Finally,indiahavea proper pace quartet India look to better feat of 2001
Indian pacers are outdoing their counterparts on the basis of speed and efficiency
FOR THE SHEER SPIRIT OF RESURGENCE, THE MOOD IN THE INDIAN CAMP RESONATES THAT OF THE 2001 SERIES AGAINST AUSTRALIA FOLLOWING THE DRAMATIC EDEN GARDENS WIN.
the focus has been, and quite rightly so, on Virat Kohli’s meteoric rise in world cricket, it’s unlikely that the success story of Indian cricket will be authored by him. Please don’t get me wrong — Kohli is playing an incredible part in making India a force to reckon with both at home and away but it’s seldom a batsman (or even a group of batsmen), who can regularly influence the Test results.
BOWLERS SHINE
In most cases, you need to take 20 wickets to win a Test and therefore, the onus is on the bowlers to script fairytales. Indian fast bowlers have not only started to pull their weight in the side but also, have started outdoing their counterparts both in terms of speed and efficiency on a regular basis.
Indian bowlers have taken all 100 wickets in the five overseas Tests (considering the Lord’s Test as an aberration) in 2018, and that too, reasonably cheaply. Finally, India have their own pace quartet.
This is the best I’ve seen Ishant bowl in a long time. In fact, some might argue that it’s the best he’s ever bowled in his decade-long Test career. He’s bowling a lot fuller — he bowled only 8 per cent full balls in India’s tour to England in 2014 but now, that has gone up to 20 per cent.
Ishant may have wanted to bowl fuller in the past also but the lack of lateral movement in the air would’ve held him back. He was always a hit-the-deck-hard bowler depending on the sideways movement after pitching.
Half a season in county cricket has seen him develop the art of swinging the ball in the air, which in turn is allowing him to bowl fuller. It can be said that he’s come of age.
Two five wicket hauls in just four Test matches — Bumrah has taken to Test cricket like fish to water. He fast emerged as one of the finest white ball bowler in the world but unlike a lot of white ball successes, he’s been able to make the switch to red ball cricket seamlessly.
He’s quite rapid in the air, hits the deck hard and is an asset when the ball stops swinging in the air.
CHANGING TREND
Earlier the problem with Indian pacers has been their inability to extract something from the pitch after the ball lost its shine and seam. It happens very quickly with the Kookaburra ball and even with the Dukes ball (that’s used in England), it ceases to help you enough in the second innings after the pitch dries out. While most swing bowlers struggle in these conditions, Bumrah comes to his own.
If there’s grass and moisture on the 22 yards, you won’t find a better bowler than Bhuvneshwar Kumar to exploit the conditions with the new ball. His control over the wrist position allows him to move the ball in both direcwhile tions and his accuracy with regards to line and length forces the batsman to be in two minds -whether to play at it or let it go.
Bhuvi does lose a little bit of venom when the ball gets old in the second innings but that’s where he makes up for it with his batting. Also, that’s when Ishant and Bumrah take centre stage. Mohammed Shami is immensely talented but is guilty of blowing hot and cold often. He’s got such control over the wrist that he’s one of the few bowlers who make the ball move laterally after pitching without making the seam wobble in the air.
When on song, Shami is capable of picking three-four wickets in a spell but he’s also guilty of leaking too many once in a while. Since he’s got pace and swing, he can be effective with all kinds of balls on all kinds of pitches. Shami only needs discipline.
(The writer is a former Test batsman and views are personal)
NOTTINGHAM: India’s overseas cricket wins have often ended as consolation affairs — Perth 2008, Durban 2010, Lord’s 2014 and Wanderers 2018. Either the series was already lost or India could not win it. The win in the Trent Bridge Test promises to change that narrative.
Will the Southampton pitch for the fourth Test between India and England be dry and spinnerfriendly? Or will damp weather that has chased the teams amid a parched English summer also leave the Agean Bowl contest at the mercy of seamers?
Either way, it would be Joe Root’s team feeling the heat. After the 203-run win to mark a remarkable fightback, a ‘complete’ success as Virat Kohli put it, the buzz is around India, though England lead the series 2-1 with two games left.
For the sheer spirit of resurgence, the mood in the Indian camp resonates that of the 2001 series against Australia following the dramatic Eden Gardens win. Coach Ravi Shastri though reminded his team “we’ve only won a Test, not the series”.
And only Don Bradman’s Australia have come back from 0-2 down to win a series, against England in 1936-37. However, India, having dismantled England just days after caving in at Lord’s, can go one better than their 2001 achievement over Australia or Bradman’s world mark if they go all the way to win a tough overseas assignment.
In South Africa, after winning the final Test at Johannesburg in a 1-2 series loss, regret in the Indian camp was that it was not a five-match series. The series was already lost before Kohli’s boys reached Wanderers and India paid for not acclimatising.
India have a great chance to prove a point now.
Trent Bridge could mark a new beginning for Kohli the captain — India could also for the first time under him retain the side at Southampton.
Kohli batted two gears lower and didn’t step up tempo even when set during the third Test, negating the swing of James Anderson — he is yet to dismiss the batsman — and others.
That encouraged Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to solve technical problems and regain confidence with fifties.
Rahane still nicked a wide ball as at Lord’s, but the 81 and a century stand with Kohli has boosted him. Pujara showed intent, and though he fell hooking in the first innings, he was calm in scoring 72 in the second innings, not pushing at seaming deliveries, leaving well outside off-stump and punishing every bad ball.
At 32, Shikhar Dhawan’s willingness to change is commendable. The left-hander has been a sitting duck when the red ball seams. In Edgbaston, he was clueless. Recalled after being dropped for Lord’s, he left deliveries or showed the discipline to play late. His half-century stands with KL Rahul in both innings blunted the new ball threat.
Kohli lived up to India’s mantra of mental discipline, unflustered even when Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes kept them at bay for over four hours on Day 4.
Coach Ravi Shastri’s message going into a weeklong break was this: “We’ve had back-to-back Tests. It’s been hard. Take a break, think about all the good things you did in this Test and take it forward.”