Roger Alton Roger Alton

Just not cricket: the BBC is failing the Test

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Michael Vaughan might disagree but — putting aside 2005 and all that — was there a more thrilling and satisfying series than India’s evisceration of the Aussies which ended at the Gabba? Especially after being rattled out for 36, their lowest ever score, in Adelaide in the first Test, when no one, not even extras, reached double figures, and then losing many of their best players to injury or absence.

They’ve pulled off a skilful trick, the Indians, in making the world see them as underdogs despite them being a cricket-mad country of more than a billion people, which already runs and owns the game. Now there can’t be a cricket fan on the planet who isn’t excited about England’s upcoming Test series against Virat Kohli’s multi-talented team.

England will have to play out of their skins. Much will depend on Root and Buttler

The Indians have shown a mixture of flair and grittiness that hasn’t always been present in their sides. As Justin Langer said after the defeat in Brisbane, you’ve got to be exceptional to make the Indian first XI. And with millions to pick from, you’ve got to be pretty good to get in the reserves too. Rishabh Pant, the match saver in Sydney and the winner at Brisbane, made centuries as a 16-year-old in under-19 tournaments, and a triple century soon after. The rise of Mohammed Siraj is real Boy’s Own stuff. His father was a rickshaw driver who died on the eve of the series. Siraj was unable to return to grieve, being Covid-bubbled in Australia, but he still managed to be India’s top wicket taker. The debut quickie Thangarasu Natarajan comes from a village in Tamil Nadu, where his father works on a loom and his mother runs a food stall.

For anyone still of a mind to scoff at T20 cricket, most of this Indian Test side (with the possible exceptions of Ishant Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara) have learned and developed in the Indian Premier League, playing under enormous pressure when every ball matters.

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