Vihari and Pant show true value in Kohli’s landmark Test

“We always find what we search for, don’t we?” uttered Harsha Bhogle during the third session of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka, on Friday. 

While Harsha’s quotes came during a different circumstance, his statement might only be apt for Rahul Dravid’s Team India. When India walked into the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, they were without the experienced heads of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. 

In between the two batters, there were 11,600 Test runs, a cumulative average of 40.5 and 30 Test tons. But more important than the runs, the average or the tons, there was a cumulative experience of 177 Tests across 12 years in a phase that changed the face of Indian cricket. The void was huge and the management had to tread very carefully for the future.

For the longest time, Hanuma Vihari was considered as an ‘away specialist’, his role was quite clear, one that would require a lot of travel. He battled injuries, he battled in-just selection at times, and moreover, constantly battled to work hard on the prejudiced image of his.

Prior to the Test against Sri Lanka, Vihari had played a grand total of one Test at home, in Vishakhapatnam against South Africa. Even in that Test, the right-hander walked out at No.7 and was required to score some quick runs. And for the most, it looked like he had played his first and last Test at home. 

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Since then, India had played 25 Tests, ten at home but an opportunity for Vihari was never on the horizon, even at the expense of injuries. An average of 60 in pitches that he had grown up, and still there wasn’t a place in the team for the 28-year-old.

1249 days later, having waited ever-so-patiently for his opportunity, it was almost like a second-life for Vihari. When he walked in to bat, at 52/1, it was a situation that he wasn’t used to in the Indian colours. Now add the fact that there was Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja in the batting unit, it gave him a real sense of assurance. 

Throughout the course of his innings, there was a sense of assurance. Vihari was calm, composed, fluent and watched the ball every bit of its way as it bounced in front of him. There was an element of invincibility around his approach, a sense of assurance for Mayank Agarwal from the other end. 

“Great opportunity batting at number three for India. I am happy to bat wherever the team wants me to, but my most preferred position is number three, I have done it in first class cricket. I thought initially the ball was coming onto the bat well. But once the ball went old, it was difficult to time the ball well,” said Vihari post the end of day one’s play.

It was almost like Vihari had absorbed all the pressure over the years of not having played at home and converted that into energy against Sri Lanka. Once the Indian opener was back to the hut, the 28-year-old put his strong foot forward in India getting the runs, giving the former Indian skipper, Kohli with enough time to get acclimatized to the conditions. 

Vihari not just punched his weight but repaid the trust of the management, with a half-century, where he had a control over 94% of the deliveries, playing a false-shot of just 6.2%. Not just that, in between all the solid defenses, there was the reassurance with some crisp boundaries. 

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If Vihari was a calm and cool presence, there was Pant, who was a hot and fiery presence. The two knocks almost provided a contrast that was earlier exhibited by Pant and Pujara. Pant’s method of dealing with chaos is amplifying the chaos, which is quite contrast to Vihari’s traditional methods. 

At 175/4, it could have been anyone’s game but Pant ensured that the hosts ran away with the accolade at the end of the day’s play, purely on the basis of playing the chance. The southpaw didn’t play the odds, he played the man – Lasith Embuldeniya. A striking similarity between all of Pant’s top-notch innings has had a montage of strikes against spin. 

On Friday, it was no different, be it first targeting the favourable match-up in Embuldeniya or be it taking the attack to Dhananjaya de Silva or the part-timer, Charith Asalanka, Pant played the men. He knew that they were on the backfoot, with the field setup, which allowed for the southpaw to swing his bat without fear. 

And he played his cards with utmost perfection, took on the bowlers immaculately, in a phase where India were desperate search for runs. But until his half-century, there was a sense of security around his batting. For the first fifty runs, Pant’s strike-rate was just 66.67, where he was in control over 93.3% of the deliveries. 

But the next 46 runs were a ride, one that most of the Indian fans savored, at home or at the venue. In fact, it is the free-hand that the various managements – of the past and present – that has worked in India’s favour. The next 22 deliveries that Pant faced, he took on the bowlers, head on, scoring 46 runs, at a strike-rate of 209.09. 

Every 2.75 deliveries that came Pant’s way was sent as quickly to the boundary and three of them, over the ropes for huge sixes. The 24-year-old might have had a control of just 68.2% but had attacked 59.1% of the deliveries he faced. 

That’s how Pant plays the game, you like it or not. On a grander scheme of things, India found what they were looking for, the ice and fire, in Vihari and Pant.