Sports 106

Long gone are the days when India stepped out of Asia with trembling knees and withering minds. Long gone are the days when they feared their mainstay fast-bowler breaking down in the middle of a spell. Long gone are the days when that one bowler was their Plan A, B and C. Long have they shed their own inferiority complex. Long past are the days when they cast covetous glances beyond the Wagah or across the Tasman Sea and the English Channel, or yonder the Caribbean Sea or Cape of Good Hope.

The depth they have is frightening and literal, a depth so deep that they could connect an imaginary line from South Patel Nagar in Delhi to Chinnappampatti in Salem, from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad and Moradabad, from Palghar in the outskirts of Mumbai to Padmanabhanagar in outer realms of Bangalore. They have conquered different poles of the world too—cities as different as Brisbane and Kingston, London and Melbourne, venues as distinct as the Wanderers and Lord’s, on pitches that were hard and bouncy, on turners and dust-bowls, on those that swung and seamed, and on those that were ridiculously flat, as the Oval pitch was.

It’s where the significance of the Oval win kicks in. It was perhaps the flattest track outside the subcontinent where India’s fast bowlers had harmonised a victory, out-bowling and out-thinking England’s bowlers. One simple piece of statistic is illuminating and instructive. In the second innings, England’s quartet despatched 115.2 overs for seven wickets, conceding 325 runs, which is a wicket that came at a cost of 46 runs, and came between 99 balls. India’s bowlers picked the same amount of wickets, but those came at 21 runs per wicket and between 53 deliveries. That is the same number of wickets at half the runs and half the deliveries the Englishmen had consumed. Therein lies the true measure of India’s Oval triumph.

If the one in 1971, hatched by the masterful leg-spinner BS Chandrasekhar, signalled the coming of age of India as a cricketing nation, the latest nails the reality that it has emerged as a pace-bowling powerhouse. It is, even more, a glittering achievement that India has emerged as a pace-powerhouse without compromising on its spin riches. Little doubt that collectively, both spin and pace, this is India’s best bowling attack ever.

To accomplish the triumph without two of their most experienced seamers, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, advertises not only the range of their talent but also the dauntlessness their replacements exuded, proving that the victory in Australia with a third-string side was not an aberration but a precursor. No stage fright, no time to feel back into the game, no spraying around, they bounded out straight away, like caged tigers unleashed into the woods.

Four who got Eng batsmen singing

Umesh Yadav had not played first-class cricket in 16 months, but he was India’s deadliest paceman in the first innings and burst through the defences of the man who has been batting like a dream, Joe Root. There was Shardul Thakur, filing in and out of the team, his four Tests spread across 36 months. He influenced with both bat and ball, two half-centuries to accompany the precious scalp of Root in the second innings. There was Mohammed Siraj whose energy and intensity sustained the pressure when wickets were hard to bargain, apart from reversing the momentum by snaring a well-set Jonny Bairstow in the first innings.

There, invariably, was Jasprit Bumrah, the mantlepiece in marble of this Indian attack. His post-lunch spell was one for the ages, an exhibition of intelligently hostile fast bowling that had the audience spellbound and entranced. Until that moment, he was in the background of this game, a bit player. But when the moment came, he exploded like a whirlwind of seam-bowling sorcery.

In demonic synchronisation, they mined movement off the surface, both conventional and reverse. Bumrah tailed the ball fiendishly into the static feet of batsmen and made some hold the length. Surviving him required more fortune than fearlessness. Both Siraj and Umesh too harnessed extravagant reverse swing, while Shardul Thakur probed the fifth-stump channel with unrelenting accuracy. In the past India have sporadically given back home sides a taste of their own medicine, here they concocted their own, taking the pitch and conditions out of the equation, making the fruits of labour sweeter than that of the Lord’s triumph, on a far more helpful surface.

Gifted as the pool of fast-bowlers is—undisputedly the best India ever had—Virat Kohli could be excused for benching the prolific off-spinner Ravi Ashwin, despite the barrage of criticisms, and in his steadfast belief that world domination could only be achieved through pace-bowling prowess. There is no harm in following the West Indies-Australia route to global supremacy. Historically, it has been the only path.

Though he has shrugged off appellations that he is a fast bowler’s captain, he often concedes the impression that he’s more comfortable with the pace-men around him, that there is an extra blanket of comfort cloaking him. He led them admirably —making the right bowling changes, keeping his bowlers charged-up, eking an extra over out of them, eternally encouraging them, at times cracking a joke to keep their spirits,

Rashpal Singh and Pushpa Kumari remembered how, 14 years ago, Nishad lost his right hand in a fodder-cutting machine. With Rashpal working as a mason, it has been a long journey to the podium.

“As parents, whenever we remember the day when Nishad’s hand got into the fodder-cutting machine at our home, we cry. Today’s medal is the reward for his hard work. To see him hold the Indian flag and the silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics has made us forget all the hardships,” an emotional Rashpal told The Indian Express from Una.

