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One defeat… and the daggers are out. India were outplayed by England in Hyderabad, going down by 26 runs in the series opener after debutant Tom Hartley ran the Indian batting ragged on Day 4. An unknown spinner troubling India’s batting on their soil… Sounds familiar, right? But to see judgments passed so quickly is jumping the gun. Yes, it’s rare for India to go three Tests on home soil without a win, but this isn’t the first time they’ve lost the first Test of a big series. It happened in 2017 against Australia in Pune and in 2021 against England in Chennai. And we know how it panned out in the end. Like it always does. With India winning the series.
Former England spinner Monty Panesar, who before the start of the series was pretty high on India’s chances, took a U-turn when England surged to a 1-0 lead. In fact, Panesar’s was an expressway U-turn as he now feels England can blank India 5-0 provided Ollie Pope and Hartley can produce a repeat of their first Test exploits for the remaining four Tests. FOUR TESTS.
“If Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley continue to play like this it will be a whitewash, it will be 5-0 for England. It can happen. It is a very big victory, no one even imagined this was even possible. Everyone thought that England would lose after a 190 deficit but Ollie Pope had a brilliant inning one of the best innings we have seen in a long time and Rohit Sharma was clueless,” Panesar told ANI, and the mind can’t help but hark back to the parallels with what Mark Waugh had said just a little over three years ago.
When India were rolled over for 36 against Australia in the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Adelaide Oval, a similar narrative had unfolded. Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and several former Australia cricketers gave India no chance. Of them all, Waugh’s prediction was the one that miffed the Indian audience the most. “I thought Adelaide was the Test that they could win on paper and with Virat Kohli here for just the one Test. I thought the conditions would suit them. I just can’t see how they can bounce back (after) Australia whitewashed them on the third day. So ‘no’ is the answer four-nil to Australia,” Waugh had told Fox Cricket.
And yet, what transpired from there on became the stuff of legends. India beat Australia at Melbourne in the Boxing Day Test, played a heroic draw at Sydney and conquered the fortress of Gabba. Immediately after, as England toured India for another 4-Test contest, they began the series by romping Virat Kohli’s men by 227 runs, but India bounced back in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tests – winning by 317 runs, 10 wickets and an innings and 25 runs – to take the series 3-1.
Why Panesar must not jump the gun?
Yes, a lot has changed since. Rohit Sharma is India’s all-format captain and Rishabh Pant is not in the scheme of things. Nor are Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane but for different reasons. Their replacements Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have struggled to score big while KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja are injured.
And still, India are favourites to roar back from here and take the lead back from England.
Why do you ask? Simple. Because this team is too good. The selectors have made a few bold calls by turning to young blood. Without Kohli also out from the Vizag Tests, the opportunity is perfect for youngsters Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal to take the bull by its horns. Jaiswal has already done so – his knock of 80 in 74 balls was India’s ideal response to Bazball. His daring attitude didn’t care if he missed out on a century. Instead, Jaiswal played in the same gear throughout the innings and was rewarded. As for Sarfaraz, provided he gets a game – he should, given his spectacular record against spinners at home – the youngsters should be in for a sparkling debut. Kuldeep Yadav is likely to come in for Jadeja, which means the spin trio of him, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel expected to trouble England at a venue India’s spinners have had quite the say.
The Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam has hosted two Tests – against England in 2016 and South Africa in 2019 and on both occasions, the spinners were on a roll. Ashwin in particular, has been on fire, taking 7/145 against the Proteas and 5/67 against England.
So, you see. The predictions need to be put a hold on.
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