End of a painstaking two years

The Indian team can now breathe easy after a 3-0 series win against the might of the Proteas. Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers vainly tried to elude an inevitable defeat through some entertaining display of defensive stroke-play.

Other than the Bangalore Test Match, the series turned out to be a dream run for the Indians. Mohali served us with a big surprise when the traditionally fast and bouncy track provided prodigious turn for all the spinners.

The Nagpur pitch turned like a spitting cobra which drew conclusion on the third Test match in just under three days and Nagpur being the city of Oranges, I won’t shy away from saying that even an orange would have generated fair amount of bite on a track which broke the backbone of an otherwise heavyweight South African batting line-up.

It took no more than 247 overs for all 40 wickets to tumble and handed Virat Kohli – The Captain – his first home Test series triumph.

Well, that’s sweet, but what’s sweeter is that the victory broke South Africa’s unbeaten streak of 15 Test series in nine years. It must be said that India is becoming a streak-derailing specialist. First, it was Australia in 2001 when a vibrant side led by Sourav Ganguly broke the Kangaroos’ spell of 16 successive Test match victories and now it was Virat Kohli’s turn.

Amidst all the jubilation surrounding India’s victories in the Freedom series, rose some controversies regarding the nature of pitches in India which could be detrimental to Test cricket’s image in the long run and to some degree I take a stance for them.

But, if we dig deeper into the subject, we may find that India rightfully earned such tracks at least for this series. Homecoming is something every team craves for and not playing on the home turf for two long years aggravates the appetite for playing at home.

West Indies was touring India for a two-match Test Series in November 2013. It happened to be Sachin Tendulkar’s final series in International Cricket. Coincidentally, the series turned out to be India’s last Test series at home for as long as two years.

During this period, India dropped only one place, from third to fourth, in the ICC Test Rankings, which is a commendable performance considering the fact that other teams were bearing fruit on home soil.

India tour of South Africa 2013/14

India had the Proteas on the mats in the first Test in Johannesburg when India reduced them to 197/4 with close to 75 overs remaining.

It was courtesy Faf du Plessis’ and AB de Villiers’ heroics that South Africa achieved the improbable of saving the Test match. India eventually lost the series 1-0, but results don’t always reveal the whole story.

Indian pitches are always criticised for not producing batsmen who can score tons of runs on bouncy tracks. And sticking to the proverb “Action speaks louder than words”, Indian batsman boastfully held the top three spots for the top run-getters in the series (Cheteshwar Pujara – 280, Virat Kohli – 272 and Ajinkya Rahane – 209).

India tour of New Zealand 2014

In the first Test, India almost pulled off a miraculous chase of 406 runs, falling short by 40 runs, after conceding a humungous lead of 301 runs in the first innings. New Zealand, courtesy a Brendon McCullum double ton 224 (307), amassed 503 runs in the first innings, despite a six-wicket haul by Ishant Sharma and then bundled out India for 202 runs.

The comeback started with India ripping apart the New Zealand batting for a meagre 105 runs. And, there is a buzz around the cricketing fraternity that Indian pace attack is not growing due to the pitches in India. New Zealand’s second innings’ demise was caused by Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, and Ishant Sharma – three trusted Indian fast bowlers.

The second Test until the end of second day’s play was on India’s grasp. With a lead of 150 with five New Zealand wickets to go, the Indian team was cantering towards victory. But Brendon McCullum had some other plans in mind and it was initiated by a drop-catch by Virat Kohli at short mid-on. McCullum went on to score 302 runs to rescue the Kiwis.

India lost the series 1-0, but it wasn’t a one-sided affair. It was also relieving to see an Indian pace bowler in Ishant Sharma being the highest wicket-taker in the series with 15 wickets, something, which is strong enough to silence critics.

India tour of England- The Pataudi Trophy 2014

Strong-willed performances by an effervescent Indian side slowly faded away into abysmal performances at the end of the England Test Series.

