Playing #1 team on their home turf. Depths of worst total ever. Without two seasoned players. A third hobbles off midway. 6 of 11 have played fewer than 15 tests each. 2 on debut. Only 3 have played over 50 tests. Walks in at 64-3. Century under pressure. Grace after run-out. Shepherds limited resources to bowl Oz out twice. Whattay player, captain & win.
Tough, not tattooed. Thoughtful, not tweeting. Steely, not sledging. Struggle, not silver spoon. Rose through Ranji, not IPL. Even beard is more Sabarimala than styled. Dropped and doubted, not extolled and feted. Despite scoring overseas, not just at home. Against Steyn, Johnson, Boult, Anderson, Starc. Mental strength, not mind games. Trusty compounder, not flashy unicorn. Buffett, not Bitcoin. Old fashioned, yet New India.
Go Jinks!
My intent wasn’t to throw shade on someone or on superficialities such as bodily art and facial hair, which don’t matter to cricket. Any contrast I drew was to doff my hat to an old school, Dravid-Laxman-esqe style of cricket that seems less prevalent of late. New normal, post T20, appears too focused on slogging, sledging, style, swagger, sponsorship, stardom and social media. In this milieu, a certain type of cricketer is under rated and under appreciated. There’s something about only letting bat, captaincy and results do the talking that strikes a chord, especially under trying circumstances. Like having portfolio and performance speak rather than the person.