India's Young Guns Come To The Fore
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2024-02-28 08:10:37
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The India Commentary view
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When the Test series against England started, there was a lot of buzz about Bazball and how England had pulverized opponents using the unique playing style in Test matches introduced by their head coach Brendon McCullum. Then, when Ollie Pope displayed perfect Bazball to score a scintillating century in Hyderabad and India lost the Test, there was widespread speculation that despite pitches tailored to help their spinners, India would not be able to counter Bazball and lose the series, like they had lost to the Englishmen led by Alistair Cook in 2012-13, their last home series loss.
This speculation was strengthened when the Indian team was hit by absentations of senior players - Virat Kolhi opted out of the entire series due to personal reasons and K L Rahul, Shreyas Iyer & Ravindra Jadeja were hit by injuries while Ishan Kishan's motives remained unclear. But the team management and the selectors were unfazed. They reposed faith in India's famous bench strength and inducted Yashashvi Jaiswal, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraj Khan, Kona Bharat, Dhruv Jurel, and Akash Deep .
Of these young guns Rajat Patidar and Kona Bharat could not take advantage of the opportunity. But the rest excelled and gave shape to the team of the future. Jaiswal has hit two double hundreds and is the leading scorer in the series with 665 runs till now at an average of 93.57. Shubman Gill came back roaring after initial failures and has scored 342 runs at 48.85. Sarfaraz Khan scored two fifties on debut. Dhruv Jurel was the Player of the Match in Ranchi with 90 and 39 not out, both scored under difficult conditions. Akash Deep's first innings burst in Ranchi was absolutely Bumrah-like. And Devdutt Padikkal is waiting on the bench and will most likely be given a chance in the last Test in place of Rajat Patidar.
With seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli nearing the end of their glorious careers, the absentations through injuries and personal reasons were fortunate for Team India. With the success of the young guns in this tough series, it has been able to discover the shape of the team of the immediate future.
