Yin and yang approach to batting

The drawn Sydney Test showed there's a place for both Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara in the longer format. AP-PTI

Twitter is a great medium to send and receive information. It offers a wonderful platform for people to voice their opinion. But, as with everything else in life, along with some discerning material, comes a load of gibberish too. A few of them expectedly popped up after India’s epochal draw in the Sydney Test against Australia last week, a game that many have already dubbed as a ‘draw for the ages’.

Firstly, it was playback-singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo. “Playing 109 balls to score 7! That is atrocious to say the least. Hanuma Bihari (sic) has not only killed any Chance for India to achieve a historic win but also murdered cricket.. not keeping win an option, even if remotely, is criminal. PS: I know nothing abt cricket,” the BJP Member of Parliament tweeted.

While Supriyo’s tweet can be ignored as a cricket-illiterate’s rant, what outraged many was a tweet from Rajeev Shukla, who is the current vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, no less. “Actually the middle order could have performed little better and we would have won the match. @BCCI.”

Tweets from Supriyo and Shukla deservedly received plenty of flak but there were many who agreed with the duo too. Thanks to overdose of T20 cricket, many have forgotten to admire the beauty of Test cricket batting. They find the art of defensive, grinding batting boring. The bloody-minded ability to fight it out with a dead bat - when the bowling is as hostile and relentless as the current Australian attack - is perceived as ‘lack of intent’. While Rishabh Pant’s counter-attacking 118-ball 97 had people change their negative opinion about the Delhi stumper in a matter of couple of hours, Cheteshwar Pujara’s dour approach finds few takers with his go-slow method often coming under the scanner.

“When Rahul (Dravid) was there, he barely got the adulation that Sachin (Tendulkar) did,” former India batsman Anshuman Gaekwad told DH. “That’s because Rahul wasn’t as entertaining as Sachin. But one mustn’t forget, Rahul was the rock around which Sachin and other guys like Viru (Virender Sehwag) and Sourav (Ganguly) built their innings.

“He held one end up solidly. Kept blocking and blocking, got the bowlers tired which allowed these guys to flourish. This current Indian team has shot-makers in Virat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma) and (Rishabh) Pant. Pujara is doing to this Indian team what Rahul did to the team in his time.

“People realised the value Rahul brought to the team after he retired. Similarly, Pujara’s value will be known only much later. You need someone with the mental fortitude, discipline and character to hang in there when the going is tough. Pujara does that day in and day out. It’s sad to see him being pilloried often for his slow approach to batting. They keep talking about his strike rate, saying it’s too low. Test matches don’t get over in three hours. One needs to play consistent cricket for over 30 hours. Pujara has that ability and has proven. It’s time we stop talking about strike rate and start talking about the immense value he brings to this team,” Gaekwad added.

It’s not just fans who seldom appreciate Pujara. Sometimes even “experts” pan down the Saurashtra right-hander, saying he needs to rotate the strike. But the fact of the matter is that with Pujara, who was the man of the series during India’s maiden Test series win in Australia in 2018-19, there has been no change in his approach to batting. The difference is that more stroke-makers regularly excelled around him, and this time there have been few such instances and far between.

“It’s very easy to criticise somebody. This Australian attack is considered as one of their finest attacks. There is no Virat. Pujara, having been the hero during the last tour of Australia, knows a lot is riding on his back. The bowling has been top notch from the Aussies and with so many close-in fielders, it’s not easy. Pujara is also not the quickest of runners between the wickets. He knows his limitations and has found a way to work within that. Sadly, we live in a fast-paced world of instant gratification. Sometimes it’s not always about runs. Watching defensive batting can also be entertaining,” opined Gaekwad.

While there is no denying the value of someone like Pujara in the Test setup, there is also room for batsmen who can put the rivals attacks under pressure. For every Pujara, you need players like an explosive Pant. When India lost skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the second over of the final day of the Sydney Test, the end looked nigh. But the think-tank pulled off a masterstroke in promoting Pant and the left-hander, after biding his time, put the Aussie bowlers to the sword. So much so that the Indians started dreaming of an unlikely win while chasing 407. His fearless stint had the Australians in a big worry. But then Pant’s innings was too good to last longer. Though he had demoralised the opposition with his onslaught for a significant period of time, he hadn’t seen off the the threat. In fact, India were some distance from the finish line while the opposition was chomping at the bit. India then had to rely on the injured duo of Vihari and Ashwin.

At no point should the naysayers have questioned their approach or intent, not when the Test was saved from the clutches of a certain defeat.

Just because the likes of Pujara, and the occasional purveyors of the time game, don’t concede to the new-age narrative of grabbing every situation by the horn in a show of primitive dominance, it doesn’t mean they aren’t committed to the cause. If anything, the Pujaras of the world must be lauded for their ability to put their head down and do what fewer and fewer people can do in this day and age.

At the same time, the brazenness of the Pants of the world provides entertainment to a society directed and divided by instant gratification. For a format which is losing its relevance among newer audiences, the injection of T20-inspired chaos is healthy when consumed in small doses. Bowlers know this, and they also know the madness can’t go on for too long. Mistakes will be made and wickets will be lost. But when a batsman gets behind the line and defends a delivery without flinching on contact, bowlers know their day just got longer.

Call it the yin and yang of batting in Test cricket.