Rise after fall for Team India

As the players went down like ninepins at Adelaide late last year, it looked like Indian cricket could yet find new depths. But what has followed over the course of the next few months—from the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne to a rousing, pulse-pounding ODI series finale at Pune a few nights ago—is a story of how the team jumped past obstacles to emerge as one of the few good stories from the country firmly gripped by death, disease and distress thanks to the pandemic.

As the season came to a conclusion in Pune, it’s worth labelling this as one of the best enjoyed by the men’s team in a long, long time. Even if they began the season with a loss in the ODI leg to Australia, they won all of their subsequent five series. That in itself speaks volumes about the mental resilience that’s within the side. What’s even more remarkable about their sequences of wins is that they have battled past injuries and unfavourable odds to win the last five series. After international cricket returned, India was hard done by as they fell down the pecking order as far as qualifying for the WTC final was concerned. Yet, rather than protesting off the field, they did what was asked of them to qualify for the final of that competition—win. A true hallmark of champions.

What’s even more noteworthy is that the team has achieved all this while blooding youngsters left, right and centre. Even if they were forced sometimes like in the last Test at Brisbane, all of them put their hands up to be counted. If it was Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar Down Under, it was Axar Patel and Prasidh Krishna in India. In all, the team managed to win 13 matches across all three formats in punishing bio-bubbles away from family and friends—a reflection on their strong mental fortitude. As all of them depart to their respective IPL franchises, it sets the team up nicely for the upcoming challenges: that WTC final against New Zealand followed by the T20 World Cup at home. If the last four months are anything to go by, don’t rule them out challenging for both those prizes.