AJAY RAWAT

Penning down all my feelings about the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, before they evaporate. There’s definitely a power up there, that makes stories so incredible. These scripts can’t be written by man! A series named after the greatest cricketers produced by the two respective nations, produces a spectacle that befits their skill, talent, legend and fight! 5 matches with each match going down to the last day. No team giving a single inch to the other. A truly deserved 2-2 at the end. Team India, led by Shubman Gill in absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, was under severe skepticism right from the start. Bumrah’s unavailability for 2 games, Gambhir’s questionable record in Tests and the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer were all casting long shadows of doubt. I’ve often maintained, inexperience and immaturity are not the same things. The heart shown by this young team aided by supreme individual performances makes this the greatest series draw ever. Shubman’s sublime batting, KL’s class and Yashasvi’s fearlessness were all writ large throughout. There were episodes of brilliance from Akash, Washington, Sai, Karun and others as well. But from the Indian team, 3 individual performances have to be lauded separately, Rishab Pant’s theatrics, his courage and unpredictability stood out for me. Ravindra Jadeja’s calm and invaluable 360 degree contribution will go down as the best all-round performance in recent memory. And, finally, Mohd Siraj! The man evokes patriotism, energy and passion from every cell of his being. The man has become gigantic after this series, only to accommodate the sheer size of his heart. Team England was no less either. Right from Root’s recording smashing runs to Ben Stokes’ all-round awesomeness. Brooks, Ducket, Crawley, Tongue, Archer all of them bared their souls out. For Rishab Pant who walked in with a broken toe, we had Woakes walk with a broken shoulder. For a high tension loss in Lords for India, there was an equally high tension loss for England at the Oval. Yes, the teams won 2 games each, but even the game that was a Draw had among the most thrilling displays of cricketing resilience ever. To add spunk to the highest quality ingredients, there was a lot of spice and fire being thrown from both the camps. Right from Shubman asking England to grow a pair to Stokes teasing Jadeja and Washington about their well deserved hundreds. If that wasn’t enough, even the coach and curator added to the drama between the games. Think of the cultural perspective as well. It’s really a merger of equals. The score-line reflects that. England started Cricket, but India now runs it. England colonized and ruled India, yet, many years later, Indians own the most valuable pieces of real estate in London. Chicken Tikka Masala is UK’s national dish, while Indians form the largest English speaking population in the world. India’s GDP crossed that of UK last year and we recently signed a historic Free Trade Agreement with them too. What a moment in time. I write all this, not for you to read, but for me to preserve how I feel. Because years later, the scoreline will just reflect a 2-2 draw. But, only those who went through this collectively would know that like most instances in life, numbers can never capture what all of us went through over 25 days of this most beautiful experience called - Test Cricket.