Hours before Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah frustrated the England bowlers in London for a 89-run unbroken ninth wicket partnership with only Mohammed Siraj left to bat, in distant Kingston across the ocean another heroic piece of batting, this time a last-wicket partnership, had taken West Indies to a famous victory over Pakistan.
The heroes at Sabina Park, Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales, stayed together for a little over four overs, which seemed like a lifetime, to get the 17 runs the West Indies still needed when the ninth wicket fell with the score at 151.
Roach’s determination to hang in there inspired 19-year-old Seales, playing in only his third Test, to doggedly defend and fend off the Pakistani bowlers led by Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali.
Mohammed Shami. www.anandabazar.com
“I have never been in a situation like that before, batting with the tail,” fast bowler Roach, a veteran of 66 Test matches whose batting average is under 12, said after the match. “I am part of the tail, so for me it was to go out there and believe. That was the biggest thing — to believe and stay positive — and it worked, and I give thanks.”
Belief is what India captain Virat Kohli also spoke of after the emphatic victory at Lord’s on Monday. Belief that the team could dismiss the England side in the 60 overs available after India had declared.
“We had the belief we can get them out in 60 overs. A bit of tension on the field really motivated us to finish the game,” he said.
Shami (56 not out off 70 balls) and Bumrah (34 not out off 64) put together 89 runs, India’s fourth highest for the ninth wicket in away Tests, which helped them set England a target of 272 to win.
“Putting their hand up was something we were really proud of... They showed the belief and desire in them to do well for the team. We know how priceless those runs are,” Kohli said.
Amid the euphoria over the Lord’s heroics, it would be easy to forget that Shami and Bumrah contributed with the bat in the first Test at Nottingham as well. India’s last three wickets added 73, Bumrah — with only 43 runs from his previous 20 Tests — getting 28 off 34 balls, a personal best which he improved at Lord’s.
It’s said that the best indicator of a cricket team’s collective morale is how mentally tough its lower-order batsmen are, or in football the penalty-takers in a shootout are.
The heart that Roach and Seales and Shami and Bumrah showed suggests a strong collective bonding within the respective squads.
Fifty years ago, this collective spirit found expression in what is still the highest ninth wicket stand for India in an away Test.
India, led by a new captain, Ajit Wadekar, were touring the West Indies. In the first Test, at the very Sabina Park where Roach and Seales sealed the victory on Sunday, India’s No.4 Dilip Sardesai first stitched a 137-run partnership with Eknath Solkar for the sixth wicket to give the innings some respectability.
But India were still not out of the woods when wicketkeeper Pochiah Krishnamurthy was clean bowled by the off-spinner Jack Noreiga with the scoreboard reading 260 for 8. Sardesai was joined by Erapalli Prasanna, a spin wizard not particularly proficient with the bat, but the two carried on to add 122 precious runs for the ninth wicket before Sardesai fell for a monumental 212.
India reached a safe score for 387, made the West Indies follow on, and though the Test ended in a draw, the partnership lifted the morale of the side which finally culminated in a famous first series win in the Caribbean. Of course, aided by the 774 runs of a 21-year-old Sunil Gavaskar, who would make his debut in the second Test at Port-of-Spain.
One key factor in India’s recent triumph in Australia was the grit shown by the entire squad, not one or two or three cricketers. Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin batted heroically for over 42 overs to save the Test in Sydney; in the fourth Test at Brisbane, Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar put on 123 for the seventh wicket in the first innings when Australia had been pretty much controlling the game. It was Sundar’s debut Test, Thakur’s second. Sundar came into the act in the second innings as well, giving a rampaging Rishabh Pant company to put together 53 for the sixth wicket which helped set up the victory.
Resistance at the bottom of the order can lead bowling units to unravel, and the way Shami and Bumrah took the game away on Monday gave the Indian pace quartet the added resolve to go for England’s already brittle batting. Add to that the “tension” Kohli spoke about — the battle between Bumrah and James Anderson which became a mental game the English lost.
“Someone comes after our player and rest of the 10 guys get pumped as well. That’s the kind of atmosphere and team bonding that we have. If you go after one of our guys that means you are going after the whole team,” player-of-the-match KL Rahul said at the post-game media conference.
“Bowlers were really keen to have a go and have a crack out there in the middle and give it their all in 60 overs. This is what people come to watch and it only speaks about how badly each team wants to win.”
From the high of 1971, Wadekar experienced the low of Lord’s in 1974 when his team was bundled out for 42. Kohli has to ensure that the all-for-one-and-one-for-all environment that exists in the good times is intact even during the tough times.