As bright young stars Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel scampered across the pitch to seal India’s five-wicket and 3-1 series victory over England, the home team dressing room spilled onto the ground.
The symbolism of the moment could not be lost. After a noon-time mini-collapse, India were tottering at 120-5 but Gill and Jurel took the team past the fourth-innings target of 192 with an unbeaten partnership of 72 runs. Not known to chase down tricky totals in pressure situations, India had recorded a rare win. And thanks was due to a bunch of cricketers in their mid-20s.
Besides underlining the triumph of the young, the 3-1 scoreline had unravelled England’s much-published aggressive brand of cricket. It was also a loud statement that India no longer needs rank turners to shore up their invulnerability at home. Captain Rohit Sharma would hint that the Indian Test team going forward will continue to see these fresh young faces.
‘When I look at them, talk to them, the responses that I get from them are quite encouraging. You will see these guys playing more regularly in this format … It’s just a start for them but there is a lot of promise,’ he said.
India hadn’t been in this positive state of mind earlier in the series. After the first Test loss in Hyderabad, they stared pensively into their future. The stars are aging and team’s MVP, Virat Kohli, was to miss the entire series. Old hands Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been pensioned off, the transition didn’t seem to be going well.
India seemed to be swimming through uncertain times in this format. But by the end of the fourth day here, you could see the renewed wave of energy. In Jurel, 23, they have discovered a cool head in front of the stumps and quick hands behind it. His 90 and 39 not out were priceless — these got him the Player of the Match award at the venue that is the home of his idol M S Dhoni. ‘A dream beyond imagination,’ he would tell the broadcasters.