At Tokyo, Nishad jumped 2.02m in his first attempt in the medal round before reaching 2.06m in his third attempt. It was only bettered by Townsend with a jump of 2.15m with Wise tied with Nishad on 2.06m.

With his father owning less than an acre of farmland in their village, Nishad grew up seeing his father doing masonry work to support the family. Nishad was six when his right hand went into the fodder-cutting machine while helping his mother at home. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Hoshiarpur in Punjab, but the hand had to be amputated.

Two years later, Nishad would opt for athletics under coach Ramesh at the Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Katohar Khurd, and would initially compete in 200m and 400m apart from high jump.

“When Nishad recovered, he was disappointed for some time but watching sports events on television aroused interest in sports and he asked coach Ramesh at his school about starting athletics. He never saw him lesser than anybody and would often tell his mother that he will do better than normal athletes. He competed in normal categories early in his career,” remembers Rashpal.

While a young Nishad would win a high jump silver medal in the sub-junior category at the 2013 National School Games in Patiala, it was not untill 2017 that he started competing in the para category. The athlete came to Panchkula to train under Naseem Ahmad, coach of Olympic javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra, and Vikram Chaudhary. He would win the silver medal in high jump with an effort of 1.83m at the National Para Athletics Championship at Panchkula the same year. In 2019, Nishad would emerge as the champion at the World Para Grand Prix Championship in Dubai with a jump of 1.92m before getting a bronze medal at the World Para Championships at Dubai the same year with a jump of 1.99m.

“When he came to train, we were impressed by his height and the way he took advantage of it. He had learnt the basics of the Fosbury Flop technique on TV but we had to work a lot in improving him. He had made jumps of 1.40-1.55m in the general category and we made him spend time on vertical jumps on a board apart from standing jumps near the pit box and the high jump area. It helped him master the Fosbury Flop technique and the medal in the Para Nationals in 2017 gave him the belief that he can do more. Once his body balance and technique was fine-tuned, we would make him jump 50-60 jumps four days a week and he showed improvement with medals at World Grand Prix and World Championships,” remembers Ahmad.

Nishad’s growing prowess and ambition meant his family had to find money to fund his training. “When Nishad told me that he had to train at Panchkula, I told him not to worry about expenses. Sometimes, I would travel to nearby villages or to Punjab for work. Sometimes, I would get daily work at Rs 350-400 for 10-15 days per month and sometimes for 20-25 days per month. Whatever we could save, we saved for his training expenses and would also ask relatives for help apart from taking loan from the village cooperative society,” says Rashpal.

The last one year has seen Nishad training in Bengaluru under Satyanarayan, coach of Rio Paralympics gold medallist Mariyyapan, and Ahmad believes Nishad will only improve further. “His biggest strength has been the ability to do what he visualises in training as well as in competitions. His speed before the jump was excellent and he did not look under pressure. To win a medal with a new Asian record jump speaks of his confidence. He is young and I am sure he can achieve more in the coming years,” shares Ahmad.

At the village, Pushpa and Nishad’s sister Rama Kumari are waiting for his return. “Bahut hi sherdil bachha hai. Jab se wo accident hua hai, usne hi hamein sambhala hai. (He is a lion-hearted kid. Since the accident, he always gave us support). He loves eating his favourite makki ki roti and saag. When he returns, we will welcome him with his favourite food,” said Pushpa.

Chopra had tweeted along with a video clip on Thursday in an attempt to put an end to the controversy being created.

“I would request everyone to please not use me and my comments as a medium to further your vested interests and propaganda. Sports teaches us to be together and united. I’m extremely disappointed to see some of the reactions from the public on my recent comments,” Chopra said in a Tweet.

“Meri aap sabhi se viniti hai ki mere comments ko apne gande agenda ko aage badhaane ka maadhyam na banaaye… comment karne se pehele khel ki rules jaanna zaroori hota hai. (I request everyone not to use my comments to push your dirty agenda… before commenting please understand the rules of the sport),” Chopra tweeted in Hindi.

Chopra had first spoken about this first throw in the final in an interview to The Times of India.
“I was searching for my javelin at the start of the final (in Olympics). I was not able to find it. Suddenly I saw Arshad Nadeem was moving around with my javelin. Then I told him ‘bhai give this javelin to me. It is my javelin. I have to throw with it’. That is why you must have seen I took my first throw hurriedly.”

The second Test was played in an intense atmosphere with players of both teams not shying from constant sledging.

With India leading the series 1-0, one expect more aggression from Virat Kohli’s team but Root said his team has learnt its lessons from the previous game and will not be drawn into the conversations needlessly.

There’s the theatre and everything else surrounding the game. We’ve got to make sure that we play the game how we want to play and we look after that as best as we can, and not get too distracted or drawn into anything that’s not honest,” said Root in the virtual pre-match media interaction.

“We’ve got to be genuine to ourselves, genuine to how we are as individuals and how we are collectively and be as good as we can, the way that we go. Virat’s team will play how they play, I just want us to go out and be the best version of ourselves.”

Root has already admitted to tactical blunders that cost his side the Lord’s Test. Their emotions also got the better of them.

