A laid back coastal city, a once powerful kingdom, the bed of several ferocious cyclones, is set to become the centre of the cricketing universe in the coming days. In Visakhapatnam will unfold, arguably, the most defining Test match this year, one that could potentially signal the end of an era and the beginning of another. Against most expectations, England won the first Test of the series. Another one could shake the edifice of India’s proud home record. Or will the Indians fight back, as they have in the past? Going in, the Visakhapatnam Test seems layered with intrigues — there are plots within plots.
This much is certain. Rohit Sharma’s men find themselves under enormous pressure. They are injury-ravaged and idea-sapped. If they lose at Visakhapatnam, the backlash could be severe — heads will roll, leadership changes could set in. Most damningly, the halo would fade. India would no longer scare visiting sides. They would be less fazed by the turning tracks, knowing that India’s spin-shy batsmen could stumble into the same graveyard. That was perhaps the biggest blow that England inflicted on India in the first Test at Hyderabad. They debunked the fear of turners. India’s once biggest strength is now their deepest flaw. Thus, England have pushed India into unfamiliar terrain in their own bastion, the first time since Ricky Ponting’s Australia breached the final frontier in 2004. The chaos the defeat whipped up, until the 2007 T20 World Cup redemption and the dawn of a new era, is still fresh in memory.
But India have summoned rare courage in distress in the past. Remember their series win in Australia without half their first-choice eleven and after stumbling to their lowest ever total in Tests. They have gifted players to pull them back into the series. There is the wisdom of the seasoned Rohit Sharma and Ravi Ashwin, homing in on 500 wickets, the explosiveness of Jasprit Bumrah, and the youthful promise of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. But even as they have the belief and purpose, their calmness and clarity will be gauged in Visakhapatnam, making the game an unputdownable spectacle.
