Top 5 Indian Batting Performances in the WTC - World Test Championship.
Mayank Agarwal.
215
Against SA, Visakhapatnam
The stage was set for Mayank Agrawal batsman. Having had tremendous success in domestic cricket, Mayank was scoring tons of runs in almost every opportunity he got. Be it the Ranji trophy or the list A series; he was performing everywhere. And finally, the opportunity came in the boxing day test match. It was before thousands of Aussies crowd on an auspicious occasion for test cricket. India won the toss, and there he came to open the batting. Having performed well from the boxing day test, he had never played a test match on home soil.
And there laid the challenge of South Africa.
This 215, which Mayank scored against the ferocious attack of South Africa consisting of Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Andrich Nortje, etc., was just a class act. It was also symbolic of how well the hard grind of domestic cricket makes you a tough batsman! The Golden rule of Batting in test cricket is to give the first half an hour to the bowlers, see the new ball through, tire them out with their initial burst and then slowly and steadily take charge of the situation. This is what Mayank exactly did.
He played everything to perfection. Played slowly & steadily at the start and then manipulated the bowlers & fields by reaching his 200.
4. Shubhman Gill.
91 (145 Balls)
This knock of Shubman Gill is the best advertisement for our country as a whole in front of the world. If you can address this in just one word, it would be - Grit! The generation is next to India, announcing themselves proudly to the world. The advertisement that big stages, the adventures, the challenges that do not scare us anymore. And we aren't here to stay afloat t we are here to give a punch or two when needed.,
Gabba! The Australian fortress.
In the last 37 years, nobody, literally nobody, had come close to beating Australia at Gabba. Australians have always been a proud( to an extent arrogant) cricket team. They so much crave for making a legacy that they were putting their final bet on winning the series against India at Gabba. Everything was so hyped about this test match & as it turned out, five days later, very rightfully so.
Famous for the first innings partnership between Washington Sundar & Shardul Thakur, the match was greatly poised when Australia asked India to chase 329 runs on the last day. The target seemed out of reach. The crowd was buoyant, and so was the Australian team.
But Shubman Gill had something different in mind. He crafted his way to the brilliant 91, concentrating greatly, playing ball by ball, not paying any attention to the sledding which was going around. His innings was the perfect exhibition of how a test match can be made watchful for both the purist”s & amateurs’ alike. He paved the way for the fantastic victory, which eventually came and gave lots of joy to billions of Indians out there.
3. Rishabh Pant
89 (138)
And the Gabba was breached..!
The headlines read.
Team India had managed to achieve what nobody could. They had beaten Australia at Gabba. It was a monumental victory for various reasons. But it was also a tight slap on all those faces who were constantly writing obituaries of test match cricket. The match was widely watched, widely talked about, and widely celebrated in recent sports history.
Pant came into bat when the solid Fofoundationaid by Shubman Gill was looking to go haywire with the fall of quick wickets. Patience! The most underrated virtue is an aggressive personality. Rishabh pant displayed a tremendous amount of resilience to start with when he batted with pujari to see through the initial phase. He batted and batted and batted.
When curbing his instinct was done away with, when he had played his part as a proper purist test match batsman, he pulled out another character so true to his natural aggressive Pant.
When he and Pujara were batting simultaneously, it looked as if classical music and a Beatles band were performing simultaneously. When wickets were falling at the other end, he kept pushing his game towards the target. He marched on, carrying the hopes of billions with him.
And then came the most iconic shot of recent sports history, which sealed the fate. India defeated Australia in Australia, winning the series 2-1. All thanks to the Rishabh Pant special.
2. Ajinkya Rahane
112 ( 223)
Melbourne.
The India Australia series would be part of cricketing folklore for the ages to come. But if there would be a golden page in the series book, then that has to be this knock by Ajinkya Rahane.
Having bundled out cheaply in the first test, everybody was jumping on India. When Virat Kohli went home for the birth of his first child, the pressure was more than immense. Media speculations were rife that Australia would whitewash India, some even calling it the most serious debacle Indian cricket would be a part of!
But there was a man who had something different in his mind. His steely resolve impeccable aggression within a solid calm mind was visible throughout the last three test matches. He not only e got the group together, rallying them on but also lead from the front.
This 115 is the epitome of everything that the India Australia series was.
Rahane displayed tremendous self-restraint, outstanding grit & extraordinary perseverance. When situations demanded, he went into his shell, stubbornly putting an immense value on his wicket. When everybody was throwing the towel, his innings was actually a demonstration of "See, that's how it's done!"
And what a beautiful exhibition off test match batting it was!
A feast to all the connoisseurs, A treat to all the cricket fans. This not only has to be there at the very top when someone sits after years, to see what the top innings in test looked like
Rohit Sharma
161 (231)
Dustbowl. A rank turner. Vicious devil.
These were some objectives used for the pitches on which the India England series concluded in early 2021.
Having lost the first test in Chennai, India was under immense pressure. Rohit Sharma took the challenge upon himself and played the knock, which would probably go down as arguably the best knock of his career. But as they say, cometh the hour cometh the man.
It was also an exhibition on how deftly one can negate the spin, take the track, and the conditions out of the equation. Rohit played against a general trend in test cricket, starting very aggressively when situations favored the batting. Later on, when spinners came in, he was watchful and patient.
These two separate qualities, which Rohit showed, are what makes this the best knock by an Indian in the world test championship.
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