As India gear up for their testing tour of Australia, where a five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy beckons, they are expected to have most boxes ticked. Most. Not all. Why? Because while India’s batting depth packs a punch, the fast-bowling stock appears weak. Barring Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, the team management is likely to fret over a fourth fast bowler if the situation arises. During the last tour of Australia three years ago, injuries to Shami, Bumrah, R Ashwin, Hunuma Vihari and Umesh Yadav meant that India had come down to their penultimate member of their squad, with the likes of Navdeep Saini and T Natarajan all getting a go. So even though India would want to avoid a repeat of that dreaded injury spree, if it comes down to it, don’t have many automatic replacements for the pace-trio.
India have experimented a lot with their fast-bowling bench strength. But with Ishant and Umesh now completely out of the mix, it’s mostly Bumrah, Shami and Siraj that will have to do the heavy lifting. Over the last couple of years, names such as Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep have made Test debuts, but whether they can be effective on Australian soil against their batters no one knows. Shardul Thakur, who played a crucial role in India’s last series win in Australia with his all-rounder skills, has faded as well. With Bumrah rested, Siraj pulled out of the first round of Duleep Trophy matches due to illness and Shami yet to recover from his ankle injury, India will be keeping their fingers crosses. God forbid if something goes wrong, in such a scenario, who do Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir fall back on?
Even former India bowling coach Bharat Arun doesn’t have an answer to that, although he has a solution. Arun suggests that between now and November end, India need to identify and knuckle down on a few options. With India set to return to Test cricket from September 19, with five matches to go before the BGT, along with a few T20Is in between, Arun hopes for a proper scanning of talent, even if it has to be picked from the IPL and other domestic form of competition.
“It’s a question of identifying the right ones and giving them opportunities to be ready for the Australian trip. There are lots of bowlers who hit 140-150 kph in the IPL. So it is about nurturing and giving them the right exposure. There must be a first time. Red ball cricket is something these bowlers must get used to. We have time but we need to prepare by giving them enough overs under their belt,” Arun told Indian Express.
Why Siraj and Shami are effective, Arun explains
Arun did not name any bowler but Umran Malik and Mayank Yadav clock around 150 kph mark regulalry. Even Harshit Rana of KKR varies in the mid 140s. Umran, a classic case of IPL find making waves, has disappeared from the Indian set-up after a heroic start two years ago. That Umran has vanished, as Arun’s successor Paras Mhambrey reckons, stems from his inexperience in red-ball cricket, which makes it all the more important for the candidates next in line to tick that box. Arun’s thoughts echoes with Mhambrey’s as he stressed on the importance of becoming a good red-ball pacer before anything else if the desire is to play for India long-term.
“Bowling in first-class cricket, you bowl on unresponsive pitches. You have to come out with some guile or you would need to learn how to reverse the ball because of the conditions that exist in our country. I think it helped Siraj and Shami a great deal. That’s why when the conditions are right and the ball is reversing, Siraj is probably one of the most dangerous bowlers in world cricket,” said Arun.
