A Series Decided by Superior Spin Show and Amla's Poor Form

By defeating the world’s best Test team and the best travellers in the era of home dominance, India has claimed the No 2 position in the ICC Test rankings. Since India’s next Test assignments are at home, they aren’t too far from occupying the pole position too. The only thing that’s likely to delay their ascent is the fact that the next Test series is about 10 months away. Anyway, it will happen when it has to happen. For the time being, India must celebrate Virat Kohli’s homecoming as an Indian skipper.

While Indian success had a lot to do with its superior spin department, it has also a lot to do with the form, or the lack of it, of one man — Hashim Amla. Over the years he’s proved that he’s equally adept at playing spin as he is at handling pace. The last time he played at Nagpur in 2010, he scored 253 not out and this time, he hasn’t managed that many in the entire tour across three formats. So, what’s gone wrong with the man who’s middle name is ‘consistency’?Well, it didn’t start well for him in the shorter formats, and for once it felt that he was trying to get ahead of himself. He’s surrounded by some quality stroke makers and the way he went about doing his business in T20s and ODIs, gave an impression that he was trying to match his peers. It’s not that his feet weren’t moving or he wasn’t timing the ball well, just that’s he was going too hard at the ball too soon and too often. Previously a couple of boundaries would be followed by some cautious batting but this time, he refused to take the foot off the accelerator. Since matches were taking place one after the other, it didn’t allow him enough time to reassess his methods. His dismissals in Indore and Mumbai in the ODI leg were classic examples of trying too much too soon. It was unlike Amla.
Once the formats changed it just got tougher for him because the pitches weren’t conducive for anyone to find form. He fought well in the first innings of Mohali but left a straight one in the second innings. It was a huge error of judgment but that’s exactly what happens when you’re going through an extended bad patch. The next ball he got was a peach from Varun Aaron in Bengaluru and the pitch in Nagpur was just too tough to handle for a man who’s out of form.
But this tour couldn’t have ended without Amla leaving an indelible mark of class. While the scoresheet of the final Test would show that he failed twice, people who watched his marathon innings would remember his grit and determination for a long time. It was a great example of what a man can achieve if he’s able to control his mind. He reduced his backlift to half to make sure that he presented a dead bat and showed steely resolve to block even the full balls. Even though he failed to save the Test for his country, he won a lot of hearts. Purists of the game can look back at the final innings of the last Test and breathe easy that their beloved format is still alive and kicking.
For an understated guy as Amla, his game is built around a lot of flamboyance. His exaggerated movement of legs and bat before the ball is bowled demand perfect synergy, for if one link goes missing, the entire performance falls flat. On this tour,  that piece had gone missing and before he could fix the problem, the tour was over.