Jurel, Kuldeep, Akashdeep and Gill at Ranchi — Indian Middle Class

Boys became men—pain in the neck of the English spinners.

Dravid doesn’t show emotions, does he? He has once or twice — once during the IPL game where he threw his cap after RR lost that game. And then the other time during the CRED commercial.

This time at Ranchi, he did show emotions. Happy emotions! Just have a look below.

https://x.com/BCCI/status/1762145337043521687?s=20

For a cricket fan, there could be multiple images from the Test match which will remain etched in the memory of this game — one which I will not forget is Jurel saluting towards the dressing room after reaching 50 in the first innings and the second has to be the shy boy’s post-match presentation when he received his first Man of the Match trophy in only his second game.

Cricket in India, historically has been a game of the rich. At the turn of the 20th century, Ranjitsinhji played the game, then there was Tiger Pataudi and folks from bigger teams like Mumbai. Now Test players are cropping up everywhere in India.

This is slightly similar to what happened in the Caribbean. Players like Andy Roberts and Viv Richards — came from smaller islands with nearly no cricketing facilities. If we go further back, we would find that in the White-only clubs of the West Indies, no black batters were allowed, although black cane farmers with sinewy frames and towering looks were allowed to bowl at white masters — often chiding the odd pacers, here’s your 10 pence if you can bowl me out? Quite a way to build a team, which would haunt them for a very long time(ask Mike Gatting or Brian Close) and Blackwash them multiple times. Anyway — here we are talking about the Indian win!

In India, it is only now, that we are bearing the fruits of laying a strong domestic cricket and paraphernalia called the IPL — finding players from the hinterlands. Making it truly democratic in one sense or shall I say a capitalist endeavour which is truly socialist. Don’t believe me?

Think of these names — Jurel, Jaiswal, Yadav, Akashdeep (no second name)etc.

1. Jurel is a kid from Agra. The city of Taj Mahal they say. Son of an Army Vet.
2. Sarfaraz Khan is originally from Azamgarh. If you are familiar with Eastern UP politics you would know the place.
3. Jaiswal hails originally from Bhadohi — some 50 km away from Varanasi on the Varanasi-Allahabad road, a place known for handwoven carpets. Much has been known and spoken about him and his paanipuri stand.
4. Akashdeep, the pacer from Sasaram, Bihar — who had a dream debut with three top-order scalps without any help from the other fielders was spot on. Top-of-off they say, and did he not send that off stump cartwheeling and bails flying all over the place? Lost his dad and his older brother — and had to stay away from the game to provide for his family.
5. Kuldeep Yadav from Kanpur, our own Chinaman — had mightily impressed Late Shane Warne after a brilliant five-wicket haul in Sydney years ago, but here he played for his life, by staying on the pitch with Jurel when India was seven down(deficit of 170 staring) — and later bowled the English out of the game in the post-tea session.

The great MS Dhoni, I believe is the first one who is the quintessential find of the democratic structure. This started in the Greg Chappell era – RP Singh, Suresh Raina, PK, JP Yadav and many more.

This time, it is different though.

The players coming in now are not late-order specialists/30-ball players/a batsmen who can bowl a little. These players are lead cricketers — the face of the game. It is more like NSD(National School of Drama) actors doing lead roles and not doing character roles.

Recently after the exploits at the Gabba, we came to know about a certain Shamar Joseph. And the kind of life, he has had over the years only to be discovered by the talent scout Prasanna Agoram(Shamar calls Prasanna his Dad) in the nets.

A certain Rinku Singh’s father(videos on Twitter) still delivers the LPG cylinders and I am pretty sure, Dhruv Jurel’s dad — the army vet will keep going to MH Agra for his regular health checkups and buy monthly groceries at the CSD canteens.

I wonder if this is not the unapologetic Indian Middle Class then what is?

These larrikins(as Ian Chappell would call these boys) understand what it is to get a chance. They very well know — talent will only take them so far, post that it is fucking belly and fire alone. They have to bloody win and not be sissy about the situations and whatnot! They know how lucky one has to be to get a break. And it needs even more luck to be at the top — to perform at the top. I love this attitude.

I was listening to YBJ – the wonder kid, the scintillating southpaw who has surprised the world. It is all — how he puts it process and zone.

A Test Match is more like a long tragic poem, one stanza at a time. It ebbs and it flows.

When I listened to some of the chatter from the English Dressing Room — I wondered, do these public school-educated English players — understand what they are up against?

That is it.

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