Image Credit- BCCI
With a whoosh, the ball escaped Jasprit Bumrah’s grasp. Shakib Al Hasan proceeded to comply with it. It was a full length. He was forward as a result. On the fourth stump was the line. He was therefore across. The largest threat among the opposition was Bumrah. So he used gentle hands to defend. Tick. The stadium reverberates with the music. The whoosh and the tock happened almost simultaneously. A trillionth of a billionth of a second is called a zeptosecond. India’s test match batting culture is ingrained in there.
Bangladesh had long before risen to the occasion. They displayed a fifty collaboration in which they scored eight boundaries and had control over 89% of the deliveries they faced. A few were particularly lovely, like Litton Das’s fluid forward motion to a length ball from Akash Deep and his deft tapping of it through the covers for four. When viewed separately, the cricket match during this brief play segment revealed two sides in equal position.
Then it took place. As it has consistently occurred. Litton was stuck against Ravindra Jadeja’s crease, with no way out. The line was at the fifth stump all the time. Too nice a length to do more than defend. The spinners were the best supplier of runs in Chennai due of the conditions, but this particular one would not give anything away. Basically, you should never be 22 yards away from Jadeja if you want anything at all.
Litton chose to make his own arrangements because he lacked that privilege. It was a pretty good plan. He had been in the middle long enough to sense the pitch’s tempo. Additionally, he had witnessed the midwicket being left open. He could meet those good-length balls just outside off stump under his eyes and brush them into the gap if he were to slide across his crease a little bit now. That’s what he did, but he started too early by a zeptosecond. Jadeja also noticed it. He spread out his queue. This ball also landed on the seam and bounced a little higher. As a result, Litton mishandled a catch to the single man in the deep rather than following the plan he had laid out.
Bangladesh has fully recovered. After being 91 for 6, they were 149 all out. Forming alliances with the opposition in India is a bloody affair. For the past five years, the first six wickets taken by visiting teams have averaged 26.04. There’s nothing else this unfriendly. The fact that the conditions are spin-friendly undoubtedly contributes to some of this. They have occasionally been severe.
However, there’s more than one explanation. In the last moments of Bangladesh’s first innings, Bumrah epitomised it by slapping one hand onto the other. Giving Mehidy Hasan Miraz a ball that he could reach the pitch of and drive past the covers disappointed him.
The notion of magic balls does not entice them to launch an attack. They merely wait as they sit. Most importantly, they offer no sighters. Only six balls out of the 92 that Bangladesh played on Friday, even during their greatest period of play, gave Litton and Shakib room to breathe. They could only leave those alone, the only ones who didn’t carry the risk of being fired. In contrast, in just the second over of India’s first innings, Hasan Mahmud allowed Rohit Sharma the opportunity to leave five balls alone. A batter’s weaknesses are never in play when they are not required to play a shot. India wants to see weaknesses exposed. Always.
Taking them on on their home ground requires a focused and never-ending investigation. How many times are you able to go forward without ever having the option to drive? When there is no space for you to cut or pull, how will you handle the short ball? When the proper things don’t result in many runs, how long can you keep doing them over and over again?
Apparently not for long. There have been 265 partnerships for each visiting side’s first six wickets during the past five years. Out of them, only nine have reached 100.
India’s dominance at home is directly related to the depth, skill and variety of their bowling attack. And this is their signature skill.