In June 1974, India were bowled out for 42 in the second innings against England at Lord’s, the ‘Mecca’ of cricket. For 46 years, that was to be India’s lowest-ever score in a Test match innings, till the humiliation at Brisbane last year. The ‘Summer of 42’ ended the career of India’s captain Ajit Wadekar and endured for decades as the most painful memory for India fans inured to years of disappointment and loss. No longer. If the miracle at Melbourne had quickly exorcised the ghost of Brisbane, India’s emphatic win over England on Monday has at last consigned that painful episode permanently to the dusty back pages of history. The turnaround couldn’t be more complete.
India, once the subject nation of an imperial master, had managed to turn the tables on their erstwhile rulers – at their own game, in their own land and at the very home of cricket. If in June 1974, a shaky Indian team had crumbled to the English pace attack, it was India’s pace attack that did the trick this time. For the first time in 531 tests that England have played on home soil, they lost both their openers for a duck. In Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and veteran Ishant Sharma, India now has a pace quartet which can take 20 opposition wickets on any ground in the world, under any conditions, with a few more able replacements warming the bench.
Of course, India has often had bowling attacks capable of skittling out the opposition – the golden spin era of Bedi, Chandrashekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghavan comes to mind – but it has not always been backed by a batting side capable of scoring in hostile conditions and under pressure. But this team is different. If in the first innings, a defiant century by opener KL Rahul had nullified the disadvantages of losing the toss as well as England Captain Joe Root’s grinding century that followed, the record ninth wicket partnership between Shami and Bumrah turned a match which England had hoped to win at the start of the fifth day’s play into one which they had to fight not to lose. A fight they lost, thanks to an India team which is today the team to beat in world cricket.
Test cricket is a test of character as much as skill and Virat Kohli’s side has shown that it possesses both in spades. It has the mental strength to come back after crashing to the lowest score in test cricket at Adelaide to winning the next at Brisbane and then the next at Sydney, even with rookie batsmen and net bowlers. But the win at Lord’s is not a one-off, like in the past. It is a product of years of planning and development, as well as the huge financial muscle provided by the fanatical following the game has in our country. It is the product of organised cricket at every level, as well as an inherently fair system which has enabled talent from small town India to emerge and reach the top. It is, in a real sense, the epitome of the new India, the India that India actually aspires to be – a world beater.
