Transition nearly complete

In his vicinity,speeches were delivered,presentations were made,gifts were given and fights broke out. Yet,Pujara’s focus was on nothing but a sphere the size of your fist. India’s number three got the net bowlers to bang the ball in short. And for a while he practiced the upper cut,the stroke that got him out the only time he batted in Kolkata. When left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell had bounced him on Thursday,the Saurashtra batsman had tried to lead the ball over the ‘keeper’s head for a boundary.

He failed then,but was practicing to succeed now.

First among his peers

It was this singular focus,this drive to learn,this willingness to cut away from the plenitude of distractions around him that made Pujara the first among his peers to establish himself in India’s Test squad. Back in October 2010,well before anybody else from his generation came close to the Indian dressing room (to be fair to Kolkata’s debutant Rohit Sharma,he reached the boundary ropes and tripped),Pujara was batting alongside the Tendulkars,Dravids,Laxmans,Sehwags and Gambhirs of this world.

Three winters later,Sehwag and Gambhir had been long dropped. Dravid and Laxman had long retired. And Tendulkar was a Test match away from the end. Had this been any other epoch of Indian cricket,Pujara’s net session on Friday evening would have been a worrying sight. It would have been seen as a kid preparing to burden his shoulders with great responsibility. That has been the trend in world cricket.

When a great set of players depart together,it takes several years,sometimes even decades,to restore the team’s aura. Just take a look at Australia,a team still coming to terms with the retirements from 2007. But this is no ordinary era of Indian cricket. Far from it. In less than a year,a time in which India hosted Australia and the West Indies,the void left behind by the big-name departures is all but filled. In the Indian team,unlike in the batting cages on Friday evening,Pujara is not alone.

Name for name and slot by slot,the greats have all but been replaced. Yes,most of these replacements have only played at home and yes,the following three Test series (all abroad,in South Africa,New Zealand and England) will be a tougher ball game. But Pujara,Shikhar Dhawan,Murali Vijay,Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma have shown enough mettle to clear the forthcoming hurdles. If this theory seems either premature or far-fetched,then kindly peep into the scorecards from India’s longest-ever win streak — the last five Test matches.

Never before had India won five Tests in a row. And when it was done (over the four-Test series against Australia earlier this year and the Kolkata win over the West Indies),it was largely achieved without the aid of the remaining veterans,Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. Only in the very first match of this streak,the first Test against Australia in Chennai,did the men over 30 find the need to help. Otherwise,boys in their 20s,none of whom have yet played more than 20 Test matches,distributed Man of the Match awards only among themselves.

When Tendulkar was dismissed for 81 at Chepauk against Michael Clarke’s men,India had barely crossed the follow-on score. It was Kohli’s 107 that navigated the side through the painful hours on a difficult pitch,before Dhoni took over with his double hundred. In the second Test at Hyderabad,once Pujara (204) and Vijay (167) had added 360 runs between them for the second wicket,India didn’t need to bat again.

Vijay found a different partner to excel alongside in the third Test. In the first innings at Mohali,Vijay scored 153 runs that went unnnoticed. Because the world watched in awe as his new opening partner Dhawan blistered the fastest ever hundred on debut. He scored 187. Until a couple of days ago,it was his only Test innings. During the fourth consecutive win,played in Delhi,Pujara had the stage all to himself. Set a target of 155 to complete the series whitewash on a degenerating wicket,he saw India through with an unbeaten 82,batting with a fractured thumb sustained during his first-innings 52.

New addition

Now,with the addition of Rohit,and his 177 very helpful runs on debut in Kolkata,the set seems to be complete. These boys-turned-men have politely demanded their time. They worked hard for their spots and will work even harder now that they have them. This is their way of assuring the stalwarts they are replacing that even as the world loses focus during a time of tributes and farewells,they will be right there,toiling in the vicinity.