It may be a coincidence that India’s three best batsmen so far in the first Test – Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja – didn’t play the limited-overs part of the series against South Africa.
Then again, it may not be.
Twenty-two wickets have fallen over two days and 14 batsmen were out for single-figure scores, but, as Sunil Gavaskar said after the second day’s play ended, there are runs to be had for batsmen willing to knuckle down and be disciplined.
Pujara's innings was an exhibition of old-fashioned Test batting Photo: BCCI
That’s exactly what all three have done, combing to facing more balls than the rest of the side put together. On Friday, Vijay and Pujara continued that trend and demonstrated the value of solid, old fashioned batting on a pitch that looks drier than the moon’s surface and has turned from day one.
There were no frills. No reverse-sweeps or ramps. They didn’t try to dominate or impose their will on the bowling. They simply took what the pitch and the bowlers offered, watching the ball onto the bat, defending mostly, and trying to score when the opportunity presented itself.
It wasn’t exciting stuff – think Virat Kohli attacking Australia’s fast bowlers in Melbourne – but it was what the conditions required. These two had stabilised the first innings and they set about doing the same again after India had taken a fragile lead and lost Shikhar Dhawan for another duck.
Vijay has been the most assured-looking batsman in this Test and the key was clarity of mind. He was either right back or right forward in defence to the spinners. When he chose to attack, it wasn’t the kind of tortured slog that cost Dean Elgar his wicket. It was more calculated, like when he came down the wicket to Simon Harmer and lofted him over mid-off to go from 33 from 37.
There was no hesitancy, nor was it merely a tactic to throw the bowler off his length. He picked his moment, got to the pitch of the ball and hammered it to the boundary. It had been 10 overs since his last four. Patience is a big part of doing well on this surface.
Pujara didn’t look as certain. He didn’t pick the length as well as Vijay and there a handful of mistimed shots. For a while, he struggled to drive Harmer through the onside, coming down the track often but finding the fielders with the precision of laser beam. But he was prepared to gut it out. He wasn’t frustrated into playing a rash stroke or tempted into changing his plan. He understood what worked and stuck with it.
Unfortunately for India, Vijay got a peach of a delivery from Imran Tahir and Travis Bavuma produced a brilliant catch at short leg to send Vijay back to the dressing room with only seven overs to go. But by then Vijay had soaked up 105 deliveries and India’s lead had swelled to over hundred.
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Meanwhile Pujara grew in composure as the day wore on, reaching his 50 by coming down the track and driving Elgar elegantly past mid-on. So clear was his thinking that in the last over of the day, when Tahir bowled a googly that pitched way too shot, Pujara was able to go back loft it over midwicket for a six. (As an aside, in a match featuring stroke players like Kohli, Vijay and AB de Villiers - Pujara was the first to hit a six and it came well into the third innings of the match)
The wicket will only get worse, of course. There will be more deliveries that keep low or turn sharply. Bowlers will bowl good deliveries, such as the one Tahir bowled to dismiss Vijay. But those are things a batsman can’t control. What he can control is his thinking. Both Vijay and Pujara are throwbacks to a previous era of Test cricket, and have the temperament and willingness to bat for a long time.
If India are to go on and win this Test, it won’t have anything to do with the new mantra of being aggressive. Rather, it will be the timeless virtues of patience, discipline and the willingness to submit to the conditions rather than dominate them that will carry India over the line.
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