Why England win augurs well for India’s Test future
With many batters in early to mid 20s, this series provides them the right confidence
Before the start of the third Test, Indian fans were a tad nervous with a rookie Indian batting facing an England team that believed in playing aggressive “Bazball” cricket.
It was a scenario where young talents were thrown to the lions. Facing a revitalised Three Lions squad was a challenging task in the absence of experienced stars Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
Middle order batter Sarfaraz Khan and wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel were making their debuts and they will be complementing a batting order that includes Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rajat Patidar with a collective Test experience of 32 Tests with Gill having the most with 23.
Skipper Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the two senior members along with Ravichandran Ashwin, set the foundation for India’s march towards taking control of the Test at Rajkot, on a pitch that had pace and bounce on the first day and started assisting the spinners from day three onwards. But what stood out is the composure shown by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal to score his second double
century in his seventh Test. The 22-year-old made amends in the second innings after getting out cheaply in the first with a stunning counter-offensive that left the England bowling in tatters. The left-hander was severe on legendary seamer James Anderson, who made his Test debut when Jaiswal was 18 months old,
and demolishing his bowling analysis.
Sarfaraz Khan, one of the two debutants in the Test, scored two half-centuries, equalling Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar, Dilawar Hussain and his Under-19 World Cup teammate Shreyas Iyer record. Sarfaraz, who has the reputation of employing the sweep shots often to the spinners, didn’t show any nervous despite scaling up the class.
The emergence of young generation, with most these young batters in the early to mid 20s, this series will play a big role in giving them the confidence to progress their careers. Though it is still early days and the real test for these Indian batters will come on away tours, especially in SENA countries. But it is important to keep the supply chain going and this series has, by default, helped the Indian selectors to blood the newcomers into the Test team.
With Shubman Gill slowly settling in his role at No 3, this win against England augurs well for the future of Indian Test team.