Padikkal’s bat, Suthar’s spin bring India’s Test past to life

India’s convincing win in the first Test of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka was not in doubt once Shubman Gill won the toss and India ran up a huge total in the first innings. The only factor that could have denied India a win was the weather and India did well to close the game within the hours when play was possible. The match was played on a pitch typical to the Indian subcontinent: slow and batsman-friendly on the first two days with the ball starting to turn sharply from the third day onwards and becoming an outright “turner” by the last day. The trick on such occasions is to run up a big lead in the first innings and bank on it to take the side past the winning post, a strategy that India succeeded in executing with finesse.

Incidentally, the two outstanding performers from the Indian side were relative newcomers to the world of Test cricket. While Devdutt Padikkal, the hero with the bat, was playing in his third Test, Manav Suthar, who spun a web around the Sri Lanka batsmen, was playing in his second. If it was Padikkal’s knock of 167 that helped India to post a total of 462 in the first innings, it was Suthar who came up with crucial wickets on the last day to help the visitors to seal the win. The fact that a heavy downpour lashed the ground even as the award ceremony was in progress showed how critically timed these dismissals were in securing this win.

Padikkal was fortunate to have got the chance to play this Test. He grabbed with both hands the opportunity that he was presented with when Sai Sudarshan, the first choice of the selectors to play in this game, was laid low by an injury. Padikkal was at ease against both pace and spin in the first innings and tackled the turning ball with ease and poise in the second outing. But the most pleasing aspect of his two innings’ was the temperament he displayed, which gives the indication that he is a fit candidate to be considered to man the crucial No 3 position in the batting order in the longer duration version of the game.

Don Bradman had once stated that it was his theory that the best batsman in a team should bat at the No 3 position. His logic was simple: the batsman is required to have the technical expertise to face the new ball in addition to being proficient against the spinners, as there exists an equal chance that he may be tasked with facing the second ball of the innings as much as the likelihood of taking guard in the twenty-second over. Bradman stipulated that a good one drop batsman should possess the ability to attack the bowlers and take charge of the proceedings while also be prepared to play the role of a sheet anchor to save a game. In short, he is expected to be the fulcrum around which the team’s batting revolves. The fact that the great Don could carry out all these tasks with ease and aplomb must have influenced his thinking while laying down the requirements of a batsman who could bat in this position.

However, in India, it is seen that, due to some strange and as yet unexplained reasons, the best batsmen, outside the openers, have batted at No 4 position. During the 1970’s this was the position in the batting order that the great Gundappa Viswanath occupied with considerable success. From the 1990’s onwards, this slot became the monopoly of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and later Virat Kohli, two of the greatest willow wielders that the game has seen. Shubman Gill, the most technically accomplished batsman in the current squad, also chose to move to this spot once Kohli announced his retirement from the game. Even the great Sunil Gavaskar preferred to bat at this position on the few occasions that he could convince the team management to allow him to move out from the opening slot.

It was only natural that the batsmen who manned the No 3 slot lost out in terms of public attention and glamour on account of being overshadowed by the persona of those batting one place below them in the batting order. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were undoubtedly great batsmen and their contribution to Indian cricket is second to none but neither could come close to Tendulkar in popular ratings. Besides, neither could claim the spot as belonging to them exclusively as it alternated between them depending on the vagaries of form, as was the case with Mohinder Amarnath and Dilip Vengsarkar in the years before that. Cheteswar Pujara’s grit, patience and near superhuman capacity to bear pain is the stuff of legend but they were relegated to the background when compared with the brilliant artistry of Kohli. Pujara also was not a fixture in this position either as there were times when he was not considered good enough to bat in this spot.

If one travels down the memory lane, it will be seen that the last batsman who had a stranglehold on the No 3 position throughout his career in international cricket was Ajit Wadekar. Right from his debut series, against West Indies led by Gary Sobers 1966-67, till his last Test, against England at Birmingham in 1974, Wadekar batted at one drop in the batting order. A left-hander, without any of the grace usually associated with southpaws, Wadekar was an attacking batsman capable of tackling pace and spin bowling alike without any difficulty. He was a splendid player of fast bowling and was a fearless “hooker”, who despatched the bouncers hurled at him by the likes of Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith and John Snow to the fence with the minimum of discomfort. He was also an outstanding player of spin bowling and had once scored a brilliant triple century against an attack comprising of Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar in domestic cricket. Appointed as skipper of the national side in 1971, Wadekar attained fame when he led the squad to the first-ever series triumphs in West Indies and England but had to bow out in disgrace following the rout suffered by the team in England in 1974.

Manav Suthar too had a dream match picking up 10 wickets, which included a return of 6 wickets for 55 runs in the second innings. This is the second time in his Test career of two matches that he has picked up more than 5 wickets in an innings. One cannot think of many bowlers blessed with a more impressive start in international cricket than this left arm spin bowler hailing from the border district of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan.

There used to be a time till the 1990s when India had a surfeit of riches when it came to classic left-arm spin bowling. During the 1950’s Vinoo Mankad was undoubtedly the best left-arm spinner in the world. He was followed by Bishen Bedi, whose bowling was sheer poetry in motion. Bedi’s brilliance was such that Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar, two left-arm slow bowlers blessed with extraordinary skills, were forced to remain content with playing first-class cricket. The 1980’s saw Dilip Doshi, Ravi Shastri and Maninder Singh dominating the scene. But, after their departure, the well of talent within the country in this department suddenly seemed to dry up.

Though Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav have been amongst the wickets in international cricket in all versions of the game, neither of them is cast in the conventional mould of left-arm spin bowlers. Jadeja relies more on accuracy and control over line and length and is a match-winner on helpful surfaces, while Kuldeep is a wrist spinner adept at bowling the unorthodox stuff. The entry of Suthar comes like a whiff of fresh air as the art that he has displayed in his short exposure at the highest level brings back memories of the days when Bedi used to rule the roost.

Approaching the bowling crease through a diagonal run between the umpire and the stumps that ensures that he is properly side on at the point of delivery, Suthar relies on flight and turn to befuddle the batsmen. He has a lovely loop and is not afraid to give the ball “air”, a rarity these days when exposure to T20 cricket and increase in power imparted by the bats increasingly makes the bowlers wary of flighting the ball. He attacks the stumps with the ball usually drifting in towards the off and middle stumps before pitching and turning away from the right-hander. The height from which he delivers the ball ensures that he gets a fair amount of bounce as well. All these skills were on display in ample measure at Galle when he ran circles around the Sri Lankan batsmen.

The performances of Padikkal and Suthar at Galle brought back memories of the early 1970’s when Wadekar and Bedi were at the peak of their prowess. One knows that it is still early days in international cricket for this duo, who need to prove their mettle in the harder Tests that follow against tougher opponents in conditions far more challenging than what they have been exposed to till now. They are both young and have plenty of cricket left in them. Their success will depend on their ability to emerge successful while playing against the SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) on their home turf. For the present, one can only wish them good luck in their careers while congratulating them for their top-drawer show at Galle.