ability to continue to endure successfully over time will be a major marker of their ultimate standing.
Opponents, armed with detailed computer analysis and also observations by knowledgeable coaches, will probe Jaiswal and Gill’s undoubted weaknesses relentlessly. How they cope with difficult periods when runs dry up, as indeed Gill has already had to do, will be important in establishment their true quality.
Team factors are important. Playing in a strong successful team with experienced mentors, as is the case currently, is easier than being part of a weaker, losing side.
The carefree days of a junior player will give way to greater responsibility where the onus will be grind out runs consistently match after match, series after series. Injuries will have to be overcome. Inevitably, in a long career, a player will have to handle these challenges.
Finally, the modern cricketer faces additional distractions. Both Jaiswal and Gill play in multiple formats. Adapting and changing between structures which place significantly different demands on technique and approach is far from easy as their run in the IPL is demonstrating.
They will have to balance family life -- Kohli and Ashwin demonstrated this during the 2024 India-England series -- and their professional work on the field. Importantly, they will have to deal with their fame, money and the burden of high expectations. Related pressures from multiple hangers-on -- officials, managers, press, social media, fans -- will need to be managed.
Indian cricket's recent history is littered with players who failed to live to their promise or whose careers were derailed by one or other of these pressures. Jaiswal and Gill are promising but it would be premature to place them on a pedestal. It is only at the end of a career that achievements can be measured and rankings allocated. It is unwise to burden them with the weight of a nation's hunger for cricketing heroes.
Feuilleton is historically a part of a European newspaper or magazine devoted to material designed to entertain the general reader. Extraneus, in Latin ‘an outsider’, is a former financier and author. A reasonable club cricketer, he took up a career in money markets because he wasn't good enough to be a professional cricketer, needed to make a living and no one offered him a job as a cricket commentator or allowed him to pursue his other passions.
