There’s an emotionally charged scene in the Shahrukh Khan-starrer Hindi movie Chak De! India where Kabir, the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, takes the squad for a farewell lunch. Owing to their competitive insecurities and regional prejudices, the athletes were divided into factions and refused to obey the orders of the supremo at the behest of their most experienced campaigner. Failing to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts, Shahrukh resigns from his role.
During the meal at McDonalds, anti-social elements eve tease Mary, a penalty specialist. Her colleague Balbir attacks them, precipitating a brawl between the boys and the girls. Kabir does not intervene, instead calmly chews on his burger as he witnesses an incredible galvanization unravel in front of him. Unified through this incident, the ladies go on to bring laurels to their country in the world championship in Australia under Kabir’s mentorship.
Reel life is different from real life, of course, but the lines do blur sometimes. Sam Konstas’ tomfoolery seems to have produced a similar effect on Jasprit Bumrah and his troops Down Under as they face the final frontier in their defence of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The non-striker dived headfirst into a largely innocuous conversation about movement around the sightscreen between Usman Khawaja, Bumrah and the umpire.
Safe to say, the Indian captain wasn’t impressed, losing his calm to exchange a few words and proceeding to give Konstas the death stare after he removed Khawaja on the very next ball. The youngster was almost hounded by the Indian fielders who celebrated aggressively right in his face. ‘’Our boys are calm, but if someone tries to poke us without a reason, we will not be quiet. Play cricket, don’t talk needlessly’’, Rohit Sharma made it abundantly clear in a sideline interview with the host broadcaster.
The skipper’s low yields necessitating a sit-out when push came to shove in Sydney indicates the complexity of the mare’s nest India found themselves in. Save for the hundred in Perth, Virat Kohli had become a walking wicket. Jasprit Bumrah was being bowled into the ground due to the profligacy of Mohammed Siraj, an adjutant from whom India expected control given the transition their pace battery is undergoing. R Ashwin had retired mid-series and there were reports of Gautam Gambhir dressing down his disciples after India lost the Melbourne Test despite an impressive recovery on the fourth day.
Careworn heading into the do-or-die match in Sydney, India found the proverbial tonic via the Konstas episode, the aftereffects of which reflected in the performance of the change seamers, the improved catching and Rishabh Pant’s rip-roaring 61 off 33 balls.
Having rapped Steve Smith on the gloves with his maiden official delivery on tour, Prasidh Krishna broke two crucial stands with fuller lengths even as the randomness of his operation thawed India’s grip on the game after Australia lost 3/49 in the first hour. The ball swung more in the first 10 overs of the second morning than any other 10-over block in the series, and India made merry as the top run-getter of the series, Travis Head, endured his fourth failure on the trot and Marnus Labuschagne hit a bump on the road after consecutive 70s in Melbourne.
Ill at ease facing back-of-a-length deliveries on off-stump, Head has perished thrice in a row in that channel, with Siraj completing the hat-trick as he uncorked an away-angler from round the wicket. Previously in that over, Konstas went for a booming drive irrespective of the late oustwing Siraj was able to extract on a consistent basis. Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting then reprimanded the rookie on air for getting involved in a fight that wasn’t his only to ‘fire the opposition up’.
Australia added 134 runs for the last four wickets in the second innings at Melbourne, stretching the lead to 340 from quite a vulnerable position of 91/6. India lost that fixture by 184 runs so it was imperative that they keep the tail from wagging once more. Although his opening spell resembled Krishna’s in its waywardness, Nitish Reddy returned to nick off Pat Cummins, who tallied 90 runs in Melbourne, and Mitchell Starc, an intimidating wielder of the long handle, off successive balls.
India’s change seamers drew 25% false responses in this innings – the fourth highest by them in eight bowling innings (excluding Adelaide’s second) – but it earned them their biggest bounty of 5/74. With Bumrah leaving the field at the onset of the middle session, the supporting acts turned the regulator up on their incisiveness to fetch India a slim lead.
At the end of the Boxing Day Test, Rohit conceded that India have been flirting with danger as far as Bumrah’s workloads are concerned. “If somebody is in such a great form, you want to try and maximise that form how much ever you can.” The lone ranger has sent down 151.2 overs across five Tests to claim 32 wickets at 13.06 in the series, nine clear of the next best, Cummins. He shares the crown with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for the most scalps by an Indian in a Test series against Australia.
While Bumrah has been an epitome of consistency, Pant saved his best for the last. He shut shop in the first innings to gather 40 off 98, the 150-minute stay as scarcely believable as Kohli’s 79(201) at Newlands three years ago, when he actually slayed the poking demons. Walking in at 59/3, Pant reverted to type in the second essay, advancing to pummel his first ball for six, an archetypal exploit that we should all be accustomed to by now but instead it still drops our jaws to the floor. Received wisdom is to blame, eh.
Aged 23, Pant helped India snap Australia’s 32-year-long winning streak at the Gabba. Chasing 328, the visitors required 161 runs in about 43 overs when he came in at No.5. Wickets fell and overs ticked by, but Pant remained steadfast, pacing his 89* expertly against a revered attack to orchestrate one of the greatest series wins in Test history.
He’s done his job by slamming the second-fastest Test fifty by an Indian. Will Australia lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a decade or can the discombobulated camp fashion its own Chak De! moment?
