Hot Spot | Chetan Narula
There was a time when being the world No. 1 in Test cricket used to be easy. If you were born as Clive Lloyd or Steve Waugh, you would be leading a team of superhuman cricketers. They would dominate in any playing conditions, steam roll all opposition in their path and just wouldn't know how to lose.
Things have changed though. Today, there is no one Test playing nation that can say 'yes, we rule the world!' As Australia started coming down their pedestal, two contenders emerged - India and South Africa. While the Proteas never made that step up (you can call it choking), the Indians went top for a little while and stayed there on account of some good performances at home, and a few decent ones abroad. Continue reading below
But that bubble had to burst, sooner or later. Their bowling attack was always depreciating in terms of resources and the batting was on old legs, with no substitutes in sight.
So, when England won the Ashes in Australia in 2010-11, they made a lot of noise. It wasn't without reason, for an Ashes victory is an unparalleled feat for their cricket set-up. They attribute more importance to it than achieving an ODI World Cup win, perhaps also the reason why they haven't ever registered one. Ruffle back the pages of history and you will find that every time they have regained the Ashes, there is major talk of being the best side on the face of this earth. And so it was this time too, only as an add-on, there was an immense criticism of the Indian team.
To be fair though, Andrew Strauss' team won the bragging rights fair and square in the summer series of 2011. India were never really serious about this Test series, something you wouldn't associate with a world No. 1 side.
Too much cricket, including the World Cup and then the everlasting IPL, had taken its toll. There was no planning or build-up to such an important clash, no thought going into avoiding player burn-out. England were the new No. 1 Test side, and deservedly so.
The true test - pun unintended - of being No. 1 though, is in defending that position for as long as you can. Along the way, even in the face of defeat, you have to maintain a champion-like aura. In that respect England were always going to find the run of play a little difficult as they would take on Pakistan (away), Sri Lanka (away), West Indies (home), South Africa (home) and India (away), all in one calendar year. Given their fallibilities against spin, not many would have bet for them staying atop by the end of 2012.
But December is too far off at the moment. This is February, and only one series has gone by, England going down 3-0 to Pakistan in the UAE. Here are a few facts from this contest that matter: no English batsman made a hundred in six innings and only five fifties were notched up. Only in one innings did two English batsmen score a half-century each, the rest were all individual efforts in different innings. Meanwhile, Saeed Ajmal took 24 wickets at an average of 14.70 and Abdur Rehman took 19 wickets at 16.73.
If you read through them, a couple of points are very clear. First, there was an utter lack of partnerships in the English camp and no one batsman was able to solve the spin riddle. It is very easy to debate whether they could have attacked or defended more in any particular situation. But the big question is did they have the wares to do it?
And that answer can be found in the second pointer. Whenever the English bowlers kept their side in the hunt, the batsmen blew that advantage, particularly in the second and third Tests. So no, spin continues to dog this English side.
Also, two big debates have come out of this series - DRS and Ajmal's action. Talking about DRS first, there are two distinct schools of thought here. One, you either follow what the BCCI is doing and be stern against the use of half-baked technology. Or two, just accept what comes with it and shut up altogether, for you cannot be unhappy when some decisions go against you.
As regards Ajmal's action, there has been no talk coming forth from the ICC. It is all played up in the media and any English sports team does have a hugely opinionated media backing them. For the scribes, there is another fact to look at: Umar Gul took 11 wickets in the series. His four-wicket hauls in the second innings of both the first and third Tests were instrumental in Pakistan victories.
There is but one moral of the story here: England do not have any excuses to offer.
