The Spectator

Day 3 of the Mumbai test, post-tea session. Sehwag and India’s in-form number 3, Pujara, had just been dismissed in successive overs. The deficit of 49 then, was looking like 150 and Tendulkar’s was probably in for his last international hit at Wankhede, on the back of a 13 & an 8 in the series. 8 quick runs before Monty skidded one in and beat Tendulkar for pace. Series stats: 2 matches, 3 innings, 29 runs. About 9000 kilometers down south, another modern-day legend had a similar script to enact! Day 3 of the Adelaide test, post-tea session. The effervescent Warner and Rob Quiney had been sent back to the pavilion in the space of 3 deliveries. Australia effectively 239 for 2, comfortably placed but had to prevent the opening of the flood-gates for South Africa. 16 disciplined runs and Ponting managed to drag a back of length Steyn delivery onto his stumps. Series stats: 2 matches, 3 innings, 20 runs.

A year and quarter ago India was in England struggling to put up a fight or in precise terms struggling to find a way to dismiss the English team twice. The bowling attack had 3 medium pacers and an out of form Harbhajan, further weakening India’s weak link. Many remember Indian tours correlated to the way the batting fares and hence the Pataudi trophy of 2011 is vividly recalled as a tour which had Indian batsmen struggling on green tops! As a follower you would like to believe that team managements rate the performance of the team on the scale of the results and not merely parallel to the views and thoughts that are generated by public debates/discussions. We always have a hazy belief that captains utilize home advantage by preparing tracks to the strength of their bowling attacks. Thus when England arrived in India, the grass on the tracks was expected to be invisible, the surface soil expected to not stick together and hordes of cracks anticipated to open up. So far whatever...

Ruthless, fearless, flamboyant, unorthodox would be some of the clichéd adjectives that are used to describe the way India’s powerful opener bats. He isn’t as classy as a Dravid or a Laxman, as graceful as a Tendulkar, as elegant as a Ganguly or a Yuvraj but he has a class for himself; a style that may not be orthodox but more than just effective. A sense of calmness and composure builds an aura around him that is so charming, which creates a shield which he holds up against the immense pressure an Indian superstar cricketer has to tackle every time he goes out to play. The two aspects to his batting are approach and method. He approaches batting in the centre as if he is having a net session; this holds true for all 3 formats! The strike rates are an indicator to this statement: 82.45, 104.60, and 145.38 in Tests, ODIs and T20s respectively. You almost sense that there is no baggage of pressure/expectations on his shoulders, almost like he has been told to play his ‘natural’ ga...