new delhi: A sample size of one game is not enough to make a sweeping judgement but India certainly did not miss their recently retired superstars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the opening Test against England with the new top-four giving a very settled look to the batting line-up.
How long would it take fill the void left by Rohit and Kohli? This question dominated the discussions leading up to the first Test at Headingly.
New captain Shubman Gill, whose record in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries was questioned, had to make a significant contribution to earn the respect of the dressing room.
Not only did he make a statement hundred as India’s new number four, the visitors tallied as many as five centuries across two innings yet somehow managed to lose the game, thanks to a bowling attack which is heavily reliant on Jasprit Bumrah.
KL Rahul was all class at the top of the order, shutting the debate on his batting slot for the foreseeable future. He put a masterclass on how to bat in English conditions.
His opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had smashed a memorable hundred to start his maiden tour of Australia, replicated that in his first innings in England.
There were questions on Gill’s defence and his technique against the moving ball but he reinvented his game ahead of an important tour.
The way he used his feet was duly noted by the greats of the game, including former captain Sourav Ganguly, who was pleasantly surprised by the improvement.
“I am so happy to see his feet (movement) away from home, there’s a massive improvement in that away from home. Shubman’s feet were fantastic, didn’t make a mistake,” Ganguly said recently.
And there was Rishabh Pant at No. 5, achieving a rare feat of two hundreds in a Test with a welcome mix of maturity and flamboyance, showing he was ready to change gears.
New No. 3 Sai Sudharsan got out off a innocuous ball in the first innings before showing promise in the second essay.
He is expected to be given a long rope and the same goes for Karun Nair, who would be looking to keep his drives through the ground after lean returns from the game.
India have a lot to improve in the bowling and fielding department but the batting seems to be sorted for now.
“We can tell end of the series whether the transition has happened (following retirements of Rohit and Kohli),” former India chief selector MSK Prasad said.
The batting doing well is not a surprise as they are they are seasoned cricketers. Gill, Yashasvi, Pant, KL, they all were outstanding and have been around for long. I want to talk more about KL, when he plays like that, Test cricket looks at its best,” he said. Prasad said he won’t be making any changes to the playing XI at Edgbaston despite clamour for Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion.