Team India seal series win — and a faith in tomorrow’s Team India
The home team dressing room overflowed onto the stadium as rising young talents Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel darted across the pitch to seal India’s five-wicket and 3-1 series triumph against England. It was impossible to overlook the moment’s meaning. India was reeling at 120-5 at lunchtime, but an undefeated partnership of 72 runs between Gill and Jurel lifted the team above the fourth-inning mark of 192. India, not renowned for chasing down difficult totals under duress, had pulled off a remarkable victory. And credit was owed to a group of middle-aged cricket players.
In addition to emphasizing the victory of youth, the 3-1 result demolished England’s widely publicized aggressive style of cricket. Additionally, it made a strong statement that India no longer needed rank turners to maintain its domestic invulnerability. Captain Rohit Sharma made a suggestion that these new, youthful faces will continue to be a part of the Indian Test team in the future.
“I get really positive answers from them when I talk to them and gaze at them. These guys will be performing in this format more frequently. They’re only getting started, but there’s a lot of potential,” he remarked.
Earlier in the series, India hadn’t been feeling so upbeat. Following their first Test defeat in Hyderabad, they looked thoughtfully ahead. The team’s MVP, Virat Kohli, was forced to skip the entire series due to aged stars. Veteran players Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were pensioned off; the changeover didn’t appear to be going smoothly.
In this manner, India appeared to be navigating through uncertain times. However, you could witness the fresh energy wave by the end of the fourth day here. They have found a cool head in front of the stumps and deft hands behind it in Jurel, 23. At the location where his hero, M S Dhoni, resides, he won Player of the Match for his incredible innings of 90 and 39 not out. “Absolutely fantastic,” he would inform the reporters.
Standing next to him at the presenting ceremony was 24-year-old Gill, who was still wearing the same cap from the pursuit. He was laughing carefreely, like a teenager. This series had lifted a burden off his shoulders. His ability to bat against a spinning ball was called into doubt during the first Test, but he rebounded with scores of 91, 52, and 100 not out, demonstrating the adaptability of his game and the desire and openness in his mind to improve his technique.
With one Test remaining and 655 runs achieved in the series, Gill may lead the Indian batting team in the post-Sharma era alongside the excellent Yashaswi Jaiswal. Beyond his years, Jaiswal, 22, demonstrated the kind of strong technique, sharp thinking, and resilient endurance that might very well guarantee him a lengthy and fruitful career at this level. He piled two double hundreds.
With his two half-centuries in Rajkot, Sarfaraz Khan, 26, another discovery of the series, demonstrated both his value and the calibre of batters rising through the domestic cricket ranks.
He made up for his poor scores in Ranchi with energetic short leg fielding. With the 27-year-old bowler Akash Deep, who made a spectacular debut here, India may have had more leeway to rest match-winning veterans Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah more frequently. The Indian spin group exudes an indestructible aura thanks to spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who is now an even more formidable hitter.
The pitches in this series weren’t the diabolical turner that England received in 2021, which was another encouraging feature. England captain Ben Stokes gave his approval, saying, “I have to say all four pitches were fantastic.”
This is a special series, as Rohit would say. “There’s no denying that this has been an extremely competitive series, and winning it after four Test matches feels fantastic. We had various difficulties in each Test match, but overall, I felt we were quite calm about our goals and our approach to the game,” the player remarked.
Many of the young cricket players may reflect on this series years later and claim it was the one that defined them. And Stokes would question how they failed to cross the last barrier that has withstood numerous assaults.
By-HHM