India's Performance In Last 10 Tests With Jasprit Bumrah And Without Him
Bumrah returned to India's playing XI for the third red-ball match at Lord's from July 10 to 14 and picked up a five-wicket haul once again in the first innings (5/74 runs in 27 overs) and two wickets for 38 runs (in 16 overs) in the second innings, but once again India ended up on the losing side, this time by 22 runs.
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New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
Zak Crawley hopes for turnaround at Old Trafford
Zak Crawley reaches out to catch the ball at practice with teammate Ben Duckett PTI Cricket Zak Crawley hopes for turnaround at Old Trafford England opener has had a rough run but expect him to keep his place in Manchester Test Firoz Mirza MANCHESTER: THERE was a time in the not so distant past when Zak Crawley epitomised Bazball. He didn't need to be persuaded to play a certain way for he used to bring with him a lot of positive vibes even before Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes had joined hands. It's why he knew his place was secure despite returns of 43, 9, 4, 0, 6, 25, 9 and 46 under the new regime's first four Tests. A year later, in the Summer of 2023, the opener showed why. He opened The Ashes with a roaring on-the-up cover drive off Pat Cummins. He later said that was always his plan; hit the first ball of the series for a boundary. He followed a tone-setting 61 off 73 with a rip-roaring 182-ball 189 in Manchester a few Tests later. That, though, remains the apogee of the opener's Test career. As the ongoing five-match series shifts to Manchester, the onus will be on the England opener to find his hands. On the evidence of the last month, though, he may not. The time-delaying tactics he adopted on Day 3 of the third Test at Lord's meant Crawley was all over the pages of almost all newspapers both in India and England. Except that showdown with the Indian team and his 65 in the second innings of the first match in Headingley, the right-hand batter has the mediocre show in the six innings, the 27-year-old from Kent was retained in England squad for the next match announced recently. In fact, since the beginning of the second World Test Championship cycle, Crawley has performed below-par with the willow. And if one takes his performance since England tour of Pakistan in October last year into account, the returns have only diminished. Since the first Test in Multan where he scored 78, Crawley has only scored one half-century, which came in Leeds against India. More than the runs he has under his belt during this series, it's his mode of dismissals that highlight his struggles. On most of the occasions, he attempted to drive without reaching out to the ball offering chances to fielders positioned behind the wickets. After scoring 65 and adding 188 for the opening wicket with Ben Duckett that laid the foundation for England's famous win in Leeds, Crawley tried to drive through cover without moving across a fullish ball from Prasidh Krishna only to edge it which was pouched at slip by KL Rahul. In the next match, once again he attempted a late push away from his body only to induce a thick edge which went straight to Nair at first slip. His horrendous show continued in the next essay as a loose drive went straight to backward point with Crawley getting out for a nought. Crawley was struck at the crease in the first innings of the Lord's Test. A length ball from Nitish Kumar Reddy swung late and straightened off the pitch. The batter could only get an outside edge as Rishabh Pant held the catch. In the next innings, Crawley once again went for an expansive drive away from the body and the thick edge flew to the gully where Yashasvi Jaiswal was positioned. Once again, he fell victim to Reddy. Former England great Geoffrey Boycott was highly critical for Crawley and the management for backing him. "I don't think he can change or get better. Batting is in the head and the brain dictates how you approach batting: what shots you attempt, what balls you leave. His faults in technique and thinking are ingrained," Boycott wrote in his column for British daily The Telegraph. However, this England management is not one to be influenced by things said on the outside. Their style, predominantly built on a secure dressing room and unabashed backing of players, is such that Crawley knows what is expected of him. As thing stand, it seems unlikely. The only thing Crawley and England would be hoping for is that the opener will turn things around and have an impactful outing next week.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Ravindra Jadeja ‘completely ignored' umpire at Lord's, reveals commentator after match: ‘Don't know where it comes from'
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The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Bumrah, Siraj, Akash Deep: how well-stocked is Indian Test cricket's pace cupboard?
