India’s riposte to losing two full days of Test cricket to organisational ineptitude was brutal. Exhilarating. Uninhibited. Free-spirited. It breathed life emphatically into a game that otherwise could have meandered along, reiterating not just their transformed approach to the five-day game but also the esteem in which they hold the World Test Championship.

A decade back, it would have been inconceivable that India would have even contemplated such a remarkably positive approach. After they dismissed Bangladesh in their first innings for 233, some 40 minutes after lunch on day four, they could have bedded down and opted for batting practice and easy Test runs on a decent batting surface. They could have bemoaned their bad fortune, blamed the elements for being deprived of the opportunity to push for vital WTC points, they could have taken the easy way out.

But ‘easy way’ and Rohit Sharma are mutually exclusive. Which explains the carnage that unfolded at Kanpur’s Green Park on Monday. Despite the loss of 235 overs of play over the first three days, India are, unthinkably, eyeing victory after unleashing a sparkling exhibition of unfettered stroke-making that rocked a singularly unprepared Bangladesh no end.

When Yashasvi Jaiswal kicked off India’s reply with three fours in the first over, from Hasan Mahmud, one didn’t think much of it. All three were proper cricketing shots – a backfoot cover-drive, a flowing on-drive, a cracking cut, all off successive deliveries. In any case, the left-hander bats that way, doesn’t he?

Then came the first delivery of the second over, from Khaled Ahmed, the right-arm paceman of whom Rohit knows little to nothing. Khaled didn’t play the Chennai Test, so logic dictated that the batter approached the first few deliveries with caution, just to understand what the bowler is capable of. Rohit threw logic out the window, charged Khaled as quickly as the bowler attacked the bowling crease, and smote him way over long-on for six. Whoa! What was that?

That, people, was the start of the mayhem. Khaled’s next delivery also disappeared for six, over mid-wicket, to the signature Rohit pull. The message had been sent out loud and clear, there was no scope for ambiguity. India had thrown down the gauntlet – they were in the mood for anything but a gentle stroll in the park.

It was a team plan, a diktat everyone had to, and did, buy into. The gameplan was straightforward – score as many as quickly as possible, open up a decent lead and stick Bangladesh in for a few tense overs before close. Totally caught unawares by the ferocity of the Indian charge, Bangladesh were slow to react, which is why they still trail India by 26 runs with only eight second-innings wickets intact.

A day before the Chennai Test, new head coach Gautam Gambhir was queried about what brand of cricket he wanted his wards to espouse. “I've always been a believer that the best style is a style that wins; we want to be a team that adapts and that learns quickly rather than adopting one style,” he replied. “We want guys to be playing the situation, the conditions and then keep growing every day. All this giving a name to a certain style is playing only one way.” Were he that sort, he might have said, Suck on this, Bazball.

Captain Fantastic Rohit Sharma sets the tone

India’s frenetic batting at Green Park is without parallel in Test history. They brought up the fastest team 50 (19 balls) and 100 (61 balls); that all other multiples of 50 until they declared at 285 for nine in 34.4 overs (run rate 8.22) also are the fastest in Test history was almost immaterial. There were 28 fours and 11 sixes in all, a statement if ever there was one. This was eye-opening, an emphatic reiteration that the quest for Test victories wouldn’t lose steam, the ultimate affirmation that the WTC is the real deal, not just another meaningless stop in a crowded international calendar.

Like he did at the 50- and 20-over World Cups, it was Captain Fantastic who set the tone, compelling his colleagues to follow suit. There was a time when it was unthinkable that batters would take even minimal risks in the five-day game. Maybe the sport itself was a little snobbish when it came to Test cricket. All that has changed. Rohit’s India and England, more than anyone else, aren’t allowing grass to grow under their feet in red-ball action. If anyone was in any doubt about how much significance the Indians attach to Test victories and to the WTC qualification process, Green Park on Monday dispelled all of that unequivocally. Bravo!

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