India's win over England hasn't restored order
ft. U19 World Cup semifinals, Rachin's double century
Hello all, it’s been a little while.
My work responsibilities have grown since my last post, I’m now covering the Canadian senior men’s cricket team through to its first appearance at the T20 World Cup in addition to covering the NBA so you’ll have to bear with me as I juggle these different hats. Initially, I was going to post after England’s win in the first Test, especially since it was coupled with the West Indies’ fantastic effort to take down Australia at the Gabba, but time didn’t permit.
With the next Test between England and India not until Feb. 14 and the Poms headed to Abu Dhabi for a bit of rest and relaxation, this felt like a good time to chime in. Let’s begin.
England’s win in the first Test over India was considered a wake up call for the home side, now India’s win in the second Test is being viewed as order restored. The reality if you’re watching this series is that a new order has been created, and it is great for the remainder of this series, if not Test cricket as a whole.
Indian sides of the past would have got another century (maybe even two) from the middle order in addition to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s breathtaking 209, scored well above 500, and likely would have motored along to an innings victory. Instead, no one beyond Jaiswal scored more than 34 in the first innings, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel combined for just one wicket in England’s first innings, and no one scored over 45 for India in the second innings beyond Shubman Gill’s much-needed century. Chasing 399 in the fourth innings of a Test at Vizag should have been so far beyond any English side’s capabilities. Yet, if not for Ben Stokes’ dozy run out, we may well have had another thriller on our hands instead of India’s eventual 106-run victory.
Zak Crawley has been brilliant at the top of the order, Ollie Pope’s 196 in the first Test was one of the all-time great Test innings by a foreign player in India, while the inexperienced Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed are showing they can ask serious questions of India’s batting.
A 190-run lead in the first Test wasn’t enough for India at home, a target of 399 still left players like Shubman Gill saying England have a 30 percent chance of winning. It shows exactly the type of pressure England’s brand of Test cricket is creating. Baz Ball isn’t inhibiting England’s batting potential, it’s widening their possibilities beyond traditional batting could ever hope to do.
Many expected England to struggle executing “Baz Ball” in Indian conditions with spinners wreaking havoc, yet the first two Tests have shown they are more than capable. Both Tests have ebbed and flowed and England have applied pressure on India in segments where they are generally unaccustomed to doing so at home. I thought India head coach Rahul Dravid’s words after the second Test reflected exactly that:
“I don’t think there was any stage in the game where we felt we could actually force the play. As soon as we thought we could force the play with our 80-run partnership [with Iyer and Gill] we lost a couple of wickets. Then we settled in and got another partnership. If we had got to tea at 250/4 instead of 230/6 — we were 210/4 — you just start getting comfortable and then you lose a couple of wickets and you’re thinking, ‘Oh.’ So, I don’t think we were in any position at any stage in this game to ever think about putting pressure back on the opposition.”
Make no mistake, with no word yet on whether Virat Kohli will return for the third Test and Ravindra Jadeja likely out (Mohammed Shami has already been ruled out for the series), it is well and truly game and series on.
Now, India has just won this Test without Kohli, Jadeja, KL Rahul and Shami (and Rishabh Pant if you want to include him) so let’s also give credit where it’s due. Gill’s century was a big message to the over reactionary crowd on the patience he’s worth, especially on the back of an seriously good 2023 until dengue fever impacted his World Cup performances. Did he have some luck? Yes, but you can be very unlucky in the middle of a bad patch and sometimes you need a bit of luck to get out of it. Jaiswal is going from strength to strength, he is my favourite story of the next generation of Indian players and I hope he keeps it going.
I feel underwhelmed by Shreyas Iyer’s batting (though his catch to dismiss Crawley in the first innings and run out of Stokes in the second innings were absolutely fantastic) but I do like what I’ve seen from Rajat Patidar. KL Rahul is expected to be fit for the third Test, and I think there’s an interesting debate to be had on who he should replace. I suspect Iyer will be preferred based on seniority.
Finally, I’ll very quietly add that both matches have provided great entertainment and both have ended in four days. As Test cricket looks to survive in the future, I am a strong proponent of shifting to four-day games with 100 overs of play each day.
SILLY POINT
Continuing on the note of what’s best for Test cricket, it is hard to value what is happening between New Zealand and South Africa. The Proteas’ top five in the batting order has eight Test matches of experience between them, the captain Neil Brand is one of six players making his debut, and as someone who follows cricket quite closely, Keegan Petersen and Duanne Olivier are the only two names I recognize.
New Zealand vs. South Africa should be must-see TV. Rachin Ravindra made 240, Kane Williamson scored his 30th Test century to move ahead of Sir Donald Bradman and into a tie with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Hayden, and Joe Root but the context of this series has been so significantly marginalized because South Africa’s top players are playing the SA20.
There needs to be a proper sitdown to address the cricket calendar because Test cricket will absolutely arrive at an ugly place without it. ODI cricket is already in a bad place.
SLIP CATCHING
We have reached the semifinal stage of the Under-19 World Cup being held in South Africa, and the hosts will play India while Australia will play Pakistan in the other semifinal. The standout performer for India so far has been Saumy Pandey — nicknamed Junior Jadeja for his left-arm spin though not an all-rounder — has taken 16 wickets in five matches with an economy rate of 2.17.
Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan in a one-off Test by 10 wickets. Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was Player of the Match with match figures of 8/174. Afghanistan was behind the 8-ball after posting just 196 batting first and Sri Lanka responded with 439 courtesy centuries from Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, but Ibrahim Zadran did score an impressive 114 to ensure the Lankans batted again. Rahmat Shah had a terrific Test with 91 and 54 to his name. Rashid Khan didn’t play as he continues recovery from back surgery.
While West Indies were brilliant to level the Test series 1-1, Australia has looked in full command in the ODIs by winning the first two comfortably by eight wickets and 83 runs, respectively, and third to follow in Canberra. Three T20Is will follow.
Canada finished a “friendly” one-day tri-series in Hong Kong with two wins and a loss, a good warm-up in preparation for matches of consequence to follow. You can follow my coverage at Cricket Canada or by keeping tabs on my Twitter or Instagram (@vivekmjacob).
Rishabh Pant has opened up about his traumatic car accident in a short documentary style production (23 minutes) for Star Sports: