Michael Atherton is regarded as the greatest English opening batter of his generation, almost a natural successor to that other wonderfully accomplished technician who also hailed from the north of the country and who will rank among the top openers of all time, Sir Geoffrey Boycott.

Earmarked for the English captaincy from very early in his career – remember the famous FEC (Future England Captain)? – the Lancastrian was a grand mixture of technical expertise and remarkable concentration. He was a pleasing stroke-maker, without a doubt, but stroke-making won’t be the first thought when one hears the name Michael Atherton.

At a time when English batting was desperate for solidity at the top of the order, Atherton loomed as the panacea, his unflappability instilling a sense of calmness and confidence within the batting groups. In a career spanning 115 Tests, the currently 53-year-old articulate and understated commentator and analyst produced numerous fantastic essays, as is to be expected. It is his highest Test score, however, that is still spoken of with awe and reverence, not just by those privileged to watch it first-hand or those who saluted his commitment on television, but even by those of succeeding generations who might not have seen him negotiate even a single ball during his long stint at the crease.

The epic unfolded at the Bullring that the New Wanderers in Johannesburg goes by. And make no mistake, it truly is an amphitheatre. Even without a single bum on the seats beyond the boundary buntings, Wanderers can be an intimidating stage. Standing in the middle, with neither bat nor ball in attendance, you can feel the stands closing in, the heat rising to your face, hands suddenly clammy and the heart beating at the rate of knots. One can only imagine what it must be like to take guard, gladiator-like, with Allan Donald and Meyrick Pringle and Brian McMillan and a very young Shaun Pollock chomping at the bit, desperate to have a go.

The first Test of the five-match series in 1995-96, in Centurion, had ended in a tame draw with not a ball bowled on the last three days. Pollock, on debut, had provided glimpses of his extraordinary talent with three for 98 from 29 overs while Atherton, the captain, ground out a five-and-a-half-hour 78 in England’s 381 for nine declared.

South Africa called the shots in Johannesburg, Pollock’s three for 44 earning them a 132-run lead which they increased to 478 at which point Hansie Cronje decided he had enough runs, and time, to force a 1-0 advantage. England had to bat out the better part of two days to secure a draw – a tilt at a record target was out of the equation – and the odds heavily favoured the hosts, but no one had told Atherton that.

He wasn’t just obdurate defence. By his own admission, for the first time in his Test career, which was into its seventh year at the time, he felt he was in ‘the zone’, that elusive and intangible state that sportspersons strive for with limited success. He played the hook and the pull – horror, horror – and one ball after being dropped on 99 by Gary Kirsten off ‘White Lightning’ Donald, it was the hook that took him to three-figures. Atherton wasn’t done; the skipper was unconquered and unbowed at the end, unbeaten on 185 — in nearly 11 hours (643 minutes) – after negotiating 492 deliveries in the first of several grand tussles with Donald to shepherd his team to an honourable draw.

This would remain the defining innings of Atherton’s career, one that catapulted him to English folklore. And yet — we say this with no disrespect — Atherton finished his career with no more than a middling average of 37.69. And 16 hundreds from 212 innings.

Perceptions vary

It’s amazing how perceptions vary depending on so many different factors, not least recency bias which might cloud a forensic audit of Ajinkya Rahane’s international career in general, and his Test record specifically. Like Atherton, Rahane – who led India six times in Tests, almost entirely by default – also finished with an average of less than 40 (38.46, superior by more than half a run per innings to Atherton) but where the Englishman is hailed and eulogised, the stylish Mumbaikar leaves behind a feeling of what-if. What if he had converted even a quarter of his (26) half-centuries into hundreds? What if he had sometimes been a little more selfish? What if he had been a little less flamboyant? What if he didn’t have to perform in the towering presence of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli? What if…?

But like the great stylist from Hyderabad who took the steel in the Indian batting and fused it with style, Rahane will always be more than his borderline-modest numbers. No, one isn’t falling into the trap of comparing Rahane with V.V.S. Laxman. Not by a long way. For starters, Laxman had far superior numbers – an average of 45.97 – and played numerous more match-altering knocks than Rahane. But like Rahane, Laxman had to operate in the giant shadows of Rahul Dravid and the peerless Sachin Tendulkar and, from midway through his career, the effervescent genius of Virender Sehwag. That Very Very Special managed to carve a niche for himself and more than hold his own in this illustrious company is credit to his magic, of course, but also to a single-mindedness that he doesn’t get enough credit for.

In Laxman’s example was a tack for Rahane to emulate, and a contemporariness that should have been his greatest motivation. But let’s leave that for another day. In his own way, Rahane contributed to India taking not a lot of time in tiding over a tricky transition phase which saw Dravid and Laxman play their last Tests in Adelaide in January 2012 (though no one knew it at the time), Sehwag slowly fall out of favour and Tendulkar walk away into the sunset in November 2013.

Dashing picture

When the mood seized him, which wasn’t too often but not rare as hen’s teeth either, Rahane cut a dashing picture at the crease, powerful off the backfoot and felicitous off the front. Lord’s and the MCG seemed to bring the best out of him, whether because he is a strong student of history and knows the prestige attached with performing optimally there or simply because he liked the pace with which the ball came on to his bat. Strangely for an Indian batter hailed as a very good player of the turning ball, Rahane enjoyed greater success overseas – only four of his 12 tons came in India – which perhaps obliquely explains his average.

In another era, Rahane might have been a longer-term captain, but because of the overlap with first Mahendra Singh Dhoni and then Kohli, he ended up leading the Test side just six times, all in an interim capacity when Kohli was either injured, rested or was away on paternity leave. India won four and lost none of those six Tests, a terrific achievement what with four of those outings against the Aussies, and three in Australia. His captaincy debut, in Dharamshala in March 2017, was sensational; with the series tied 1-1, Rahane heeded head coach Anil Kumble’s advice and unleashed left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who rode on tips from Shane Warne to pull the rug from under the feet of the great man’s colleagues. Rahane himself counter-punched as India pursued a tricky target of 106 on a still-spicy deck against a fired-up duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, taking his team home from 46 for two with a racy unbeaten 27-ball 38.

But his greatest hour as leader came in Australia, on the Covid-adjacent tour in 2020-21 when Kohli left for the birth of his first child after the first Test. India looked out for the count after an eight-wicket drubbing in the Adelaide day-nighter, courtesy their lowest Test tally of 36 all out in the second innings. Alongside Kohli, pace ace Mohammed Shami was also ruled out of the series, with a broken forearm.

A 4-0 whitewash was the predicted outcome at that stage but somehow, Rahane masterminded an extraordinary fightback. By the final Test in Brisbane — how India still managed to keep the scoreline at 1-1 remains a great mystery — Rahane had to make do without the services of Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Hanuma Vihari and the irreplaceable Jasprit Bumrah. But India weren’t going away, were they? Rahane’s fabulous 112 was the catalyst for an instant backlash in Melbourne and once the skipper had shown the way, how could Pujara and Rishabh Pant and Vihari and Ashwin — who defied a hamstring strain and a back injury respectively to bat out more than three hours and secure a magnificent draw in Sydney in the third Test — not follow suit?

Need of the hour

Australia in 2020-21 was Rahane’s brightest hour, a shining beacon of not just his batting chops but also his tactical awareness, his man-management skills, the uncanny ability to think on his feet and his innate calmness that was more the need of the hour than Kohli’s unquestionable fire. To see his teammates respond to the urgings of their captain was heart-warming; India had a bowling ‘attack’ of little pedigree going into the Gabba decider, but Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and debutants T. Natarajan and Washington Sundar — this group combined had played fewer than 10 Tests at the time — delivered at the most Australian of venues to set up a spectacular coup taken to its denouement by the steadfastness of Pujara and the enterprise and incandescence of Pant. The Gabbatoir was conquered for the first time in more than three decades, with the leadership group of Rahane and head coach Ravi Shastri at the heart of one of the most extraordinary fairytales in the five-day game.

It’s a shame that Rahane led just once more in Tests, and by the time Kohli decided to call time on his career in South Africa in early 2022, his form had nosedived enough – just three 50-plus scores and no century in his preceding 28 Test innings – for Rohit Sharma to take over as all-format leader. After South Africa, Rahane played a mere three more Tests over the next 18 months before being put out to pasture – some three years before he officially called time on his stirring journey. Cruelly, perhaps, but there is little place for sentiment in competitive sport.

Rahane, though, will remain a sentimental favourite. The eternal crisis-man but not a fair-weather fill-the-boot types. Maybe that’s something he should have been better at. Thanks for the entertainment, Jinks. And the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, of course.

Ajinkya Rahane.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Let’s cut to the chase. Has T20 cricket deskilled Test cricket?

Wasim Jaffer: It surely has, and it’s quite exciting too. In our time, we had to play three-day or four-day cricket. We had to score big hundreds and double hundreds to get noticed. But ever since T20 came in, at the start of a season, players’ main focus is T20 cricket. This is very unlike our time where we used to look forward to the Ranji Trophy or even the Duleep Trophy because that was the pathway. Now, IPL (Indian Premier League) provides the platform to get noticed. To be honest, if I was playing in this day and age, I would probably be doing the same. My only concern is that you should fit in all three formats (ODIs, Test cricket, and T20) and today’s youngsters don’t do that. They want to play white-ball cricket. They want to play T20 cricket. But four-day cricket takes a back seat. Those small pretty knocks of 30-40 in quick time look very good in T20 cricket, but they don’t win you games in even one-day cricket, let alone four-day cricket or Test matches. We need to instill the mentality in them that even if they want to play in the T20 way, they will still need to score hundreds to make a statement. Up until players are 32-33, when their body is still fit and strong, they need to fit into all three formats. But prioritising T20 cricket… I’ve got no problem [with it].

Jaydev Unadkat: I agree. You can’t really blame youngsters coming into the game because they look at financial security. T20 cricket has helped a lot of players and families that way. On the field, I won’t say T20 has helped or has made the job easier. When we started playing, it was always red-ball cricket, which was looked up to in terms of starting a season. No one really noticed a lot of performances in white-ball cricket. The IPL has changed the game for youngsters. I was talking to Cheteshwar (Pujara) recently about how we are seeing players who have started their cricket just watching IPL. Even until 2015-16, it was a mix of T20 and red-ball cricket. Red-ball cricket is hard work. For a bowler to bowl 18-20 overs a day, sometimes without reward, is hard work. Even batters have got to grind through phases, play out sessions, play some good spells. Those were the skills that used to be seen in extraordinary players, not just hitting boundaries. It is changing, but I don’t want players to forget that sometimes bowling an eight- or a nine-over spell — despite what your physio or strength and conditioning team has told you for managing workload — is the need of the hour. You have got to do that for your team and for playing at the highest level.

With IPL having become the epicentre of world cricket and not just Indian cricket, is it too much for old-timers to expect good-old batting to be on display in the coming years?

Wasim Jaffer: Yes, it will be non-existent. You probably won’t see a player getting a hundred in 200-250 balls. Or a player leaving a ball outside off stump over after over. You’ll see a counter-attack. Pujara is the last lot of that old batsmanship, but that (old batsmanship) is the need of the hour.

A coach will now encourage a child to attack first and then teach him to defend later. It was the other way around when I was growing up. If you teach a young kid to defend first, he will lose interest because he wants to play all those fancy shots because that’s what he has seen on TV. If you try and stop him from doing it right from the word go, he will stop playing cricket.

Today’s batters give up easily mentally. They have got fantastic shots. Australia’s Sam Konstas, for example. Playing like that in one’s first Test match… we would have not even dreamt of playing like that. But today’s generation is like that. They can go out and play outrageous shots and get 20-30. They just need to understand how to dig deep. Once they understand that, the sky is the limit because they can change a game within a session or two. To make them understand this is a big challenge for the captain, coach, or mentor.

Jaydev Unadkat: The counter-attacking game has produced a lot more results and generated greater crowds, even for Test cricket, which is important. Sometimes, as players, we don’t understand the importance of the game needing crowds because that’s where you generate revenue.

As a captain, if I see the shift from T20 cricket to Ranji Trophy, the first couple of net sessions, the batters just put the bat to everything. They have got to leave some balls outside off stump as well. They have the ability but maybe not the hunger to fight it out.

You touched upon generating support from the fans, but will it last? If Test cricket played merely as an extension to T20 cricket, why will anyone follow it over five days?

Wasim Jaffer: T20 will always be the most viewed format. Obviously older people won’t enjoy it, but for the guys who are growing up now, that will always take a front seat. Test cricket has its own beauty. It’s like a game of chess or a marathon, so people enjoy it. It’s never a straight route in Test cricket. It gives you a different high and the spectators also understand that. We saw that when India won in Gabba (2021).

Jaydev Unadkat: At Gabba, you needed a Pujara and you needed a Rishabh Pant. It’s the balance and it starts from the top. If you have the mindset of rewarding those who can grind it out and those who can play those shots, that’s where we can find the balance. I can give you an example about bowlers. We (Saurashtra) have a couple of young fast bowlers who have come in, but all they think about when they want to take a wicket is whether to bowl a bouncer or a slower ball or a yorker. When I ask them about their wicket-taking plan, they never say sticking to the off-stump line or playing with a batter’s patience.

One of the challenges young batters face is managing an array of scoring strokes. How do you make them understand to manage the shots?

Wasim Jaffer: You need to make them understand that they don’t need 12 shots in every match. Probably three-four shots and they can easily get a hundred. They need to understand that they have got all the armoury but they don’t need to use all of it. On a flat wicket, they don’t need to play a sweep shot because they can score runs by just playing straight. After they hit a boundary or a six, the best way is to take a single and go to the other end and let the other guy play the next ball. That’s the challenge for the coaches — how to get them to play 100 balls? Stopping them from playing shots is not the right way. In Test cricket, you don’t need to score at a strike rate of 150; a 60-70 strike rate is good enough.

Jaydev Unadkat: Everything comes down to balancing it out. They have to figure out the strongest four on a particular day and stick to it. The captain’s and coaches’ role has also changed in that way.

Wasim Jaffer: Today’s batters are not scared to get out. I find that very strange. If they see a ball which is above their eyeline and even if the fielders are at long off, long on, deep cover, and deep midwicket, they will still play the high-risk shot. It is difficult for them to realise that if they play such a high-risk game, they could lose the wicket and if they keep doing that for two-three innings, they are playing for their spot. They need to play that ‘low risk, high reward’ game to be successful.

What’s the way forward?

Jaydev Unadkat: There is no comparison in terms of the incentives that you get in IPL and a domestic tournament. That is not going to match. Individually, if you look at domestic cricket, they could keep incentivising how much a player gets in Ranji Trophy. But that is just the financial part; it is not the solution. I feel some players just don’t want to go through the grind. You can give them financial incentives, but you have to find ways of keeping that hunger going, of providing that motivation. [They should know] how much it means for a State to win the Ranji Trophy or to win a four-day contest.

Wasim Jaffer: I am against under-19 boys getting huge (IPL) contracts. The BCCI needs to put a cap of probably ₹50 lakh or something. A youngster getting crores of rupees if he doesn’t have a good mentor… it’s going to do more harm than good for him. And players getting selected for their potential rather than performance nowadays… [That needs to change too].

Listen to the conversation in The Hindu Parley podcast

Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah was named ICC Men’s Player of the Month for December 2024 after his sensational performance during the recent tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was on Tuesday (January 14, 2025) named ICC Men’s Player of the Month for December 2024 after his sensational performance during the recent tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Leading India’s attack single-handedly, Bumrah relentlessly kept Australian batsmen under intense pressure, claiming 22 wickets in three Tests in December last year at an outstanding average of 14.22.

He ended with 32 wickets in the five-match series which concluded on January 5. The first match was played in November. His match-winning contributions included a nine-wicket haul in Brisbane and a five-wicket display in Melbourne as he edged out Australian skipper Pat Cummins and South African Dane Paterson for the award, stated the ICC.

He also reached a significant milestone, becoming the first bowler to take 200 Test wickets at an average below 20.

Bumrah’s brilliance was evident from the very start, with a standout performance in Adelaide. His four-wicket haul was instrumental in minimising Australia’s lead in the first innings, keeping India within striking distance.

He followed this up with a sensational display in Brisbane, where his six wickets in the first innings dismantled Australia’s batting order. Bumrah added three more scalps in the second innings to complete a nine-wicket match haul.

His efforts ensured the rain-affected match ended in a draw, keeping India alive in the series.

The Boxing Day Test in Melbourne saw Bumrah deliver yet another stellar performance.

He picked up four wickets in the first innings, providing a rare bright spot in an otherwise lacklustre bowling effort by the Indian team.

He then secured a five-wicket haul in the second innings, bowling Australia out for 234. Despite his heroics, India’s batting faltered, resulting in a 184-run defeat.

India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3. In a challenging tour for the Indian team, Bumrah emerged as the lone warrior, earning him the Player of the Series Award.

India’s Jasprit Bumrah with Australia’s captain Pat Cummins following the fifth cricket test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, on January 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah continued to reign supreme at the top of the bowlers’ chart with a career-best rating of 908 in the latest ICC Test Rankings, released on Wednesday (January 8, 2025).

Bumrah, who made history ahead of the fifth and final Test against Australia by recording the highest-ever ICC Rankings rating for an Indian bowler at 907 points, improved that tally by one point after taking two wickets in the first innings at the SCG.

However, a back spasm ruled him out of bowling in the second innings, restricting his role to just batting.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who climbed a spot to be joint-ninth, is the other Indian giving Bumrah company in the top-10.

He shares the ninth spot with Australian pacer Scott Boland, who has made a remarkable leap of 29 places to break into the top 10.

Boland’s stellar performance in the Sydney Test, where he claimed a 10-wicket haul (4/31 and 6/45), proved too much for the Indian batters on a lively pitch.

His efforts were instrumental in Australia’s triumph, ending a decade-long wait to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins also made gains in the rankings, climbing to number two after picking up five wickets in the final match. South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada rose a spot to occupy the third place while injured Josh Hazlewood moved down two places to be fourth.

Rishabh Pant’s blistering 33-ball 61 in the second innings earned him a three-spot rise in the batting rankings, moving him to number nine while India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal retained his fourth spot.

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma extended his rich vein of form, scoring a vital century in the first innings to climb three spots to number six, also achieving a career-best rating of 769.

Meanwhile, Kyle Verreynne’s impressive century saw him rise four places to secure the 25th spot.

Umpire Sharfuddoula Saikat, centre, gestures to India’s Jasprit Bumrah, right, as he exchanges words with Australia’s Sam Konstas, left, during play on the first day of the fifth cricket test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025
| Photo Credit: AP

Australia’s teenage batting sensation Sam Konstas regrets his involvement in the stand-off with Jasprit Bumrah during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, admitting he was only trying to waste time but ultimately, the Indian pace spearhead had the “last laugh”.

Konstas made an impact in the final two Tests of the series with his audacious strokeplay but also found himself at the centre of a couple of fiery exchanges with Indian stars Bumrah and Virat Kohli.

One such incident occurred on the opening day of the fifth Test, when Konstas had a heated run-in with Bumrah.

“I love being in the contest and always try to put my best foot forward,” Konstas told CODE Sports.

Near the end of the day’s play, Bumrah, looking to get in one more over, was met with resistance from the Australian players, who were trying to waste time. This led to a fiery exchange of words between Konstas and the Indian pacer.

Two deliveries later, Bumrah, who was leading the side in the absence of an off-colour Rohit Sharma, took the wicket of Usman Khawaja off the last ball.

After dismissing Khawaja, Bumrah walked in Konstas’ direction and stared him down.

Reflecting on the incident, Konstas admitted, “I feel like it’s probably a good learning for me. I was trying to waste a little bit of time there so they didn’t get another over. But he (Bumrah) had the last laugh.

“Obviously he is world class and he took, what, 32 wickets in the series.”

Konstas seems to have learned his lesson about not provoking the peerless pacer. “If that happened again, maybe I wouldn’t have said anything,” he said.

The teenager was also involved in an on-field exchange with Kohli, who shoulder-charged Konstas, followed by a heated verbal exchange between the two.

However, Konstas revealed that despite the incident, he later went to speak with his childhood hero Kohli.

“I had a little chat after the game telling him that I idolise him, and it’s obviously a huge honour playing against him,” Konstas said.

“When I did verse him, I was like, ‘wow, Virat Kohli is batting.’ He just had that presence about him, all the Indian crowd getting amongst it. Chanting his name. It was quite surreal”.

Konstas added that “He was very down to earth. A lovely person and just wishing me all the best saying hopefully I go well on the tour of Sri Lanka he said if I’m in.

“My whole family loves Virat. I’ve idolised him from a young age and he’s a legend of the game.”

Washington Sundar. File
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Karnataka’s Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal and Tamil Nadu all-rounder Washington Sundar will be available for the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockout matches, starting in Vadodara from Thursday (January 9, 2025), after featuring in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia.

However, K.L. Rahul, who played all the five Test matches against the Aussies, has requested for a break and will skip the Hazare knockouts.

Rahul’s availability for the second phase of the Ranji Trophy, beginning on January 23, will be decided at a later date. India head coach Gautam Gambhir had recently expressed his desire to see frontline Indian players making themselves available for the remainder of the premier domestic red-ball tournament.

Washington, though, could link up with Tamil Nadu only if the team progresses to the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

He played three matches and made 114 runs with a fifty but bowled just 37 overs across those Tests as pacers were preferred because of the conditions. The off-spinner took just three wickets.

Prasidh will be high on confidence after making a good impression in the fifth Test at Sydney, where the pacer grabbed six Australian wickets — 3/42 in the first innings and 3/65 in the second essay.

Devdutt played just one Test match at Perth, primarily because skipper Rohit Sharma stayed back in India to welcome his second baby.

The left-hander made a zero and 25 in India’s 295-run win at Perth but was not selected for any of the other four Test matches.

The 24-year-old was in terrific form prior to leaving for Australia for the India A tour, smashing four First-Class hundreds across Duleep Trophy and in the first leg of the Ranji Trophy.

Both Prasidh and Devdutt are scheduled to join the Karnataka squad on January 10, a day ahead of their quarterfinal match against Baroda at Vadodara.

Nitish to play Ranji

Nitish Kumar Reddy too will fly out of Australia on Wednesday but he will not be seen in action immediately as Andhra has not progressed to the knockout stage.

However, Nitish, who impressed everyone with his gutsy batting Down Under including a hundred at Melbourne, is likely to play in the second phase of the Ranji Trophy.

He has played only one match this season before travelling to Australia.

Andhra has two matches left this season against Puducherry from January 23 and against Rajasthan from January 30.

They are currently placed seventh in Elite Group B with four points after three defeats and two draws from five matches.

File photo of Mohammed Shami.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Questioning Mohammed Shami’s injury management, former greats Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting feel the veteran pacer could have tilted the series in India’s favour had he been added to the squad in the second half of the five-match Border-Gavaskar series.

India’s decade-long stranglehold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended after they went down by six wickets in Sydney to lose the series 1-3.

The pacer, after recovering from an ankle injury, returned to action for his home state Bengal and impressed in all the three formats — Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare one-dayers –, raising hopes of a late inclusion.

But he was officially ruled out before the fourth Test in Melbourne with the BCCI medical team citing a knee swelling, though both Ponting and Shastri believe a trip to Australia and a return late in the series could have been pushed.

“To be honest, I was very surprised with the communication going on in the media as to what exactly happened to Mohammed Shami,” the former Indian head coach stated in The ICC Review.

“Where is he when it comes to recovery? He’s been sitting in the NCA for I don’t know how long. Why can’t proper communication come out on where he stands? A player of his ability, I would have brought him to Australia.

“Absolutely, there’s no question about that (Shami could have tilted the series in Melbourne or Sydney),” Shastri added.

The 62-year-old further said it would have been beneficial if Shami had, at least, travelled with the group in Australia.

“I would have kept him part of the team and made sure that his rehabilitation was done with the team,” said Shastri.

“And then if we thought by the third Test match that no, this guy can’t play the rest of the series, I would let him go. But I would have brought him with the team, kept him, monitored him with the best of the physios and best of the advice even from international physios who are in Australia and seeing how he went. But I would have kept him in the mix.” Shastri believes the fast bowler could have provided adequate help to Jasprit Bumrah, who too struggled with fitness at the end of the series and could not bowl in the second innings of the Sydney Test.

“It got so tight at 1-1 going into Melbourne,” he said.

“You just needed that experience and support. For all you know, he might have raised the bar as well. And it would have been the two guys there (Bumrah and Shami).

“Pat Cummins couldn’t have done it on his own, Scotty Boland had to step in. So you needed a bowler of his experience. You know, as hard as Mohammed Siraj tried, you needed Shami’s experience there.” Echoing Shastri’s views, Australian World Cup-winning captain Ponting said: “I was really surprised when he wasn’t flown out even halfway through the series, two Test matches in.” “India’s make-up obviously had Nitish Reddy there. So you had another seam bowling all-rounder anyway.

“So, if Shami, even if he wasn’t fully fit, if he had to bowl fewer overs in a day, you had a backup seam bowling option to help him out and I think he could have been the difference.

“When you asked me (in an earlier The ICC Review) at the start about what I thought the result would be, I said 3-1 Australia because Shami wasn’t there. That was the first thing I said. That’s how important I felt he was to India.

