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The last Test match India played in January at Adelaide, in presence of Dravid and Laxman, they were humiliated by a side that are not good as the old Australian side. The loss also meant that, it was the first time since 2000 India faced an embarrassing whitewash at the hands of Australians and lost 8 consecutive Test matches overseas. But some sort of relief comes, when we begin a new season especially at home against Kiwis who have been having a poor time at international level, following a series loss against Windies.
Kiwis came to India after suffering a crushing defeat against Windies both in ODI and Test series. The performance in the first Test was similar to that of Windies and they had their flaws clearly exposed. Generally, Kiwis aren’t very good players of spin bowling ever since the retirement of their finest players like Vincent, Fleming, Nathan Astle and Cairns. They haven’t found a player yet who is a specialist in playing spin bowling and therefore had to face an embarrassing defeat against India. Whenever and wherever New Zealand had their flaws exposed, India were ruthless.
India on the other hand, started this series as favourites despite the absence of their stalwarts. After the IPL, they’ve had nearly two months break and started the new-season with an emphatic series win in Sri Lanka. The win in Sri Lanka has given much needed confidence to this Indian team, which they’ve carried forward into this Test series against New Zealand. It was an all-round performance from India, as all the players played their part.
Here are my lists of players, who have played a major role in India’s victory in the first Test.
M S Dhoni – This man has been having a tough period with a series of defeats in overseas and failed to lift the IPL Trophy after having qualified for the finals. At the same time, M S Dhoni has led India to some memorable wins. After winning the ODI and T20 series in Sri Lanka, his confidence level was high and he carried on his form that he showed against Sri Lanka. Dhoni has been India’s go-to man in times of crisis. During the tour of England and Australia, Dhoni has been the star performer for India with the failure of India’s senior players.
Also, when we talk of captaincy material, it is MS Dhoni who possesses all skills that are required for a captain. Although, he had made some blunders in Australia and England, he has rectified his mistakes and came out victorious in the first Test against New Zealand. What he did initially was, by trial and error he was shuffling his bowlers in Test matches. But nowadays after Australia series, he had fixed the problem and started analyzing the movement of the opposition. As a result, he has been able to analyze each individual’s strength and weaknesses. For instance, in the 1st innings of New Zealand, while Brendon was dispatching the fast-bowlers all round the park, Dhoni brought in a sudden change to curb the run-flow. Once he brought his dependable spinner Ashwin, wickets started to tumble for New Zealand. The fact here is, he realized that New Zealand are going after the bowling and brought his spinners at the right time (6th over Ashwin came onto bowl). Had he realized late, then who knows, New Zealand would have posted an imposing task for India.
Ravichandran Ashwin - Ravichandran Ashwin has been Dhoni’s key man. Even in IPL, whenever runs started leaking, he tosses the ball to Ashwin and in turn he gets reward from his bowler. Ashwin, who was selected ahead of Harbhajan for the Australian tour, didn’t have an outstanding tour as he was not hitting the deck right. Also, he was not getting purchase from the wicket. But this wicket was ideally suited to him as he was getting the ball to turn, flight and he posed a threat to all New Zealand players. He got rid off New Zealand’s influential players, who may have proved to be game-changers.
His victims were Guptill, Ross Taylor, Flynn, Jeetan Patel, Boult and Martin. All of them were either trapped in front or deceived by the turn. However, if he can still work on the carom ball and concentrate on his length, then undoubtedly he will emerge as India’s lead off-spinner.
Pujara – Playing only in his fourth match, Pujara has shown an amazing level of maturity on his way to a brilliant century. He proved to be the nut that couldn’t be cracked for all the Kiwi bowlers, who tried all possible varieties to get him out. He kept his composure for collecting runs constantly to grind the opposition.
Pujara, who has been waiting for a chance at the international level after making an impressive debut in 2010, was asked to bat at 3. Pujara never made me feel the absence of Dravid. He made good use of this opportunity that was provided to him and should cement his place permanently in the squad. When asked about the knock he has said, “West Indies tour helped me a lot to prepare for this series. Still this is not enough”
With second Test starting in a few days, Dhoni should not change this winning combination and must marshal his resources as he did in this Test. Yet again, he plays a crucial role and if he delivers on a continuous basis for India, then other players will also start performing for India.
