The Kiwis tame the Indian Tiger in their backyard

The men's Indian cricket team has been used to winning Test matches at home on rank-turners inside three days. They have just been handed-over a reality check by the New Zealand cricket team. Two successive defeats in three days each on different pitches and weather conditions, saw the Indian cricket team succumb to both pace and spin. The top two - skipper Rohit and Virat batted like novices in three of the four innings, trying to let their egos come in between them and the not so celebrated bowlers. New Zealand have not really been a force in Asian conditions. Their two losses to a resurgent Sri Lanka prior to the India series did not suggest what was coming. The star-crossed media had already declared a 3-0 victory margin for India in the series. This could at best be 2-1 or worse 3-0 for New Zealand now, as things stand after the Pune disaster and the Bangalore fiasco.

I have been advocating in my previous posts the primacy of domestic cricket for red-ball cricket to survive, let alone prosper in India. So when the BCCI penalized Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer earlier this year for skipping domestic cricket by denying them central contracts, one felt that the administrators had their money where their mouth is. Ahead of the 2024-25 domestic season came the announcement that it would be mandatory for all players to play the Duleep Trophy. But with the scheduling of the Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup matches clashing with the two-Test series against Bangladesh, all that the Test players got was one first-class game. Not surprisingly, Rohit, Virat, Ashwin, Jadeja and Bumrah were rested for the Duleep Trophy. Not surprising because that has been the trend for over a decade now. Imagine the type of contest Rohit (West Zone) and Virat (North Zone) would have had to encounter playing for their zonal teams if Ashwin (South), Bumrah and Jadeja (both West) were battling out against each other. Their presence would also have raised the level of domestic cricket and been greatly beneficial to youngsters. But this was not to be. The Duleep Trophy did not have zonal teams. The Test series against Bangladesh was so scheduled that the likes of Gill, Jaiswal, Pant, Sarfaraz and Siraj could play only one game. The top five stars were resting. Sarfaraz was released from the Test team and scored 222 not out for Mumbai as they beat Rest of India in the Irani Cup. And when he got an opportunity to replace an injured gill, he hit 150 at Bangalore. For all the shenanigans vis-a-vis the top five stars, what we now see is the poor levels to which they have descended in international cricket, that too at home.

As I have repeatedly pointed out in earlier posts, we need to see what England and Australia do when scheduling their international commitments. In both the countries, the domestic season precedes home Test series by 6-8 weeks. The top players routinely appear for their state/county teams. They sign contracts with their domestic associations and are bound to appear for domestic matches when available. This keeps them prepped up for the Test matches. And these two teams do not travel abroad during their peak home season. Why cannot India not travel to Australia in February-March like the Australians do with the domestic seasons of both teams running from September-October to March?

Interestingly, the Indian team for the Test tour to Australia was announced a day before India lost the Pune Test. Except for Abhimanyu Easwaran, none of the players selected for the team came through strong domestic red-ball performances. He too has been selected as skipper Rohit is likely to miss either the first or second Test due to personal engagements. The selection of Prasidh Krishna over a more consistent Mukesh Kumar who has done very well in the Duleep and Irani matches this season is puzzling. And in spite of selecting 18 players against the usual 16, the BCCI has selected Mukesh, Khaleel and Saini as travelling reserves. Where is Yash Dayal, who was in the 16-member Test squad against Bangladesh? Both Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana seem to be the latest beneficiaries of the IPL syndrome that helped players like Pant, Gill and Jaiswal get precedence over a Sarfaraz Khan, who has had to toil for more than three seasons before breaking into the Test team earlier this year.  

The mindset has to change if India have to do well in Test cricket. You simply cannot allow IPL star syndrome to ruin your Test team. In both the Tests against New Zealand (and the second Test at Kanpur against Bangladesh), Indian batsmen have batted in T20 style. This can only yield dividends against a hapless team like Bangladesh. This strategy of trying to dominate the bowling does not work always, as we have just seen against a more disciplined Kiwis. The second innings at Bangalore was only to make up for the first innings fiasco. After all you need to bat two Test innings to make a game out of it. New Zealand did not rattle up 300 plus scores in either of the innings at Pune. They only made 259 and 255.  

Meanwhile Australia sit pretty at home, waiting for an Indian Test team, badly bruised at home. Will the wounded tiger roar back? That only time will tell. Overconfidence had dusted the Australians last time just like it damaged India at home against the Kiwis. Life comes full circle. Or the upcoming tour to Australia could see the end of a few top Indian stars. Youngsters like Gill, Jaiswal, Pant and Sarfaraz have been backed and this tour could see them maturing to take over in the post Rohit-Kohli era, the end of which seems to have been hastened by the Kiwis.

By the way, the buzz in the media about how India could still make the World Test Championship finals needs to lower down in volume. Even if India were to qualify for the finals scheduled for 11-15 June 2025, lest we forget that like in 2023 and 2025 the Indian team would be competing in contrasting cold conditions, less than two weeks after a hot and humid IPL back home. So the result would be similar - a tame defeat.