The slow symphony of test cricket
The market would have India's chances at less than 25% at the start of the day, but the mastery of skill displayed had many believe otherwise.
107 to chase with 10 wickets to go.
Many Kiwis play in the IPL, and their coaches participate. As a test side, the golden generation won a memorable World Test Championship title not too long ago. This very team has already been in the sub-continent for over a month, and this was supposed to be test number 4 of 6. Considering the two previous scores in the same Test were over 400 runs each, this shouldn’t be too tight of a chase.
14 balls in, former wicketkeeper Ian Smith isn’t happy with skipper Tom Latham wasting a review so early on. As per Smith, chasing 107 against a bowling line-up of this quality is like chasing 160-170, and that review could be useful when they are 8 wickets down.
Even the Kiwis believe in India’s ability to fight. This is no ordinary Indian side after all. They haven’t lost a test series in nearly 12 years. If a home game slips away from them, they win the next 10 on average. And they are coming to pounce like a pride of lions.
Their leader with the ball Jasprit Bumrah is an artist, but he yields his energy with the technical precision of a Swiss watch. Early in his spell, he’s already bowled a couple that took off like a comet in outer space. Opener Devon Conway seems clueless. He knows he has to be patient, but when are those half-volleys going to come?
At one point, he’s batting 3 off 22 balls. Virat Kohli starts to clap overhead at 1st slip, getting ready to conduct the energy of this familiar Chinnaswamy crowd. Smith acknowledges that one of Conway’s toughest battles on a cricket field will be the one going on right now, the one against the artist from Ahmedabad.
But the relentlessness is being compounded by every other man in an Indian jersey. Mohammed Siraj, in the middle of his spell, runs to fine leg, dives full length, and stops a boundary. R Ashwin’s had a forgettable test by his standards, but even he is rising to the occasion with a dive.
8 overs done, just 13 on the board. There is no escape.
Not all theatre needs extravagance. There’s no glamour, no auctions to endlessly discuss, no cheerleaders to bring the energy. Just the simplicity that moves you like a Van Gogh painting of the French countryside.
When India won at Lords in 2021, Virat Kohli demanded his team make those 60 overs hell for the home team. Not everything in the test had gone their way, but the intensity they showed was so fierce, that the English weren’t sure if they were playing at home or away. This week’s display in Bangalore was not much different.
Unlike Lords, New Zealand finished 110/2 on their way to their first test win in India since 1988. A cursory look at the scorecard might make it look like a relatively easy win, but those who watched it all unravel couldn’t blink for the better part of 2 hours. The match was probably lost on Day 2 when India was bundled out for 46 all out and misread the conditions by picking 3 spinners, but the Indians kept doing the basics right and made 107 feel like a trek to the top of Kilimanjaro.
It wasn’t only about today though. The brash stars of the 2016 U-19 World Cup, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant, didn’t carry any fear of defeat. A deficit of 350+ was chased down at the run rate of nearly 5 an over. Batting on one knee, Pant survived two LBW shouts in one over and still stepped down to smack Ajaz Patel on the last ball. Not in many partnerships would someone like Pant have to play second fiddle, but 4-test-old Sarfaraz Khan had believed for too long to give up now.
New Zealand might have won the battle, but they will know India got some punches in. This is just the start of what’s to unfold in the next few weeks. As an Indian fan, there is a sense of disappointment, but every second of the fight was worth it. Just like the Kiwis, India’s golden generation is headed to a sunset. Shortly, the reign is going to end, and it’s going to suck like a bad breakup.