On to the top: WTC finals – Bring it on!

With a foot in the door as far as the WTC final qualification was concerned, India needed to guard against any kind of consistency when they met England for the final test match in Ahmedabad last week. England was already out of the equation and India needed a draw to go through. But you can’t play for a draw in a cricket match, can you? These days all matches are generally result-oriented and as was seen in the first three matches in this series it was highly unlikely for a draw to happen.

India on their part made the right noises before the start of the test match because the team excluded confidence of beating England 3-1. England was mentally down especially after getting beaten within 2 days in the third test match.

The toss was important I felt because batting first in India had its own special advantages. Unfortunately for India that didn’t happen but the surprise came from the English camp. In the third test match, they went with 3 pace bowlers which were heavily criticised, and to compensate for that they added cushion in their batting order. Going in with 7 frontline batsmen plus a wicketkeeper was a very defensive move but when a team got bowled out so cheaply in the previous test it was not an unexpected call, was it?

When England won the toss and decided to bat first, it looked like a very good toss to win. The pitch looked firm and there was no seam movement and neither was there any spin happening too. But as they say, quite rightly, the game is played in the mind. Axar Patel had taken over the English batsmen’s minds and he struck right away by picking up 2 wickets. Both the wickets had nothing to do with the pitch but as I said earlier, the game is played in the mind and the English batsmen were having nightmares facing Axar Patel. As an added bonus Md. Siraj picked up the wicket of the dangerman, Joe Root with a sharp incoming delivery. 

The pitch didn’t give much help to the spinners and hence Kohli continued using pace from one end and India’s one of the brightest stars in recent times, Md. Siraj got the all-important wicket of Root to peg England back. The win-toss & win-match syndrome died a quick death right at that moment.

England though had enough cushion in the batting lineup and I expected them not to be rolled over very quickly. But they failed to deceive. Ben Stokes looked solid and was playing aggressively but once he got out the tail didn’t wag for long. In hindsight, the extra batsman theory worked for England to an extent because the 7th batsman, Dan Lawrence scored a fluent 46 runs and if he had not scored that many, England would have struggled to cross 180 runs. In the final analysis, it didn’t count much because England folded up for 205 runs only.

India had an hour to negotiate on Day 1 but Shubhman Gill failed once again getting out for a duck. Here was one of India’s most talented youngsters on whom we had so much hope but he kept failing throughout the series. His weakness against incoming deliveries was well exploited by the English pace bowlers. Rohit Sharma and Chetashwar Pujara safely took India to stumps without further damage.

Day 2 was supposed to be India’s day. The pitch was good and all analysis pointed to a big Indian score. But India’s batting performance right through the season had not been a good one especially when you consider the top order. It came back to haunt India in this Test match too because India struggled to get going. Yes, England bowled very tight lines but Pujara in particular was unable to rotate the strike over. The run rate was going at 1 run per over for most of the first hour. And as what happens with this kind of batting when a wicket falls it adds pressure to the team. And in Indian conditions, one wicket brings two and sometimes three and that’s exactly what happened as Pujara and Kohli falling in quick succession. It has been a very strange performance from Virat Kohli over the last few months. A man who was dishing out centuries as if playing in his backyard had gone century-less for more than 15 months now. I do not even remember when was the last time Virat Kohli got 2 ducks in the same series. Failure of Kohli meant additional pressure on Rohit especially because Rahane was also not in form. 

The pressure applied by the English bowlers got them due results. It was extremely heartening to see Ben Stokes bowl. Here was a man who was not 100% fit but was up and running bowling 6-7 overs in a trot. The rewards were great too and India suddenly found itself at 121/5. Getting a sizeable lead was now feeling like a dream and the only hope was that the lower order would stick around so that India could come close to the English total.

One advantage that India had was their lower middle-order batting strength. Ashwin stuck around with Rishabh Pant for a while but when he got out it was left to Pant and Sundar to take India forward. Washington Sundar in his brief career had already shown that he was as good as a top-order batsman and that’s how he showed up in Ahmedabad that day. Rishabh Pant on his part cut out the risky strokes and together with Sundar started building a solid partnership. As slowly and surely India loved closer to 205, I was keeping an eye on the new ball. I had a feeling that with both the batsmen set, the new ball would work in India’s favour. The script worked exactly like that and in the first 3-4 overs with the new ball India scored 6 boundaries all across the wicket but none as audacious as the one Pant hit against Anderson – a reverse swat for four over the slip cordon. I doubt if any batsman in the world had ever hit Anderson for a four like that in test cricket. But then that’s Rishabh Pant. He will hit you if he thinks he will hit you. He is the kind of batsman who won’t play defensively with an approaching milestone. He had missed quite a few centuries because of this and here also he went for a big shot while on 94 but the difference was that it went over the ropes. It was one of the best counter-attacking knocks ever played by an Indian. The situation was grave for India when he came to bat but he played a mature knock to take India towards safety. Unfortunately, he got out after scoring the hundred but India had Axar Patel coming in at number 9 who was no mug with the bat either.

Washington Sundar brought up the third half-century of his career shortly thereafter and he along with Axar Patel took India to stumps with the team leading by 89 runs. The margin was already a big one and another hour of batting on day 3 would mean the end of England’s fight. That’s exactly how it panned out and England looked jaded as Washington Sundar looked well set for his first test century.

Then a moment of madness saw Axar Patel getting run out and suddenly India’s tail was exposed. It was not that India didn’t have enough runs because the lead had crossed 160 runs by then but it was about Washington Sundar’s century as he was batting on 96 runs.

Test centuries were tough to come by and as Ishant Sharma took strike, I just hoped that he bats out the over. But he got out the first ball to an absolute straight delivery from Ben Stokes. Md. Siraj was the last man in and went for an old-fashioned hoike not coming in the line of the delivery to get bowled and thereby leaving Washington Sundar stranded on 96 runs. Sundar’s expression didn’t divulge much but inside I am sure he must have been highly disappointed.

The lead of 160 runs for India was a very big one and I predicted a finish that day itself. Many of my friends didn’t agree because the pitch after all was not that bad to bat on.

In less than an hour, I was about to be proved right as England lost 4 wickets with only 30 runs on the board. Once again it was Dan Lawrence who looked most accomplished amongst the English batsmen and raged a lone battle but it was just lingering the inevitable. England was bowled out for 135 runs giving India victory by an innings and 25 runs. It was a spinners’ day out once again as Axar and Ashwin shared the 10 wickets equally.

It was a dream series for Axar Patel who picked up 28 wickets in the series. Rishabh Pant rightly picked up the man of the match award because his century was the turning point of the match as Ashwin got the man of the series award.

A series that started so well for England ended with them losing 3-1 and as I keep saying this often, morning doesn’t show the day all the time.

India ended the WTC league phase at top of the table and won the rights to play New Zealand in the finals to be played at Southampton later in June 2021.

It had been a great few months for the Indian cricket fans (whom I call the 12th Man of Indian cricket) and as I end the chapter here, I am yearning for the next few months to pass because a big Engish summer awaits us. I hope by that time Shami and Jadeja would be 100% fit and we will be ready to put it across England in their home conditions.

Till that time, stay well and keep smiling!

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