The twin virtues of patience and the recognition of the need for speed are serving Team India best. They have shown oodles of patience at the batting crease with K.L. Rahul epitomising the perfect Test match approach. With the ball in hand, the bowlers have been straining at the leash, more so because the tropical storm Earl around Jamaica was threatening to blow away their chances of inflicting an all too rare Windies home whitewash. In a sense, this is the perfect balance of attack and defence.
The all-winning Australian Test team of the Noughties might have been more enterprising at the batting crease, scoring their runs in excess of four an over. What sets this Team India apart from an older version of the world’s top Test team is a bit of street smartness that makes up for the lesser gifts of natural talent. This is a far younger team still very much on a learning curve, which calls for greater patience in terms of nursing the available talent.
No praise can be too high for the opener Rahul who has shown what it takes to be a Test batsman not only when he is out in the middle but also while sitting it out in waiting for a chance to get into the playing XI. Three centuries in six Tests in three different countries — Australia, Sri Lanka and Jamaica — is a phenomenal enough achievement without having to defy the start-stop-go pattern of his career as he waits behind Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan as the two accomplished specialists at the job.
On the three occasions on which he got into the 20s, Rahul converted them into big scores, the latest being the biggest of them all thus far. He has shown not only a huge appetite for going on in the manner of openers who know when they are on to a good thing once they conquer the shine of the new ball but also the elegance of tall batsmen, particularly in his free driving ability through the off side. During his long stand with Cheteshwar Pujara, which saw India pass the inadequate total of the West Indies, it appeared there were two different matches going on with Rahul’s certainty, highlighted a by a clean six to get to the century mark, contrasting sharply with Pujara’s doubts.
There must be some way to fit all three specialist openers in the XI provided they are fit and available. Cheteshwer Pujara, the specialist Test batsman, might seem the odd one out in this company in terms of the ability to accelerate once past the phase of consolidation. It would, however, be cruelty to even think of dropping someone who is tailor made for Test match cricket at a time when success is coming India’s way in the longest format thanks to the newfound balance. He has built the base for so many Test wins that he is not to condemned for a gritty but poor innings.
The one who is building himself into a run machine is Ajinkya Rahane. His ability to grit his teeth and buckle down to the task is what makes him such an achiever. He could be beaten twice in an over with good swing leaving the bat, but he would just smile at his fallibility and then grind his way past the period of uncertainty. No wonder he has seven hundreds already in the Test arena. It least bothers him if comfort at the crease is somewhat hard to achieve when bowlers are fresh and trying extra hard. He is the pillar of the late middle order who lends the batting its true depth.
Greater tests of the batting order may lie ahead, say in England where Virat Kohli has been known to be vulnerable, but there is a feeling the present lot is in a good place at the moment and could well propel Team India back to the top of the pyramid and keep it there for a while.
The six-point difference between the Australians and Indians in the Test ladder is bound to disappear in the comparative performances between Australia in Sri Lanka and India in the Caribbean. It shouldn’t be long before Team India is placed at the top. They can be expected to hold on to it through a long home season and that would be appropriate reward for a young captain and his team.
