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The last time Virat Kohli missed a home Test was in November 2021, against New Zealand in Kanpur in Rahul Dravid’s first Test as India head coach. Shreyas Iyer, on debut for him, held the middle order along with efforts of 105 and 65 on a low, dead surface where the last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel held off 52 deliveries to force a thrilling draw.
Kohli had given sufficient notice of his unavailability for that match, New Zealand did not have the same aura as England and the Kanpur track presented few terrors, especially considering that spinners Ajaz, Ravindra and William Somerville did not enjoy solid credentials. Somerville was playing his fifth Test, left-arm spinner Ajaz his 10th and Ravindra, also a left-arm spinner, was making his debut.
This was different. In a sudden development just three days before the start of the high-profile and much-awaited five-match clash against the dangerous English side, Kohli withdrew from the first two Tests due to personal reasons. Admittedly, England’s spin attack is not the most famous either: Jack Leach, their only experienced bowler, had played 35 Tests previously, Joe Root is primarily a top-order batsman who bowls excellent off-spin, leggie Rehan Ahmed was one of them. Young Test and left-arm spinner Tom Hartley was making his first appearance. But England are England, offensive and prolific with the bat and therefore use that scoreboard pressure to intimidate opposing batsmen.
How would India’s middle-order shape up in Kohli’s absence? Will this massive absence be decisive?
Very well thank you. And definitely not.
Those are the responses that resonated at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday, the second day of the first Test.
The spinners and Yashavi Jaiswal had combined to take the hosts to a strong position on the first day, but when Jaiswal fell in the first over of the second day with India 123 for two, exactly halfway to England’s tally of 246, the door opened. Just one touch. The match was on a knife’s edge, Ben Stokes’ men were buoyed by early success and a tense meeting wondered what would happen without the virtuoso No. 4.
As it turned out, his fears were singularly unfounded. India’s middle-order performed excellently, helped greatly by the recent addition of KL Rahul and the grit and determination of Ravindra Jadeja, the foundation around which the hosts built a potentially decisive 175-run lead.
If there is to be a criticism of India’s middle order on a day when 302 runs were scored in 87 overs for the loss of six wickets, it has to be the way they were dismissed. Shubman Gill, in his new avatar at number 3, undid all the grafting of the previous hour and a half with a half-hearted whip that he found at mid-wicket, as Iyer and Rahul bowled their hands, both caught in the deep. the latter with a second century in three Tests available.
On a pitch like this, low and slow with some help for the spinners, it was imperative to prevent wickets from falling in groups, to unite partnerships. That is something India did magnificently well; Rahul played more than fifty successive stands with Iyer and Jadeja, who went on to make half-century partnerships with wicketkeeper KS Bharat and fellow left-hander and all-rounder Axar Patel. Rahul held the top half of the middle order with his agile footwork, defensive confidence and deft hands. Jadeja took it upon himself to guide the bottom half of the middle-order, putting aside his guilt at being left without R Ashwin to close in on a fourth Test ton as the day’s stumps were removed.
Admittedly, this was not the real test for the Indian middle-order, given that a knock to the knee while bowling prevented Leach from bowling as much as he should have, and that a loose bid was not far away when Hartley and Rehan were in operation. . But the sheer bloodthirsty mentality and desire to bat once and bat big, a throwback to the 1990s when Navjot Sidhu, Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin took spinners of all stripes to the cleaners, shined through. . Axar’s addition to the XI at the expense of Kuldeep Yadav meant India batted deep, up to 9th. Axar has already had a good game with the ball and bat, with the promise of more to come when the fielding deteriorates further .
Kohli is more than replaceable, but Rahul, Iyer, Jadeja, Bharat and Axar have shown that there is more to the Indian middle order than him. Nothing would have pleased Rohit Sharma and Dravid more.