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Boria Majumdar

I write this on the morning of the third day of the first Test at Nagpur with India facing the daunting task of chasing the mammoth 558 put up by South Africa. Day 3, it can be suggested, is of the single biggest days in the history of contemporary Indian Test cricket. It will give us an indication how good the foundation of our cricket is and whether our domestic structure is good enough to produce quality international cricketers with alacrity.

With the famous quartet of Sachin, Rahul, VVS and Saurav shouldering the middle order for over a decade, Indian fans hardly ever needed to look into the foundations of the domestic game. Domestic matches were played to empty stadiums, watched by not more than 500 odd spectators and the five wise men of Indian cricket who are responsible in giving us the best available fifteen at the start of a mega series such as this.

More than the Delhi openers or Sachin, a quality performance from M Vijay or Badrinath against the quality South African attack will  mean much for the world’s number one Test team. It will ensure that come early 2012 when most if not all of the famous four will be confined to the history books, Indian cricket continues to be in safe hands.

Personally from what I have seen of Vijay he looks the perfect successor to Rahul Dravid. Just like his South African number three counterpart, he is blessed with a sound technique and a fantastic temperament and has behind him some big hundreds in the domestic game. Even in the few opportunities that he has had so far at the international level, Vijay has looked the part. Composed and compact, you can trust Vijay with your money, a quality essential in your number three at this level. However, when you have Dale Steyn bowling the way he is, getting the bowl to move both ways and jagging back viciously on occasions, your domestic hundreds hardly count for anything. A learning experience for Vijay and also for Ishant Sharma who hardly got the South Africans to play with both new balls he had at his disposal.

It will also be a huge test for the skipper. Without Rahul, VVS and Yuvraj does he bat up the order and push Badrinath to number six or does he stick to his usual position of number six? Serious cricket, we all know, is played in the mind and in the heart. None imagined that Dhoni could be as prolific as he has been at the international level when he started out but his mental strength, perhaps his biggest asset, has done wonders for the man. It will be put to the severest test here in Nagpur with Dhoni having to shield a relatively inexperienced middle order.

It is impossible to finish of a piece about a Test match as important as this without a few words on Sachin. For him it is a throwback to the early 1990s when Sachin was the lone ranger holding fort in an otherwise very mediocre Indian batting line up. With Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay already dismissed in the first few overs of the day, Sachin might need to unearth yet another of his gems if India is to go to Kolkata as the number one Test side in the world. A classic Test match in the offing and a Test of Indian character in a way that we haven’t seen of late. Also, a perfect advert why Test cricket continues to be the connoisseurs delight and is the ultimate feather in a cricketers cap. Unfortunately a contest of this scale and depth is being played out in a stadium with less than 1000 spectators seriously questioning India’s claim of being the real nerve center of international cricket.