It was indeed a superb performance by the Indians against England, though they missed the chance to cleansweep. India outclassed England in all departments after the first Test ended in a draw at Rajkot. In fact England looked off colour after that Test match. Virat Kohli led India proved that the series wins they had achieved prior to this all important series were not flash on the pan.
More importantly when India used its bench strength, all who got chances lent a good support, which was the main plus point in the series. Karun Nair was outstanding of all the youngsters, although he took some time to prove his mettle. And Chennai proved to be the right place for him as he became the only second Indian to score a triple century in Test cricket after the swashbuckling Veerendra Sehwag, who in fact made two double tons – one of the two he hammered at the same ground against the Proteas. Karun is a highly talented young player from Karnataka and given the opportunities he can go a long way as the legendary Sunil Gavaskar was also all praise for him. Sunny also mentioned that Karun is blend of GRVishwanath and Rahul Dravid.
Now there will be fight between Ajinkya Rahane and Karun for a place when Rahane comes back into the Indian team. Top order clicked well in this series. Murali Vijay, Rahul and Parthiv, making a comeback after a pretty long time gave good starts, while Poojara and evergreen Kohli batted brilliantly right through. Captain was a bit unlucky to have missed some great chances to break a couple of records.
And the other main area where India looked strong was in bowling, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja leading the show. They not only bowled superbly, but also batted excellently. They were of course well supported by Jadav, in the lower order. Medium pacers Shami, Umesh also impressed with their fine spells, giving the important breakthroughs.
And now the million dollar question is how far India will travel successfully. At home they are no doubt almost invincible at the moment. If this young side can achieve series wins overseas it can be great for India. The way they are performing with consistency, it wont be long before India dominate abroad as well. Hope they will continue to perform well in the one-day series which is coming up next, before Australia visits.
But it was yet another poor show by England. Except Joe Root, Moen Ali. Stokes and their captain who showed good form in patches, the rest cut a sorry figure. Hope happy Christmas approaching and the new year is beginning soon England will have some good luck.
Sudeer Mahavaadi – DD Commentator
