England won four out of five tosses. The result? India winning the series 4-0. The lesson? Winning the toss isn’t akin to winning the match, even in India.
India posted their highest Test score ever when the three most successful batsmen in the side didn’t fire. The lesson? This team has serious batting strength.
Indian seamers bowled faster, looked more penetrative and took more wickets than their English counterparts. The Lesson? India didn’t need and won’t need to make dust bowls to win at home. Also, it’s making us believe that India will be better prepared when they tour overseas next.
India’s lower order stood tall in almost every innings. The likes of Jayant, Ashwin, and Jadeja changed the momentum of the innings and the match more than once. The lesson? India can toy with the idea of playing five bowlers more often, which in turn would give them more chances of winning overseas.
India started as the best Test side in the world and throughout the series they showed why the top spot is rightfully theirs. England has been India’s bogey team for a while and came to India on the back of winning three bilateral series, which included one in India. Therefore, India had a score to settle and they did it in some style. There were two key protagonists in shaping India’s fate—Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin but since there’s nothing left to be said about these two, let’s try to focus on the series’ sub-plots.
THE RISE OF TWO YOUNG GUNS
KL Rahul and Karun Nair made their first-class debuts a few years after the birth of the Indian Premier League and it’s only fair to assume that their formative years were spent hoping to be a part of the IPL. The biggest criticism of the T20 format is that it doesn’t encourage the younger generation to work on the skills suited for the longer format but these two batsmen have proved that, perhaps, the assumption is slightly misplaced. Modern day batsmen have found ways to stay relevant in all three formats. Also, it must be worth noticing that their success highlights that of the Indian domestic structure. Both Nair and Rahul feature in the top-five run-scorers in the last three seasons of first-class cricket in India. It’s quite heartening to see that they’ve amassed thousands of runs in the longer-format without compromising their attacking instinct.
THE NEW SPIN TWINS
Ravindra Jadeja has been around for a while but somehow kept losing his spot in the side. His bowling is ideally suited for Indian pitches, for he keeps it extremely tight and that in turn has aided Ashwin’s rise. But his batting blew hot and cold too often and that’s one area he’s improved drastically in this home season.
He got a couple of half centuries against New Zealand and grew more in stature against England by scoring the tough runs in Mohali and at the Wankhede. In addition to Jadeja, India unearthed another talent in Jayant Yadav, who will be quite handy in their home series against Australia early next year. Since Australian batting line-up has lots of left-handers, India can play with two off-spinners and Jayant’s batting, once again, allows them to field five bowlers.
SUPERB SEAMERS
Even though they weren’t dust bowls, the pitches were ideal for spinners and therefore it’s important to acknowledge the contribution of the two Indian seamers— Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. Both have not just allowed India to break partnerships in this series but their presence allows India to hope for a better showing next time they tour abroad.
With this emphatic series victory India has widened the gap between them and the remaining Test teams, and with five more Tests at home before the long home-season ends, their stay at the top should be assured for a long time to come.
A BIG thanks to the Indian team for making 2016 a Golden Year for Indian cricket. May the team scale bigger heights in 2017. 🇮🇳👍👏
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 20, 2016
