Not much happened for five days in Kanpur when India hosted New Zealand for the first of two Tests and what did happen did so slowly. And for much of the time it was compelling, often making for compulsive viewing, especially during the final session during which the Black Caps’ final wicket hung on for dear life to secure a spectacular draw.
That’s right — a spectacular draw. The sun was dropping fast, the wonky Green Park floodlights, not good enough for the venue to stage ODIs at night, were doing their best to keep the players on the field and the two men struggling to see and block the ball were named Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel.
“Rachin” is a composite of Rahul and Sachin, a tribute his parents paid to two of their mother country’s greatest cricketers, Dravid and Tendulkar, after having emigrated to New Zealand where their son, now 22, was born in Wellington. Left-arm spinner Patel, 33, was born in Mumbai but raised in New Zealand having accompanied his parents when still in short pants.
Ravindra opens the batting in domestic cricket but was selected to bat at No 7 on debut to add strength and depth to the line-up and because his rapidly improving left-arm spin would be an asset on a pitch expected to deteriorate rapidly and assist the slow bowlers. He and Patel survived the final 50 balls of the Test match and then, in endearingly typical Kiwi style, politely shook the hands of their opponents while their insides were doing somersaults and backflips with the satisfaction and joy of their achievement.
Test match lovers don’t need reminding of the intensity the format can bring to players and spectators alike. Newcomers to the game might have struggled to stay awake as the batters on both sides struggled to score their runs on a pitch resembling lightly dusted Plasticine. But its unsuitability for shot-making and run-scoring simply added to the extreme drama of the finish.
What does this all have to do with SA? The Indian squad will have no more than a couple of days at home to celebrate or lick their wounds after the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai starting on Friday before boarding the plane to OR Tambo for a full, multiformat tour of SA with the first of three Tests due to start at the Wanderers on December 17. If they come.
Captain Virat Kohli skipped the first Test to freshen up for a Test series he has been looking forward to for four years when his side narrowly lost the first two Tests before winning a consolation victory at the Wanderers to make it 2-1. Opener and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have also been given “bubble fatigue” time off against New Zealand to ensure their freshness for the SA trip. India have never won in the country and Kohli is semi-obsessed with doing so.
The Indian controlling body, the BCCI, remains committed to the tour and, even if some of the players were initially reticent, the truth about the “new” mutation of the Covid-19 virus — that it does not emanate from SA but was identified by SA scientists — has been accurately delivered to and received by Kohli’s squad.
Word out of India is that discussions had taken place between BCCI and Cricket SA officials about relocating the first two Test matches out of Gauteng — possibly to Bloemfontein and Gqeberha, which have lower virus case numbers — but the success of the bio-bubble structure used for international matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan persuaded the Indians that they should remain at the Wanderers and Supersport Park on December 26. The New Year Test will be played at Newlands.
After winning in both England and Australia (twice) Kohli was determined to keep his loyal band together to complete the “big three” trio but that now seems impossible after 18 months of miserable returns for middle-order veterans Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who both averaged under 26 in that time. Shreyas Iyer supposedly took Kohli’s place “temporarily” in Kanpur but made himself undroppable by top-scoring in both innings and becoming the first Indian to score a century and a half-century on debut. Suryakumar Yadav, too, is standing by for a place in the starting XI.
Before all seven previous Test tours here India have started as underdogs. They have lost six series and drawn one, 11 years ago. This time they will start as favourites and Kohli knows it. In the absence of Western, colonial bias and prejudice as displayed by the UK and much of Europe towards southern Africa in recent days, Kohli has expressed solidarity with the Proteas, and the BCCI with Cricket SA, through the mutual respect of former captains and now leading administrators, Saurav Ganguly and Graeme Smith.
Let the tour go ahead. Let the games begin. Please.
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