Impish Parthiv shows his selflessness

In the 25th over of this Test, Virat Kohli set off from slip to chase after an inside edge that travelled towards fine leg. He kept the batsmen down to one with the speed of his chase, the slide and the quick release of the ball. The ball, though, hit the helmet behind the wicketkeeper on the full, and conceded five penalty runs. Then something happened that has not happened in Indian cricket for years now. The wicketkeeper, Parthiv Patel, stood there and laughed at his captain.

Wridhhiman Saha, the man Parthiv is substituting for, has been a valuable member of the India team since MS Dhoni's retirement, but he is a bit too earnest for a wicketkeeper. Even the colourful Dhoni before him could be funny with his one-liners and running commentary caught on the stump mic, but his was the voice of authority, too.

India's two previous wicketkeepers lacked the impishness Parthiv brings to the job. He laughs at himself, he laughs at others and with others, he is now a veteran of first-class cricket but still one of the boys. After two missed opportunities in Mohali, his wicketkeeping has also become steady, but it is his selflessness in the face of every crisis that has endeared him to a side that - it would have been fair to assume three weeks ago - had moved on from him.

Called up two days before the Mohali Test, Parthiv joined a squad that had only one player he had played Test cricket with. Most of them would have seen - as kids - Parthiv help save India a Test as a 17-year-old. Now was the time to ask the 31-year-old for a reprise because thanks to injuries and poor form India had only one opener going into the Test. It would have been perfectly understandable if Parthiv had asked to be allowed to bat in the middle order, forcing India to do what most sides do: No. 3 opens, and everybody else goes up one slot.

That does mean pushing your most impactful batsman out of his comfort zone. The last time Kohli batted at No.3, in the West Indies when he dropped Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli returned his lowest match aggregate. Perhaps you have more to lose if Kohli is exposed to a new ball, and in such decisions it comes down to what the team is comfortable with. So Parthiv stepped up in Mohali, but at least then he slept over it. He would have had time to visualise.

In Chennai, though, M Vijay injured himself during England's innings. An innings that has Parthiv keep wicket for 157.2 overs in the heat and humidity of Chennai. There is a reason why not many wicketkeepers have managed to keep wicket and open Test innings for long. The sheer physicality of the job means Farokh Engineer is the only wicketkeeper with 1000 Test runs to his name as an opener. Still, only 419 of his 1577 came in the second innings of a Test, usually the most challenging time for a wicketkeeper to open the innings. Because if you have conceded more than 400 in the field, you have gone up and down in your keeping stance around 900 times, and are now looking at a burst from the opposition in the final session of day two. You dearly need to go into the third day unscathed. Your fitness, your skill, your mental strength, all come into play now.

It helps if you know from the start of the match that you are going to open. We are not sure when Parthiv was asked and when he agreed to do the job, but it couldn't have been a long preparation. The decision was most likely arrived at during the tea break. It means Parthiv had to go out for half an hour to keep some more, come back, have a quick shower, get his thoughts in order as he changed into bigger pads - please avoid jokes about how they needn't be much bigger for him - and go out to make sure Pujara and Kohli don't have to bat on the second evening.

Never mind the slow pitch, the fact that Parthiv agreed - he might even have volunteered - to open tells you a lot about his commitment to the team and the team's trust in him. Twice in the series India have lost the toss and conceded a big first-innings score, and on both occasions the top three have been instrumental in their coming out unscathed.

In Rajkot, Gautam Gambhir and Vijay batted out the whole final session on the second day, which didn't get its due. In Mumbai, Pujara and Vijay batted out the whole final session on the second day. In both cases, India lost a wicket in the first over of the next morning, but they had denied England the pressure the early wicket in the evening session can create. This time Parthiv helped them do the same during a crisis. Parthiv will know this might not last - Saha should take the wicketkeeping gloves when he is fit again - but boy is he making that decision difficult.