White & Red!

Whenever India visits England or Australia, Every Indian Fan would have hopes of Building a Solid Foreign CV. When India finishes off their historic Afghan Tesr at Bengaluru in 2 days, I Was there at Chinnaswamy with greater hopes,wishing this time it’s going to be tough for England. Even today I Believe, even after burying all those hopes I Believe, unlike the former visits this series were really tough for home side. Apart From the Second test, Indians were never out of the context. I would say this is the best Indian Pace attack that visited England. 287,180,396,317,161,271,246;- The Bowlers really gave their 100%. Taking 67 wickets out of 70,never allowing a good batting home side to reach 500 or 600 is really an achievement. But Still we lost. How and Why?

The difference between both the sides were When Indians had Sessions,England had days. And Test Cricket is all about Days. For me the Player of the Series is Sam Curran,followed by Jos Butler and Ben Stokes. I think these 3 names or their roles remains as the key difference between the 2 teams;- Wicket Keeper+Batsman & All rounder. When Hardik Pandya Walked back to Pavilion at Rose Bowl for a 7ball blob, I had a few questions in mind! ‘Is Indian Team is playing with 6 Batsmen?” But When he bowls,the questions differs slightly “ Is India Playing with 4 Bowlers?”. Am a huge admirer of Fast Bowling allrounders and I was literraly happy when I thought India got one in form of Hardik. 93 in Cape town and Trent Bridge Fifty were really up to the mark, but is he reliable or consistent? We have to be satisfied with these glimpses still? I don’t know. I rate Ashwin much better Allrounder than Hardik in Tests. So My question is “Do we really need an extra Allrounder?”. Yes, He got a fifer In last match & scored a 50 too,but its just one innings among 8. Is it enough, especially playing him instead of a specialist batsman or a bowler. 17 wickets in 11 tests(five of those came in one spell) as well being expensive is really raising a question for Virat. He has been India’s most expensive bowler on this tour and his career economy of 3.38 too doesn’t inspire.

And with bat in this series, his statistics read as 112 runs in 7 innings at an average of 16. His Foreign numbers look as 283 runs in 7 tests at an average of 21.76. Apart from those one or two glimpses ,there is nothing much to cherish about him. I Know,its annoying to be harsh on a player,especially when he is so young and inexperienced. But You have to be aware of the fact that, Specialised Batsman like Karun Nair and all are waiting in the bench. Since its Potential has not delivered ,let Hardik goes and play first class cricket. I think we have this problem of giving too much of importance to shorter format form. We think the same can be replicated in whites. There are lot of differences between White Ball and Red Ball cricket. Let him play Domestic cricket in whites and improve. He is just 24, and who knows he could become a player like Stokes or even better. I rate players who scores 20 off 100 in tough scenarios than the ones who scores run a ball fifty in 400 scoring game. If we are still giving him chances, then atleast play a technically sounded young wicket keeper batsman, as tests are always about testing the technique and resilience. I think Sanju Samson may be a better option. It’s not about slogging or hitting, but just about temperament as Tests still remains as a Cat and Mouse Game!

- Rohith Ramesh