Mumbai, Jan 31
Pressure. It was on England when they started playing 1st Test at Hyderabad against home team India. The world was unsure of how they were going to play spin in these five Tests. The way England batted in the first innings, it seemed like the template for next 9 innings. Baffled by turn and bounce, England got bowled out for 246. A similar show was expected of them in the 2nd innings as well but to everyone’s surprise, Ollie Pope came out with a determined mind to play an outstanding knock of 196 runs. That was Bazball at its best. Pope braved the spinners and tackled the challenge with guts.
Truth is India have been shocked by England’s guts, or to say in other words, Bazball. That is the need of the hour in Test cricket and that is exactly how India can also pack a punch. By being aware, and not over-defensive.
Despite the poor show in first innings of the Hyderabad Test, Stokes allowed his players to play their natural game. He did not shy away from giving a ball to Tom Hartley despite horrendous figures of 2 for 131. He allowed Pope to sweep and reverse-sweep and tackle Indian spinners in his own way.
Rohit Sharma needs to do the same. But can he do with the same set of players, especially in the batting department. India needs a fresh approach and it cannot be applied with players who are out of form. They had benefitted from tis fresh approach by default on that historic tour of Australia in 2020-21, when Ajinkya Rahane-led team beat Australia 2-1 in their own backyard.
With Virat Kohli gone home and players like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami among others falling prey to injuries, players who were warming the bench came in to the playing 11. They did not just show up. They played out of their skins and put up a performance to rememeber for years to come. Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan, Mohammed Siraj were not the first-choice picks in the Test team but they sprung a surprise. While India were forced to accomodate these players in the XI due to injuries, today, the management must get some new faces in to do the same as part of a plan. Sarfaraz Khan is one such new face. Look at his stats. He has scored tons of runs in Ranji Trophy, India A cricket, and other domestic tournaments. He has waited a long time to get the maiden call-up and his non-selection was rightly baffling to many.
Sarfaraz has piled up huge scores in the past thre Ranji seasons. But what makes him special is his courage as a batter. He is not afraid to take risks and attacks the opponents when unexpected.
Talking about numbers, Sarfaraz has played 45 first-class matches, scoring 3912 runs at an excellent average of 69.85. He has 14 tons and 11 fifties to his name with the highest score of unbeaten 301.
Sarfaraz is averaging 82.45 in FC since 2020. This is an incredible feat and it is quite shocking to note that selectors continued to ignore these numbers for such a long time. In 2019-20 season, Sarfaraz smashed 928 runs in just 9 innings. In 2021-22, he smashed 982 runs at an average of 122.75.
He was a big reason why Mumbai reached the final before losing it to Madhya Pradesh.He is the first batter to score 900+plus rins in two successive Ranji Trophy seasons.
If Sarfaraz is picked to replace KL Rahul, he must also be played in the 2nd Test. There is no use of wasting such a talent on the bench when the regulars have consistently failed in the middle.
Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer deserve to be dropped and the time has come to be brave and give wings to the new players like Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan. England have debut to Hartley on a tough way tour like India. Rehan Ahmed, with just one Test experience, was thrown in as well. These guys delivered the goods because there was faith in their abilities. India must stop fearing the outcome and back the potential in Safaraz and Rajat.
Shubman has underperformed throughout 2023. In 11 innings played since June 2023, Shubman has scored just 173 runs at an average of 17.30 with the highest score of 36. Shreyas Iyer has not played any good knock since the one against Bangladesh in 2022. His last few scores read as: 4, 12,0, 26, 31, 6, 0, 4 not out, 35, 13.
Dravid and Rohit need to realise that playing Iyer and Gill, at the moment, is playing with fire. You cannot win matches with two batters who are consistently underperforming. Stars are born on big stages. It is about time Sarfaraz and Rajat get the taste of Test cricket. Let’s try them.
Here’s what India’s playin