“I think there were always conversations you always try to find one percenters in ways you can deal with different situations.

“We’ve done some good learning off the back of the last game I think we could have managed certain areas differently, me as the captain, we could have gone about things slightly differently.

“We have got three massive games to play in this series, there’s a lot to play for. And you know we’re desperate to bounce back strongly,” he said.

England have made a few changes going into the game with Dawid Malan coming in to bat at number three and Haseeb Hameed moving up to open alongside Rory Burns.

Opener Dom Sibley has been dropped and Mark Wood has been ruled out of the game due to a shoulder injury.

Root expects Malan to make an instant impact even though the southpaw has not played a lot of red-ball cricket of late.

“Dawid obviously offers a lot of experience in that top three, not necessarily in terms of experience in Test cricket, but he has played a huge amount of international cricket now, he’s dealt with pressure situations.

“He’s played a lot of red ball cricket over the course of his career and he’s also had great successes in a massive series in Australia and was our leading scorer out there, so we know that he’s capable of big things.”

Wood’s injury has created an opening for Saqib Mahmood’s Test debut and Root did not rule that out.

“I feel Saqib couldn’t be in a better place to potentially play Test cricket, you look at how he’s progressed over the last couple of years across all formats.

“But the opportunities, he’s taken this year when I’ve been given them he’s been exceptional,” said Root.

The skipper, who has been scoring the bulk of the runs for his team, is confident that under-fire batting line-up will come good.

“The most important thing about batting in Test cricket revolves around big partnerships, when two guys back for a period of time the game can look completely different. And that’s got to be our focus as a batting group.

“Starting your innings in England can be the hardest thing to do.”

Root attributed his brilliant run of form to the technical changes he made recently.

“Sometimes it’s that old adage if you have to take a little bit of backward step to come forward and feel like reaping the rewards of that and I think I’ve obviously, over a period of time, found myself getting out between 50 and 100.

“I feel I’ve managed those phases little bit better now. Just through a better understanding of what I want to play, what I want to leave. And I suppose, just even more experience within the game.”

He duly credit the Indian pace attack for exploiting English conditions to perfection.

“They’ve got a wonderful attack and I say, look around Test cricket, there are some fantastic attacks out there. A lot of them do suit English conditions or have had the exploits to manage these conditions very well.

“India certainly have done that so far in this series, and we’ve got to keep being smart about finding ways to counter that, finding ways to score put the pressure back on them.

“I think one thing they have is they have a good balance, they have variety of different release points.”

Making full use of repechage route, Yash (74kg), Pruthvi Babasehb Patil (92kg) and Anirudh (125kg) grabbed bronze medals as India finished their men’s free style campaign with six medals.

Gourav Baliyan (79kg) and Deepak (97kg) had won bronze on Tuesday.

Up against a strong Rahman Mousa Amouzadkhalili, who had won the Yasar Dogu senior event in June this year, Ravinder could not make his moves as he was largely left to defend in the 61kg title clash.

The Iranian kept Ravinder tangled in head and body locks to win comfortably 9-3

In 74kg play-off, Yash first scored a confident 9-2 win over Armen Musikyan from Armenia and then pulled off a 12-6 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Stambul Zhanybek Uulu after trailing 2-5.

Yash changed the bout in the last 90 seconds with his timely quick moves. Stambul perhaps got overconfident after taking lead and Yash was quick to take advantage after his rival dropped his guard a bit.

Patil took bronze in 92kg after edging past Russia’s Ivan Kirillov 2-1 in the play-off. Patil was trailing on criteria after both wrestlers scored points on each others passivity but the Russian was imposed a point penalty for foul play, and that proved decisive.

Anirudh (125kg) also added a bronze to India’s tally with an impressive 7-2 win over Aydin Ahmadov from Azebaijan.

In the women’s competition, Bipasha was slow off the blocks but got better with each match. She managed a 6-3 win over Kazakhstan’s Dilnaz Mulkinova and then comfortably beat Mongolia’s  Odbag Ulziibat 9-4.

Simran moved into the women’s 50kg semifinals with two dominant wins but lost the last-four stage match by technical superiority to formidable American Emily King Shilson. She will not fight for bronze.

Showing much promise for future, Simran first beat Romania’s Georgiana Lavinia Antuca by technical superiority without conceding a point and then pulled off a victory by ‘fall’ in the high-scoring quarterfinal against Gultakin Shirinova of Azerbaijan.

The quarterfinal was fast with moves and counter moves across the two periods but eventually Simran got hold of Shirinova for a pin when she was leading 18-8.

However, Sito (55kg), Kusum (59kg) and Arju (68kg) lost their respective quarterfinals.

With about a half-hour left of a fractious day featuring regular verbal clashes between players, Mohammed Siraj bowled Jimmy Anderson and celebrated by removing the off stump he had just clattered and wheeling around the outfield in delight at the home of cricket.

India declared on 298-8 just after lunch to set England 272 to win in 60 overs. It was a victory target the hosts never intended to chase, but one they couldn’t defend either.