The monk who loves stonewalling

Soon the ODI series between India and Australia will start and we will have many big-hitters coming to the fore, safe in the knowledge of the restrictions, especially the fast bowlers face. People may go ga-ga over the performances, possible blitzkriegs and perhaps some tight bowling as well. Come IPL, the pace of the game would pick up further and the power-hitters would come to the fore, some of them justifying their price tags and some not. The name of Cheteshwar Pujara may soon be forgotten by the people who hanker for Adrenalin rushes on the cricket field.

Apart from being the architect of India’s Test series win against Australia, Pujara has done more to popularise or rather revive interest in Test cricket – much more than the ICC can ever do. Leaving the Australian quicks panting and the Australian public secretly admiring his monk-like approach to batting, Pujara strode the grounds in Australia like a colossus.

To put things in perspective and attaching numbers for drawing a parallel – Each Test match has 360 minutes of playing time per day I.e 1800 minutes of play over five days. In the entire series Pujara batted for 1867 minutes which means he has batted more than the entire time of a Test match. Again with 90 overs per day and 6 balls per over ( leaving aside No-balls and wides), this adds up to 540 balls per day. Pujara faced 1258 balls in the series, I.e equal to balls bowled over nearly 2 1/2 days. Phenomenal with a capital P!

During my cricketing days as a kid in Chennai, any batsman who could only stonewall and not play strokes was said to be a “ Dokku player”. Even while watching Test matches at Chepauk, defensive play was met with shouts of “ Hit out or get out”. Sunil Gavaskar was often at the receiving end as Chennai’s favourite has always been Gundappa Vishwanath. Today the art of ‘dokku’ is forgotten.

Today’s Gen Y batsmen hit out to get out as they neither have the technique nor the patience to stay at the wicket and build a long innings. In this situation and with mouth-watering IPL contracts being dangles, the art of stonewalling, leaving as many deliveries as possible and grinding the bowling to dust seems to be a forgotten art. Gen X and Baby Boomers like Sunil Gavaskar, Geoff Boycott or Mudassar Nazar revelled in it.

Gen Y is in a hurry, earns much more and does not believe in continuing at the same workplace ( Read: At the batting crease) for long periods. Here I am referring to the entire Gen Y and not limiting myself to cricketers of this generation. Pujara, though a Gen Y seems to bring those admirable qualities which Gen X displayed. A true Gen Y cricketer could be Lokesh Rahul who goes bang, bang and takes home more money than poor Pujara who does not even have an IPL contract. The monk may not bother but continue to grind down opposition bowlers. If he does so, it augurs well for Indian cricket in particular and Test cricket of course, in general.

Stonewalling is back in fashion! Cheteshwar Pujara is an icon!