India’s series win in Ahmedabad and the road to World Test Championship

In many ways, India ticked many boxes right as the series progressed.

One can always argue that winning at home in Test cricket is not a big deal for the Indian team as the numbers would confirm. Defeating Australia by a margin of 2-1 also meant that India has extended its staggering domination in home conditions to the sixteenth consecutive Test series win. And if you add other statistics ―  India has won the Border-Gavaskar trophy the last four times by a margin of 2:1 then it will again appear as sheer domination by the hosts against the visitors. And, yet numbers, as often, always tell the half-truth, depending on how we look at those numbers.

“The 2-1 result makes me happy. We wanted 3-1, but it did not happen, but I will take 2-1, as it’s not easy to win against Australia. If you see, from Nagpur to Ahmedabad, we have had our share of challenges throughout, and we did not get any easy victories. (The) boys are happy. End of the day, the result is satisfying,” the Indian captain replied to this writer when pointedly asked if the series win was something on expected lines.

Of course, India did eventually win with an emphatic scoreline, but it was never going to be an easy contest. Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid were aware of the challenges they were going to face from this gritty and very tough Australian side. And perhaps that was precisely the main reason that ‘challenging surfaces’ were sought for the first three games. India had to win at least three games to ensure their berth in the World Test Championship (WTC) final to be played at the Oval in England from 7th June.

They were prepared to lose, and they did lose in Indore, after winning in Nagpur and Delhi. And as the saying goes that fortune favours the brave, their cause was helped by New Zealand which defeated Sri Lanka in Christchurch in a last-ball finish which ensured that India’s flight for the Ultimate Test was now booked. "We kept track of what was happening there and general talk in the dressing room was like this team is behind, and this team is ahead and things like that." “It’s not like we were sitting in front of TV, and it’s not coming on TV, so we couldn’t watch it (during lunch break). Some of the guys were keeping track of scores, chat was happening around the dressing room, and we wanted to come out and achieve what we wanted to achieve,” revealed Rohit in his interaction with the press after the customary post series chat.

In many ways, India ticked many boxes right as the series progressed. Most importantly, the greatest Indian Test batsman of this era finally scored a much-awaited hundred. Virat Kohli has been scoring hundreds in T20I and ODIs as pointed out by the captain and numbers corroborate that as well. In the three most high-profile contests across the formats, it is Kohli, the former India captain, who has got the most runs for India ― in Asia Cup 2022, in T20 World Cup 2022, and now in BGT 2023. “Look, he played more than 100 Tests, got so many 100s. For a player like him, it’s a few innings here and there,” said Rohit in complete admiration of his former captain. “I don’t think there was any monkey on Virat’s back.

When you are around a player like that and see how (he goes) about (his) business, you do not feel that kind of thing going (on) in his head. He is just enjoying his cricket at the moment, which you can see. Obviously, he wants to put up big performances for the team, which he has done in the past so many years. He just wants to do that every time he plays for India,” added the Indian captain in reply to a question on whether the team felt relieved that finally Kohli got the monkey off his back for not scoring a Test tonne since November 2019.

Even though Axar Patel is unlikely to be part of the playing XI when India plays the next game in England, his massive contribution with the bat cannot be forgotten in a hurry. His knocks of 84 in Nagpur and 74 in Delhi were decisive innings which tilted the matches in India’s favour when it could have gone either way. However, the local boy again squandered an opportunity to score a Test hundred as he got out for 79 in Ahmedabad. (However), he was the game-changer with the bat throughout the series.

If India did not complain about Patel’s lack of success with the ball in this series, it was largely because of another overwhelming performance by the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin who were rightly adjudged Man of the Series. “Both of them are marathon players for us. They know how to get the job done, especially in this part of the world. You give them the ball, and they get you those breakthroughs,” said Rohit after the match.

Ashwin, especially must be pleased with another memorable series with the ball, as he has grabbed the Man of the Series award for a record 10th time in his career, which no Indian has achieved till now. In fact, only Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) is ahead of him in this regard, while former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis managed nine MOS awards in his illustrious career.

So, is India all set to conquer Australia once again in two months’ time after such an overwhelming series win? Of course, it will be far tougher in England, and especially if you consider that the Ultimate Test will take place immediately after the extravagance of the IPL and fitness of many key players will be a big reason for worry. The Indian captain has indicated that more than IPL, the focus is on the WTC and the preparation for that Test may begin at the earliest, and for some players even during the IPL. “I do not think it will be a huge problem, but yeah, look I believe in preparation, and preparations will be key for us, come the finals. Around 21st May, there will be six teams that will be possibly out of the IPL play-off contention. And so, whichever players are available, we will try and find time to get them to the UK as early as possible and get some time, and we will monitor as much as possible,” said the Indian captain.

That possibly is the first-of-its-kind statement by an Indian captain as far as prioritising Test cricket over IPL is concerned.