Just as Indian players returned home from their Tokyo Olympic tryst, Captain Virat Kohli and his squad donned on their jerseys and packed their kits to face the English team in the much-awaited India-England test series which commenced on a sunny Wednesday at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge. This series was highly anticipated by the Indian fans as it gave them a chance to see their favorite players in action after the World Test Championship in which the country lost to New Zealand.
England has always proven to be a very hard testing ground for the foreign players given its frequent switches between sunny skies and feathery rains. India has lost all three of its previous tours to the country from 2011 to 2018, and fans were looking forward to an epic bounce back from the slump the team has faced recently.
Captain Kohli and his squad, of course, did not disappoint. From the very first test which started on the 4th of August, India put up a very tough fight for its British counterparts. Even though the toss was won by England, who decided to bat, the match ended in a draw after impressive performances by K.L. Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja who accumulated a combined total of 166 runs. The second match further cemented the hopes of Indian fans as Team India won by 151 runs at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. The third match however bought about a rain of despair for India as England won by an inning and 76 runs. Despite all of this, India’s perseverance in the fourth and unknowingly final match of the series won the series for the first time after almost 5 decades.
There was a fifth match scheduled as well but was forced to be canceled after a COVID-19 outbreak that caused a lot of anxiety among the players in the Indian camp. The status of the series was initially unclear but Team India was declared as the winners soon after as they were 2-1 ahead. The BCCI had claimed that both the England and Wales Cricket Board and the BCCI will try and reschedule the match but a window for the match is not available until July next year when Team India will be in England for another international match.
While India and England will reconvene for another match sooner or later, this match series has taught us a lot, about both the teams, cricket, and life in general. First of all, nobody can deny that India’s perfection and dedication to cricket are growing and it is not growing by chance, it is growing by choice. India’s talent pool is full of hidden local gems that BCCI has uncovered from the Indian Premier League.
Now it is up to them to use these gems in the most efficient way possible. “Jack of All, Master of One” is the new mantra of world cricket. Seeing an amazing and talented cricketer like Shardul Thakur set the pitch on fire with his half-centuries in both the innings and 3 wickets during the fourth test match which cemented India’s victory over England, made us see this critical mantra in real life. As and when India will start gearing up for their next tour, Thakur could be the ‘elusive’ seam-bowling all rounder Team India has been searching for a while now.
Making the best of a given situation is tough, but ultimately essential. Ben Stokes pulled out of the India-England Test Series a few weeks before it began citing mental health issues and an injured finger leaving the team without their ace all-rounder. The home-side however did a commendable job with selecting replacements and in working without their star player. They put up a hell of a fight, no matter what the result was.
In retrospection, India’s win over England is not a miracle or a Darkhorse story. This was an amazing series, no doubt about it, but more than that it was a nostalgia trip for a whole generation of fans who used to bang their old radios and televisions to hear the match highlights. It is sweet revenge for those fans who were outraged when Gavaskar was sent back by rude stewards. And of course, this victory marked the happy-sad moment of the loss of the high regard in which overseas Test victories were held.
This was not a surprise. It was not a bang the drums, light the firecrackers moment. India has shelves and walls and rooms filled with cricket accolades now. Such wins are the norm now. The Indian cricket teams are among the world’s best now. They show up, they stay, they fight, and they win. They have inspired and united one of the most diverse countries in the world in the best way possible way and that in my opinion is the real victory.
Written by- Aditi Dixit
Edited by- Ginia Chatterjee