Acrimony followed the sensationally concluded India-England Test series at every juncture, but the fellowship of cricket suffering never got eroded. Battered, bruised bodies and satisfied souls of fighting cricketers from both the Indian and England teams assembled on Monday, to end the series on a note of mutual respect and bonhomie. A memorable series where banter got bruising but not brutal, received a calm debriefing as war wounds were bandaged.
The English team invited the Indians over for the customary end-of-series tradition after the 2-2 parity was reached. They might have been involved in fierce fights, not ceding an inch but once The Oval emptied out, it was scenes of camaraderie and asking after the well-being of the wounded.
A team official told The Indian Express that while every Indian walked up to Chris Woakes who came to bat with a hand in a brace, admiring him for his courage, several English cricketers asked after how Rishabh Pant had been doing, given his broken toe. Both sides had given the world iconic images of broken warriors walking out to play their designated role, something that was appreciated most by the opposition.
The meet and greet also saw India’s young batsmen queue up and listen with wide attention to Joe Root talk about how his batting keeps getting better by the day. “He was asked how he has sustained top form for so long and many things about his batting,” the team official narrated.
English cricket, even when clubs or counties play, wraps up proceedings with both dressing rooms converging for a common limbering down of emotional intensity. And after battling for 25 days, the two teams ensured that all Day 5 wrinkles were neatly ironed out exchanging warm respect.
The day’s hero, and a rather popular figure even amongst opponents, Mohammed Siraj was the life of the after-party, and all controversies and grudges got buried with the final meet-up before the Indians flew out on Tuesday.
The rivalry – though incidents keep cropping up – isn’t particularly bitter to start with, and through the series, even as the world thought controversies would brim over, both sets of cricketers have professionally left events on the field.
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So even as Ben Stokes said nobody from either side was losing sleep over what was said, Prasidh Krishna who had a go at Root, clarified that the batsman was an ultimate legend, and no one could really hold onto any ill-will towards him. Similarly though Siraj’s fiery eyes would light up several times in follow up, Root had maintained that his “fake angriness”, as hard as he tried, was never viewed as anything but a passionate performance by the English.
India’s mild-mannered captain Shubman Gill isn’t prone to trash talking anyway, and those like Yashasvi Jaiswal have even spent days picking the brains of Joe Root during the IPL gig at Rajasthan Royals. Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum have both been massive figures at Kolkata Knight Riders, and the two teams though hosting some fiery characters, ensured they ended the memorable series on a note of friendship with a higher echelon of respect for the show they put up for the world. It was the next best thing to fairytale endings – 2-2, and two sets of happy cricketers who left it all out there and then enjoyed each other’s company.
