BENGALURU: When Sarfaraz Khan wanted to flay the second new ball through point minutes after New Zealand had taken it in the third innings, Rishabh Pant, the man at the other end, marched up to offer a few words of advice. Within the context of the situation, Pant, perhaps, did the right thing. The strip was a new ball one; there was always seam movement and the hosts only had 50 runs in the bank to play with it at the stage.
However, pull the curtain back a little and it’s fairly obvious that Sarfaraz’s shot, in a microcosm, is the new Indian way.
Keep attacking with the bat, set the tempo. There has never been a readily identifiable Indian DNA with the bat but this is probably the new regime’s one big early change. It’s why captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir have already used the word freedom multiple times within the batting framework of the Test team.
“When the guys are showing that kind of attitude on the field with the bat, it shows that the mindset is clear,” Sharma said of India’s response in the second innings.
“The guys want to go out there and play with freedom and try and see how we can put the pressure back on the opposition.”
When the hosts began their response to New Zealand’s 402, they were 356 in arrears. However, for vast stages, it didn’t feel like that. The Kiwis had to adapt quickly; they had a sweeper cover and their spinners couldn’t build pressure by having men around the bat.
“… in the second innings with the bat, to come out and play like that, it felt like we were ahead in the game at one stage,” Sharma added. “We didn’t feel like we were 350 behind and that is something that I’m really proud of.”
It’s a byproduct of moving on from the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha and bringing in place the likes of Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant over the last three years or so.
Pujara (49.3 per cent of his total runs in boundaries), Rahane (49.67) and Saha (44.34) were perfectly capable bats. They have won games for India but this generation has their own ways and means when it comes to batsmanship.
All three of Gill (55.1), Jaiswal (61.3) and Pant (58) scored a higher percentage of their runs in boundaries. It’s what works best for them and the support staff have to be celebrated for providing the keys and unshackling them
