Spinner Kuldeep Yadav, pacer Arshdeep Singh and batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran have been constant companions on this tour. In the squad of 18, they are the three players who haven’t yet got a game. They bowl at the nets to those in the playing XI on non-match days. During Tests, they are seen doing sprint-drills at lunch and tea intervals, they also run on the field with towels over their shoulders clutching drinks and gloves. That dressing room is bound to give the perpetual extras the feeling of a ‘waiting room’.
For any professional sportsperson, this isn’t a great space to be. At Lord’s when the ‘extras’ were running on the storied turf during the break, it wouldn’t have given them an inspiring feeling or memories of a lifetime. Mortals feel blessed when stepping on the Lord’s turf, the high for a player is to be on the central square and the honours boards.
Before the series, Kuldeep was asked about the only Test he had played at Lord’s. On that 2018 tour, it was a truly forgettable outing. Just 23, he was a raw wrist spinner with skills but no guile. He bowled nine overs, conceded 44 runs, and got no wickets. It was a disastrous Test for India, they lost by an innings, there was no second innings for Kuldeep the bowler.
Now 30, Kuldeep is wiser about life and his bowling.
“Now, I have become much better in controlling the game, setting up batsmen and approaching a particular situation. Now I read batsmen much better and know where and how to bowl and what field to set,” he had told The Indian Express before flying to England.
For the past month-and-a-half, Kuldeep has been “setting up” and “reading” batsmen of his own team. On some days, he, and Arshdeep, are bowling to Easwaran, a fellow non-playing member of the team so far in the series.
The support staff, however, give them company, they don’t leave them alone. Bowling coach Morne Morkel spent a lot of time with both Kuldeep and Arshdeep. They train hard, they joke. Morkel, with a baseball mitt in hand, stands behind the plastic stumps as the two try to pitch the ball in the pre-decided zone marked by cones. Once in a while, Arshdeep wears the mitt and asks the coach to land in the “good areas”.
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Staying fit and prepared
Indian captain Shubman Gill loves to face the combination of Arshdeep and Kuldeep on match eves. It is the day when India’s main pacers – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep – take it easy, preserving themselves for the Test match grind.
Batting coach Shitanshu Kotak, after working with the main batters, makes it a point to gather the net bowlers and ask them to bowl at Kuldeep and Arshdeep. Every sweetly-timed stroke by Easwaran has Kotak shouting ‘great shot’ and clapping. On a long tour, where injuries and emergencies can happen any time, every hand needs to be on the deck, and they need to be fit and prepared.
“We have a 18-member squad, which is a bit larger. So for us it is about giving as much attention and care to the guys who aren’t playing and making sure they get quality practice between Tests,” says the team’s assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate.
“Talking to them about why we are going with certain combinations, why we are not … hoping that they’re in the right frame of mind and obviously physically and technically ready to play Test cricket when the chance comes.”
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The former Dutch player went on to say, “We have 18 quality players so there will be guys coming on tour and not playing a Test. But certainly managing the team environment is very important to keep everyone ready to play but also to keep the mood in the dressing room good.”
At the Kent county ground, just outside London, the Indian team had their first full net session after the Lord’s loss. After the session, on a wooden bench sat Kuldeep and head coach Gautam Gambhir. This can’t be seen as a sign of the wrist spinner finally getting a game and the Indian team ready to play the trump card they have hidden up their sleeve. It was more about an important team player, not fitting in the combination, being made to feel a part of the team.
Unlike any other sport, cricket is about one long wait after another. Even those in the playing XI deal with this. When an opener gets out early, he twiddles his thumb and watches his mates bat. In heart-of-hearts, he is wanting the inning to end so that he can have a second go.
The Extras have it worse, for there is no time limit to the prolonged periods of boredom and anxiety. For Easwaran it has lasted several years. It’s tough, once you are made to sit out for years and then expected to leap out of the waiting room and hit the ground running.
