To get best out of Bumrah, solid back-up crew needed

Hindustan Times

15-05-2025

Mumbai: With the Indian team about to get a new captain for the England series, it will be interesting to see the approach the skipper, along with coach Gautam Gambhir, will want to adopt.
Under Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the team took to fielding five specialist bowlers as a draw was looked upon as a loss. But will the new captain want to fight Bazball with Bazball or will he make wickets his target?
The key to winning a Test match is to take 20 wickets and the player holding the trump cards for India is Jasprit Bumrah. Looking at the conditions in England, the performance of the pace department will be crucial to the team's chances. India's hopes in the upcoming five-Test series will depend a lot on their tactical plan to get the best out of their pace ace.
To make optimum use of Bumrah, managing his workload and providing him strong support with the right selection picks in the pace department will be important.
Bumrah's back-up
The pacer from Ahmedabad was brilliant in the last Test series Australia too, picking up 32 wickets, but he missed support from the other end.
It led to him being overworked and ultimately breaking down. Hence, it's essential that the bowlers be able to hunt in a pack. It is how it was on the last tour to England when India tied the five-match series, 2-2. With Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur, the captain could ensure the pressure was always on the England batters.
India will need a repeat of that showing if they have to hold their own this time as well.
Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri feels the pace unit will have extra work to do this time due to a weak batting unit.
'With no Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who will hold the innings together? To win games a team has to get 400 plus scores, if there is a small total, there will be extra pressure on the bowlers,' said Ghavri, who shared the new ball with Kapil Dev in the four Tests in the 1979 series in England.
The challenge against Ben Stokes' England is starkly different from Cummins' Australia as their Bazball brand of batting can take the match away from the opposition very quickly — all it takes is one good session of high scoring rate.
India got a taste of that during the rescheduled fifth Test match at Edgbaston in 2022. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow blew away India with their attacking batting in the second innings as England scored at 4.93 runs per over to score 378/3 in 76.4 overs.
'Looking at the Indian cricket team (batting), England will certainly give green top wickets, try and get our batters as soon as possible,' said Ghavri.
India's best chance is to meet fire with fire. Due to the aggressive way, the current England batters approach the game, the best bet to stop them is to keep taking wickets.
And this is why Ghavri advocates a four-pronged pace attack.
'We should go with four specialist pacers and one spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja,' said Ghavri. 'Four fast bowlers are required, to be effective they will need to be kept fresh by using them in short spells of five-six overs.
'Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep Singh can support Bumrah,' added the former left-arm pacer who played 39 Tests for India.
Ideally, the fourth pacer has to be an all-rounder, who chips in with a decent number of overs while also lending depth to the line-up. But Ghavri is not convinced if we have quality all-rounder options.
Siraj finished with 20 wickets in the last Australia series but was inconsistent to be able to forge a successful partnership with Bumrah. Bumrah toiled hard from his end but the team was not able to build the desired pressure from both sides.
India's think-tank, however, will be banking on Siraj being more effective in England. After returning from Australia, he has worked hard on his game. The results can be seen in his performances in the IPL.
Though it is a different format, the selectors will be happy with his bowling rhythm and the way he is moving the ball. In helpful conditions in England, he should be incisive. He has the experience of bowling there. In six Tests he has 23 wickets, the highlight being an eight-wicket haul in 2021 in India's Lord's Test win, four wickets in each innings.
Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep Singh are yet to play in England, however Ghavri feels they have the skills to do well there. The two are in form, being among the top wicket-takers in the IPL. In the only Test he played in Australia, the fifth game at Sydney, Prasidh underlined his potential with a six-wicket match haul.
'Shami to me looks doubtful because there's a question mark over his fitness. Bumrah is in good form, Siraj is in good form. They need good support from Prasidh and Arshdeep.'
So far Arshdeep is looked at as a white-ball specialist, but Ghavri says the left-arm pacer will be a good pick. 'In England, he could be very effective, has a good line length, has a good inswinger, outswinger, sharp bouncer and yorker.'