Thrown into the deep end, a bunch of young cricketers beat the rough waves to swim to the shores of success. That has been the story of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel in the ongoing Test series against England.
In fact, it can safely be said that the young brigade played the leading role in India’s 17th straight Test series win at home. After losing the first Test, India staged an impressive turnaround and now have an unassailable 3-1 lead over England.
A stiff task awaited the rookies in the Indian camp with many first-choice players missing. Virat Kohli was not there, KL Rahul was ruled out after the first Test while Ravindra Jadeja could not play the second game in Visakhapatnam with a hamstring injury.
However, these young cricketers ensured they grabbed the bull by the horns.
That the likes of Jaiswal (already with two double centuries in this series), Gill,
Sarfaraz and Jurel never really got overawed by the situation and churned out quality knocks, reflects their strong mindset.
Jaiswal and Gill weren’t exactly newcomers, but they did have to shoulder extra responsibility in the absence of the bigger names. To speak of Sarfaraz, he didn’t look comfortable in the just-concluded fourth Test, but then he hit back-to-back fifties in the Rajkot Test which helped India cross 400 in both innings.
And then there’s Jurel, without whom India may not have sealed the series with the final Test, in Dharamsala from March 7, to spare. Composure, temperament and tenacity — the 23-year-old keeper-batter ticked all the boxes.
“You never know... Even after Rishabh Pant’s return, Jurel could still retain his place in the XI as a specialist batter. He has proved he can be an asset to the team just as a batsman too,” a BCCI insider told The Telegraph on Tuesday.
Overseas test
India’s future in Test cricket seems to be in good hands. On home soil that is. Can these youngsters replicate their success when they play away from home, in alien conditions?
There’s no doubt that they will face tough scrutiny when they travel to Australia later this year for a five-Test series, while tours to New Zealand and England are also lined up in 2025.
For the aggressive Jaiswal in particular, tackling the pacer-friendly conditions and extra bounce in Australia against the likes of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will be a completely different scenario than tackling opposition bowlers on flat and slow pitches at home. In New Zealand and England, combating seam and swing is an altogether different challenge, which even some superstars have struggled to deal with.
Of Jaiswal’s performances abroad, he began with a century on debut against the West Indies at Tarouba. But later in the two Tests in South Africa, the left-hander aggregated only 50 runs in four innings.
For success in Australia, facing wet tennis balls on concrete pitches could be a part of Jaiswal’s preparation while strengthening his front-
foot play should also be of good help for the left-handed opener.
For Jurel and Sarfaraz too, it will be a different experience, provided they are selected for Australia and the other overseas tours.
“I’m happy that they now have got a taste of the tough situations. Because, when you tour Australia, England, South Africa, it gets a bit difficult for those who have not travelled there. But we have also seen people make runs the first time they went to Australia,” skipper Rohit Sharma pointed out.
The youngsters, it seems, have earned the captain’s faith.