A super-human display of batting prowess by Joe Root 154 (295) and James Anderson 81 (130) shelled out an unlikely draw for England in the first test at Nottingham, despite Murali Vijay’s ton 146 (361), a dual half-century for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and some lion-hearted bowling by the Indian pace battery.

Unlike the first Test match, India didn’t permit the opportunity to slide away and notched up a historic win at Lord’s, thanks to a prodigious spell of emitting fire by Ishant Sharma (23-6-74-7).

The graph somehow headed towards the wrong direction in the remainder of the series. Somewhere down the line, there was a tinge of feeling that India with all their heart and soul was fighting a lost battle.

India was inflicted by a humiliating result of 3-1 in the Test Series. But there were some bright spots amidst the abysmal performances. Murali Vijay mastered 402 runs with a superlative hundred in the opening Test.

Ishant Sharma bagged the distinction of best figures by an Indian fast bowler at the Lord’s and the rise of Bhuvneshwar Kumar – the batsman who ended as the fourth highest run-getter for India in the series.

India’s tour of Australia- The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014/15

The England series wasn’t the end of what had rather been a nightmarish last three to four months. India suffered a drubbing in the hands of the Kangaroos, this time by a margin of 2-0.

But the series was much closer to what the score line displayed. The series saw Virat Kohli’s stride into the leadership role after MS Dhoni decided to step aside both as a player and as a leader.

The Adelaide Test had India placed tantalisingly close to the target, courtesy some supernatural display of artwork with the willow in hand by Virat Kohli 141 (175) and Murali Vijay 99 (234).

It was an out-and-out shame when India served the match on a plate to Australia, getting reduced from 242/2 to 315 all out and it was initiated by Nathan Lyon, finishing with a seven-wicket haul in the second innings.

India went down 2-0 after being made to bow down by some fiery bowling by the Australian pace bowlers. Indian pacers tried their heart out, picking up six Australian wickets and, therefore, making them sweat in chasing even a modest 130 runs.

Virat Kohli 169 (272), along with Ajinkya Rahane 147 (171), with the bat in hand and Mohammed Shami (match figures of 57-8-230-6) were the Indian stars in the third Test at Melbourne.

In a quest to play out 66 overs to save the match India lost three wickets within eight overs. It was some sensible head in Rahane, Kohli and Dhoni that ensured India eventually ending a six Test-match losing streak.

The fourth Test witnessed the emergence of another expected stalwart from Karnataka, after Rahul Dravid. KL Rahul recorded his maiden Test ton and scoring it on a fast track worked as the icing on the cake. To sum up the series, in a nutshell, India had their moments, only to be snatched away by the opposition.

Virat Kohli amassed 692 runs in four matches with four hundred to his credit, breaking Sunil Gavaskar’s record of most runs by an India in a four-Test series in Australia. He also made his own the record of becoming the first player in the history of Test Cricket to notch up three tons in his first three innings as a skipper.

A supporting role to the naked eye, taking into account the standards set by Virat Kohli’s class and flair, Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane didn’t disappoint either.

India in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka 2015

This was the comparatively easier part of the two-year overseas Test battle for India. The only Test against Bangladesh was washed away.

“Tough character can overpower any challenge” turned out to be moral of the story. India was pushed to the walls after their demise on a turning Galle track, chasing 176 runs.

This was the last time India tasted defeat in the series. The second test turned out to be Sri Lanka’s turn to fall down on their faces by a massive 278 runs. The third Test was no different either and India snatched victory by a margin of 2-1 from the jaws of defeat.

Teams go through tough times, but in the case of India, the rough times lasted for the last couple of years. India weathered every possible storm fearlessly. Maybe the results of some of the matches didn’t go in India’s favour, but that doesn’t take away the credit of some of the superlative performances from the players.

All in all, India, after being ruthlessly pained for the last couple of years, deserved the comfort zone of their home turf like every other Test playing nation.