Before you go onto read this one, please do read part 1 of this series and then you can read did the Indian bowlers messed up in WTC finals?
Bumrah and the special treatment
Bumrah’s absolute lack of any effect on the game is startling. He was the only seamer who failed to get a single wicket from both the teams. This is a failure that Bumrah must not forget in his life alongwith the fact that he wasn’t given the new ball in the 2nd innings. Bumrah’s performance has started to tail off over the last couple of years. This is a major concern for the team. So much has been invested on him.
He has been treated with a kid’s gloves. It has been 5 years since he made his debut and has played only 2 tests in India because in India, it is mostly the spinners who does the job and as such he is not expected to bowl that many overs. Instead the toil on unfriendly and hard wickets is left to Ishant and Umesh. This is the extent to which the team management and the board has gone to protect Bumrah from injury and burnout. It remains to be seen whether Bumrah is able to repay this faith in his career.
The absence of Kumar
English conditions and Dukes ball is made for swing bowlers. The biggest mistake was to leave Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the squad. The reason that was given was that he has lost interest in the long format. However, based on recent reports Kumar himself has said that whenever he prepares, he prepares for all the 3 formats. He has basically thrashed the perception that he is not interested in test cricket. He is the best Indian swing bowler. If at all anyone must have been in England and must have played the finals, it must have been Kumar. Instead, he is preparing to leave for Sri Lanka. Hopefully, a SOS will be sent across and Kumar will fly to England before the test series.
Lastly, the Indian tail
It is fair enough that the bowlers must not be expected to score runs. It is what the batsmen are for. Number 1 to number 7 is expected to score runs but the Indian tail must learn to stay at the wicket. They do not have to score 50 or 100. Just stay at the wicket and support the batsman at the other end. Something a Tim Southee or a Rabadda can do. At the moment, with Ishant, Shami and Bumrah, all that the opposition needs to do is pick up the first 7 wickets and the last 3 will follow without a whimper. Ishant atleast used to stay at the wicket but he has perhaps lost his appetite for batting.
Bumrah and Shami must realise that they are the bowling mainstays will do well to concentrate on their batting. They will have to prove that they cannot be dislodged easily. Gone are the days when bowlers were expected to surrender while batting. It is not the case anymore. Every team boasts of bowler who can stay at the wicket. The days of Chris Martin or Glenn McGrath or Mullaly will never come by. The Indian bowlers must learn to put a price on their wickets. Especially, with India’s top and middle order proving jittery, this assumes added importance.
Bench Strength
Off late, there has been lot of talk about India’s bench strength and how the opposition is jealous of that. Siddarth Monga has written this article on www.espncricinfo.com. I had to spend some 20-25 minutes to read the article. He talks about how Gill and Siraj looked at home in their first series. He talks about the efforts at various levels, be it under 17 or 19 or the A tours that has ensured that Indian cricket is supplied by unrestricted talent.
Greg Chappell, the former Indian coach who had such a horrendous time with the team said at the end of India’s Australian tour in 2020,
“For those of you who were surprised that India could deal with all that was thrown at them in this series, and could hold their nerve and win in such courageous fashion, I say: you better get used to it. Don’t worry about India becoming the best team – they are already capable of producing the best five teams in world cricket!”
However, if the first team is unable to win the WTC finals or at the least draw the game when it was the most expected result after 2.5 days were washout, there never isn’t a bench strength. It is only a mirage or an illusion.
Multiple failures
This is still a team that hasn’t won a series in South Africa despite multiple attempts. They have been humiliated in England over the last 3 series and in New Zealand too. The only saving grace is the team’s performance in Australia. We all know that Australia is only a shadow of themselves. Unless India can win series in the SENA countries consistently and comfortably and win a few ICC tournaments, there isn’t any bench strength. Australia in the 90s had real bench strength. Their first team won almost everything under the sun. Multiple Ashes, series wins in every nation except India. Three consecutive World Cup wins.
However, I do not mind having another team because it gives much required exposure to a set of players who may not be able to get into the first team.