Series done and dusted, now India seek to deliver some joy to cyclone-battered Chennai in 5th Test

“This will be my 140th Test and I have never played in a game when we haven’t had nets before. But you do have to remember what happened in the cyclone. People unfortunately lost their lives, so a net session the day before doesn’t seem quite as important after what people have gone through. You drive around (from airport to hotel and hotel to stadium), and you can see the devastation. It’s a real reminder of how lucky we are,” said Alastair Cook, before the fifth Test, starting in Chennai on Friday.

His words had strength enough to pause the hectic activities going on at the Chidambaram Stadium. On Thursday afternoon, Chepauk was a hotbed of various people, all of them trying their level best to fix something or the other – from furniture in the media box to adequate arrangements in the stands, from communication lines for commentary boxes to getting optimal playing conditions.

Frenetic rush to get Chepauk ready

Never mind the buzz, if you restricted yourself within the confines of this stadium, perhaps you would not suspect that a cyclone passed through this week. Well, not unless your gaze shifts to the roof of the “closed” stands, where the canopy has been shredded by gusty winds.

This roof is not going to be mended before the game – it is not needed – and this sentence captures everything going on in the vicinity of the ground, just outside the reach of players who were busy warming up. From fallen trees to blocked pavements, to broken down electric cables, and so on, if it is not needed at the game, it is not important.

This fifth Test will be played in a cocoon, oblivious to the struggles of the common folk in the face of natural calamity. But hey, those people will probably not be attending the game. And for those who will, meanwhile, the narrative is about the endpoint of a process.

With a 2-2 draw at home against Pakistan, a 1-1 draw away in Bangladesh and a series defeat here, England are on the cusp of one.

The process bears fruit

“You get judged on your results as a captain, don’t you? And when you lose games, of cricket you are under fire, it happens to everyone. When Virat Kohli loses games of cricket, he’ll get criticised, when I lose games of cricket, I get criticised. That’s part and parcel of the job,” said Cook.

It is an odd comparison, for India under Kohli are unbeaten since the loss in Galle to Sri Lanka last year. And, in this interim, they have won five Test series on the bounce. Cook should, instead, find a parallel with MS Dhoni’s last days of Test captaincy, for his leadership currently is a reminder of the same lethargy on the field.

At least Dhoni, to his credit, knew when to walk away, and English cricket is just about reaching that station now. Joe Root is ready – he has been talked up by Cook himself, and there can be no better time to bid adieu to the captaincy job after this match and let his team find a new leader in the next year.

Yet, after already losing the series 3-0, and particularly suffering an embarrassing loss in Mumbai, the nature of England’s fight in Chennai will decide whether Cook makes the decision himself, or is forced to do it, if at all.

Meanwhile, India too need a reference to Dhoni’s time when talking about the end of their current process, and the onset of a new one. When England had won here in 2012-‘13, it set off a chain reaction in terms of transitioning that Indian side and ushering in new players, the result of which is evident in this No. 1 ranked team under Kohli.

Dhoni always liked to talk about process more than results, and for good reason. While India were getting beaten in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia on their long overseas cycle from 2013 to 2015, this new face of the Indian team was silently taking shape behind the curtains.

Transition over, time to carve their own space

Mind you, they were still learning, even during the past year or so when they have been nearly invincible, irrespective of the opposition and conditions they have come across. However, this particular journey of these young cricketers to the experienced ones they are now, this forging of a vibrant Indian team, needed an end-point too.

Mumbai, then, was an apt venue for the same.

It was at the Wankhede back in 2012 when England had showcased the deep-rooted deficiencies in that Dhoni-led side. With a scintillating victory over the same opponent, the present Kohli-led side has finally closed the transition chapter. From here onwards, it will be about setting new targets and indeed attaining them.

“We still understand we got to play a lot of cricket everywhere in the world. It’s not only about this one period we are going through. It looks really good because we have come out of transition and immediately started winning games. It’s an on-going process which needs to be sustained for the next five-seven or eight years for us to become a top quality side and leave a mark on world cricket; maybe known as one of the best teams to have assembled on the field,” said Kohli, on the eve of this fifth Test.

Sure, learning will still remain a key aspect of this latest progression. At the same time, Kohli and his boys can no longer approach any situation as they did in the past. Simply because, as a team, their instinct will change from discovery to that of seeking adventure as they pursue greater heights whilst relying on experience. Everything they do from now on will have a chord linked to the past, but will also unveil the next unknown step.

Dead rubber you said? Nah, on Friday, in Chennai, Kohli and his team begin their bid to carve out a unique identity, a legacy of their own.