“If Shami, Bumrah and Siraj were in their starting team, I think things could have been completely different here in Australia.” Shami is currently playing in the domestic one-dayers for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and it remains to be seen if he’s included for the England home series ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in February.

Former cricketer Yuvraj Singh. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

World Cup-winning former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has said that being whitewashed at home by New Zealand was a bigger low for Team India than the loss of Border-Gavaskar Trophy but refused to join the chorus of criticism against embattled veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

India have endured a difficult last few months in the five-day format, going down 0-3 to an under-strength New Zealand at home, which was a first in the team’s Test history. This was followed by a 1-3 drubbing by Australia in the away edition of the Border Gavaskar series.

Both the debacles have been largely attributed to the team’s batting frailties, especially those of Rohit and Kohli.

“According to me, losing (to) New Zealand is more hurting (sic). Because they are losing 3-0 at home. You know, that is not acceptable. This (losing BGT) is still acceptable because you have won two times in Australia. And this time you lost,” Yuvraj told ‘PTI Videos‘ in an interview in Dubai.

“Australia has been a dominant side for the last so many years, that is my thought,” the 43-year-old hero of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph said.

While Kohli managed at least a hundred during the series despite continuing to be dismissed whenever he was baited outside the off stump, Rohit was worse with a tally of just 31 runs and had to drop himself from the final Test.

But Yuvraj said it is unfair to lambast the duo given their past achievements.

“We are talking about our greats, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, we are saying very bad things about them,” he said.

“…people forget what they have achieved in the past. They are one of the greatest cricketers of this time. Okay, they lost, they did not play good cricket. They are getting hurt more than us,” he added.

Hopeful that India would bounce back strongly, Yuvraj said he has full faith in not just Rohit and Kohli but also new head coach Gautam Gambhir, who was his former teammate as well.

“I feel that Gautam Gambhir as a coach, Ajit Agarkar as a selector, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, they are the best minds in cricket right now,” he asserted.

“And they have to decide what’s the way for Indian cricket in future,” he said.

The big-hitting former batter also lauded Rohit for dropping himself from the Sydney Test, saying it was a selfless act.

“I think it is a big thing. I have never seen in the past that the captain’s form is not going well and he himself has gone out. And this is Rohit Sharma’s greatness that he has kept the team ahead of himself,” Yuvraj said.

“I think he is a great captain. Whether win or lose, he will always be a great captain. And in his captaincy, we have played the (ODI) World Cup final. We won a T20 World Cup. We have achieved a lot,” he pointed out.

He urged the critics to exercise restraint while dissecting the team’s performance.

“I was a student of the game and now I am a student of the game. The amount of cricket I have played, they have played more cricket than me,” said the man, who played 304 ODIs, 40 Tests and 58 T20 Internationals for India, amassing 11,000 runs across formats.

“I can give my opinion. And my opinion is that when players are not performing, it is easy to say bad about them. But it is very difficult to support them. Media’s job is to say bad about them. My job is to support my friends and brothers. For me, they are my family. Simple,” he signed off.

File picture of former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who lavished praise on Jasprit Bumrah’s performance during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series
| Photo Credit: ANI

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh believes that if star bowler Jasprit Bumrah had not taken part in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), India would have suffered a 5-0 series defeat instead of a 3-1 humbling by Australia.

In 45 days of riveting cricket, Bumrah led India’s fight against the WTC champions, picking crucial Australian wickets across the five matches.

He was the mastermind behind India’s record-shattering 295-run victory in the series opener in Perth. He ended the series as the leading wicket-taker and was awarded the player of the series. Despite India’s series loss, Bumrah garnered much praise and even Travis Head admitted that it was the best “individual performance” that he had seen since he started playing the format.

Harbhajan praised Bumrah and said that if the “national treasure” wasn’t a part of the team, India would have lost the BGT by 5-0 or 4-0 in favour of Australia.

“If Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t in this tour, the series would have ended 5-0. Jassi saved India in Perth. After Adelaide, he saved India in the rest of the matches. If he wasn’t in the series, India would have lost by either 5-0 or 4-0,” Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube channel.

He ended the five-match BGT series with 32 wickets, making him India’s highest wicket-taker in a Test series against the Baggy Greens on Australian soil.

Bumah arrived at his tally at an exceptional average of 12.64, including three five-wicket hauls, with a best of 6/76. In doing so, he surpassed Bishan Singh Bedi’s record of 31 wickets from the 1977-78 tour of Australia.