'It takes 20 wickets to win Test matches,' is an oft-repeated dictum pertaining to cricket's oldest format. It is a statement that serves to underline the importance of bowlers in the five-day version. But when both teams take 20 wickets each, as England and India did in a humdinger at Lord's, there has to be a winner and a loser. At the famous venue in London, England won and India lost. Stepping up Among the many aspects that will hurt Shubman Gill's men about the heartbreak in the final session of the final day, it is this that should rankle the most. The fact that the Indian bowlers stepped up to take 20 wickets, bundling England out for just 192 in its second innings, and yet went down by 22 runs to trail 1-2 in the series. The bowling display was a classic case of an attack being more than the sum of its parts. Each of the six bowlers, including batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar, returned at least a wicket. And they restricted England's run-rate, usually above four per over in the Bazball era, to 3.44 and 3.08 in the first and second innings respectively. Although the two-paced nature of the Lord's pitch contributed, there was really no let-up in pressure from both ends. Jasprit Bumrah, the mesmerising master of modern-day fast-bowling, led the way. Discounting the oddity that India has lost both Tests he has played in this series, he has lived up to his billing as he invariably does. His 12 scalps in just two appearances, one behind Mohammed Siraj (13 in three) in the list of highest wicket-takers, already include two five-fors. Despite being confronted with largely benign surfaces — a stark departure from India's previous tours of the Old Blighty — and Dukes balls that have gone soft and out of shape after the first 25-30 overs, the pace spearhead has consistently posed a wicket-taking threat. ALSO READ | Tactical twist: batting first and slow does the trick for England at Lord's Bumrah's sui generis bowling action, the hyperextension of the right arm, the braced front leg and the release point — closer to the batter than the norm — tend to be attributed often as key factors for his brilliance. But perhaps not emphasised as much is his sheer skill and consistency: he is relentlessly accurate in nailing the right lengths and delivers with a perfectly canted seam owing to an impeccable wrist position that enables him to swing the ball either way in suitable surroundings. As peerless as Bumrah is, however, there is no getting away from the reality that the 31-year-old is not going to be available for every Test, given his history of back injuries. He will only play one of the remaining two Tests in this series. With that known, it is all the more significant that Siraj and Akash Deep have pulled their weight in the last two Tests. Particularly at Edgbaston, with Bumrah resting after the hard grind at Headingley, they were heroic, sharing 17 wickets between them in a 336-run victory. Siraj silenced his detractors with figures of six for 70 in the first essay. Akash had his moment of recognition in the final innings, snaring six for a 10-wicket match-haul. Curious record Siraj's performance at Edgbaston drew attention to a rather curious record: in 24 Tests with Bumrah, he has taken 73 wickets at an average of 33.56. In 15 Tests without his senior teammate, he has claimed 40 scalps at 26. Apart from Siraj perhaps not getting his preferred end to bowl from while playing with Bumrah, this may just be a peculiar statistic that shouldn't be read into for definitive conclusions. What can be said with some assertiveness is simply that Siraj is a very good bowler. With or without Bumrah. Among the 31-year-old's virtues are a nippy outswinger and a wobble-seam delivery that cuts back sharply into right-handers. That he has a fiercely competitive streak and operates at full intensity all day long without complaint help as well. If one had to cast a critical gaze, a dash of inconsistency may be behind his merely satisfactory output of 113 wickets after 39 Tests at 30.88. But Siraj would argue that he hasn't had the rub of the green in recent matches. At Lord's alone, he witnessed K.L. Rahul drop Jamie Smith on five off his bowling and a close leg-before appeal against Joe Root turned down. ALSO READ | For Archer, pace is ace Beyond Bumrah and Siraj, though, there seems to be a slight drop-off in quality in Indian cricket's pace cupboard. Though Akash put all his experience of toiling away on unresponsive pitches in First Class cricket to good use at Edgbaston, it remains to be seen whether the 28-year-old can handle the onerous exertions of Test cricket. He did hobble off the field in the second innings at Lord's and didn't bowl again. In style and approach, Akash is perhaps the closest among the newer crop of fast men to Mohammed Shami. Besides playing for Bengal in the domestic circuit, they gallop to the crease, extract seam movement and generally hit a length that keeps the stumps in play. Which brings us to Shami himself. Soon to turn 35, he made his ODI comeback against England in February after recovering from an ankle surgery and knee trouble, and starred in the victorious Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai. But his appearances in whites stand at 64, having last featured in the 2023 World Test Championship final against Australia. In peak shape, Shami is a boost to any bowling attack, but persistent injury concerns, as chief selector Ajit Agarkar said when the squad was picked, led to doubts about his durability to last five Tests. With Shami obviously not getting any younger, his Test future may depend on how the likes of Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana fare. If they are able to impress over the next year or so, the veteran could find the door shut. So far, though, Prasidh and Harshit haven't made a very strong case, and Arshdeep remains untested with the red cherry. History's lesson The importance of the supporting cast finding its feet at the highest level cannot be overstated, for a robust, well-rounded pace attack is a must for India to thrive in all conditions. A glance at recent history is instructive. In Virat Kohli's tenure as skipper, India competed regularly away from home only because Bumrah, Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav found their bearings at the same time. When India last won a Test series in England in 2007 under Rahul Dravid's captaincy, Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh and S. Sreesanth were a trio at the top of their game. There is no magic potion, of course, to expedite the progress of the young pacers, but that is a discussion for the think-tank at a slightly later date. With Bumrah and Siraj leading the pack for now, Gill will just want his bowlers to back up their good work at Lord's and take 20 wickets in India's next Test at Old Trafford. After all, it takes 20 wickets to win Test matches.
