Of nerves of steel and worsdmiths

When the Indian team toured Australia in 2020-21, the conventional wisdom was that the first Test would be the most competitive because India would have the services of its full team, including the captain Virat Kohli. His subsequent departure for the rest of the series for paternity reasons was proposed to be a hole too big to fill. 

 I did not share the same misgivings. Having seen, time and again, sports teams outperform expectations when a star player is lost or not playing, I expected a better than hoped-for response. What I have seen in the Melbourne Test and the Sydney Test has far exceeded even my expectations.

My thoughts on the Sydney Test are many but nearly all of them were encapsulated by Prem Panicker, who came out of hibernation to pen a post that is a celebration of the fightback as well as a eulogy for his recently departed beloved uncle. 

For a little over a day this team — of which, thanks to an attrition without parallel in our history, I at least had little expectations — made memories to cherish. And, more importantly, helped me forget that an uncle who was the wind beneath my wings is no more; that as the fourth Test winds down to a close in Brisbane, I will be back in Calicut, immersing his ashes in the sea and bidding him a last farewell.

To borrow from Shakespeare, ‘For this relief much thanks. ‘Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.’

Read it in its entirety to comprehend the magnitude of the task at hand and how a bunch of steely professionals did not flinch in the face of sustained hostility for 131 overs.