How Warner neutralised Bumrah’s arsenal
MUMBAI:WHEN India were bowled out for 255 in the first one-dayer at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, it was obvious the score was going to be difficult to defend against the strong Australia batting line-up. What Indian fans didn’t factor in was an absolute lack of fight from the home bowlers. This despite the attack consisting of the world’s top-ranked bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, the skilful Mohammad Shami and chinaman bowler, Kuldeep Yadav, a wicket-taking option in limitedovers.
And dew was not a factor. The game had an early start, at 1.30pm, to minimise the disadvantage for the team bowling second. There was no dew even an hour after the finish, maybe the strong breeze from the Arabian Sea playing a role in the conditions. Australia anyway chased down the target with 12 overs to spare.
Hence, the Indian bowlers didn’t have an excuse they were bowling with a wet ball, which can sometimes get slippery like soap and difficult to grip, like in the Indian Premier League games that go beyond 10.30pm.
Most of all, what hurt India’s chances of a fightback was a lack of bite in the bowling of Bumrah, India’s X-factor. It was not as benign a track as the Aussie openers David Warner and skipper Aaron Finch made it look with unbeaten centuries. On the same wicket, the visitors’ bowlers had thrived, and the pacers shared seven wickets.
Spinners Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa had built pressure in the middle overs, and prised out two big wickets—virat Kohli and the set KL Rahul—triggering a middle-order slide that saw India lose four wickets inside six overs. The India bowlers’ inability to take a wicket despite having 250-plus runs to bowl was thus even more baffling.
Clearly, something was missing from Bumrah’s game. He has just returned from injury and could be rusty. He needs more matches under his belt to get his rhythm back. The Wankhede Stadium crowd knows his game well, having watched him for seven years in IPL (for Mumbai Indians).
They had never seen batsmen play him as comfortably as Warner and Finch. At the top of his game, it’s a pitch where he has made batsmen struggle to get a run even in the slog overs in T20s.
An effort of 7-0-50-0 was quite unlike a typical Bumrah performance. It was clear Australia had done their homework. “It’s about being nice and still,” Warner said about his preparation to face Bumrah after the win. “I can’t imagine someone like Brett Lee running in from almost the boundary and just sort of staggering in there and all of a sudden 150km/h; it takes a while to get used to and that’s great skill from Bumrah. That’s how he’s always bowled as a kid growing up and you’ve just got to watch real hard. He’s got great changeups as well; if I’m to give any advice, and I take this as well, you’ve got to be nice and still. His bouncers surprise you, his yorkers surprise you and then when he bowls the change-up it’s very, very difficult. It’s like when Lasith Malinga was at his prime, he bowled 140km/h and swung them in, but you knew you were going to get a yorker or a bouncer. It (the challenge) was how you are going to play that and that’s what’s so unique.”
Kuldeep was tidy but not incisive. Warner and Finch had covered for his unpredictability, keeping him wicketless in a spell of 10-0-55-0.
Asked to analyse, the lefthanded opener said: “With Kuldeep, he’s got great change-ups as well. I find he’s bowling a fraction slower these days, quite different to Rashid Khan (Afghan leggie) who bowls at 100kph; under lights chinamans are very difficult to pick.”
It’s a short series with little time to regroup. Bumrah and Co have their task cut out for Friday’s Rajkot game. The pressure is on Kohli and his team to come up with a better game plan to challenge this Australia line-up.