Eleven reasons why

CHENNAI: An entire calendar has been flipped through. And pretty much everyone invested in Indian cricket is bound to wake up feeling satisfied on the first day of 2019. Why not? Most of the last 365 days were spent on foreign shores. Body blows were copped with the red ball. But all those bruises bore fruit in South Africa, England, and Australia; a first for the nation’s history.

The first “how” behind that can be summed up by just two words: Virat Kohli. South Africa was supposed to be a trial by fire. He emerged from it in Centurion. England was supposed to be his descent to hell. After Birmingham and Nottingham, he was India’s John Constantine. Australia? A skipper obsessed with perfection had finally found something that resembled it in Melbourne, a day before the year’s end; a year where he’d yet again topped the batting charts.

“You can’t change for someone else. I think that’s been the most important factor for us. We haven’t changed our mindset regardless of who said what. At the end of the day, your belief is all that matters,” Kohli had said.But then again, this isn’t your Indian team of yore where one man plays for all the 11. Kohli may have attained his temporary nirvana through absolutely-blinkered focus and self-belief, but there were others. Others who adapted, survived, and then stood shoulder to shoulder with him when India needed it the most.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s “intent” was laid out on an operation table and vivisected. So were his records on foreign shores. His strike rate was the India XI equivalent of a scrawny kid stuck with a bunch of heavyset bullies. South Africa saw the nervous Pujara, one who had taken 54 balls to get off mark; one who had also become the first Indian to be run-out twice in a Test. But the cusp of 2019 saw a transformed Pujara. With his two match-winning tons Down Under — a first in his career — and his best run with the bat in a year, he couldn’t care less.

“He is embracing the fact that if something has been told to him and he has to work on those things, he has to work on it,” was Kohli’s summary of Pujara’s survival guidebook.He wasn’t the only scrapper. Ajinkya Rahane was criticised, excluded, then included, and then criticised some more. But, he counterattacked in Nottingham. He stayed, and stayed in Adelaide. He then swatted away Mitchell Starc’s first ball —  a bouncer — in Perth like it was the embodiment of all brickbats that were thrown at him. Three fifties may not add up to a run mountain, but the India vice-captain had unpinned himself from the mat.

Then there are India’s pacers. Enough and more extolling has been done. But they deserve it. After all, they’ve recently appeared in one sentence with the words “Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner”. And that too before those gentlemen.

And, how do you forget the new entries for 2018? Prithvi Shaw and his promise. Hanuma Vihari and his grit. Mayank Agarwal and his spunk. Throw in Ravindra Jadeja’s comeback into the scheme of things, and R Ashwin’s experience, and Kohli has his own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
There have been mistakes, selection and otherwise. Yes, there have been defeats. Yes, there have been very apparent chinks. But India began this journey as the Test No 1. That hasn’t changed. Happy New Year, indeed.

Dad Rohit to miss fourth test
Rohit Sharma will miss the fourth Test against Australia in Sydney to be with his wife, who gave birth to a baby girl in Mumbai on Sunday. Rohit has flown back from Melbourne and will rejoin the squad on January 8 ahead of the three-match ODI series beginning January 12 in Sydney. The BCCI, however, has not named any replacement for Rohit for the final Test beginning on January 3. India lead the series 2-1.