This has been a topsy-turvy week for India’s bowling plans for the T20 World Cup.
First, Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh routed South Africa’s batting line-up and reduced it to 9-for-5 on a mildly green Thiruvananthapuram pitch. Truth be told, it was unlike any pitch India played on at the Asia Cup or even during the recent Australia series.
Arguably, this pitch was most like the ones India will encounter during the T20 World Cup. Spongy bounce, the ball coming onto the bat, a hint of early swing – Australian wickets mostly will exhibit this nature. It makes for wonderment about India’s bowling composition, and specifically the three pace bowling options.
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That’s where the second news breaks Indian fans’ hearts. Jasprit Bumrah missed that game due to back pain and 24 hours later he was more or less ruled out of the World Cup owing to another (potential) back stress fracture. This is an unmitigated disaster – he is the fulcrum of India’s bowling attack, from powerplay to the death overs. Without him, it is almost futile to even make the trip Down Under, but India now has to decide on an alternative course. Will it be Mohammed Shami or someone else?
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The real toss-up will be between Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh, with the latter putting up a firm challenge for that spot with his initial burst against South Africa. Unlike Patel, Singh has the left-arm angle to his advantage, can swing the new ball (at least in one direction) and bowl intelligently at the death. It should be enough to give him a starting spot ahead of Patel on October 23 against Pakistan.
Of course, there’s always the primary pace bowling spot. The quintessential new ball bowler, with a hint of swing across conditions and that nagging line – Bhuvneshwar Kumar holds that spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad currently. But he has been rested for this current series and Chahar showed up in Thiruvananthapuram to showcase a beautiful opening spell.
What was Kumar thinking watching Chahar and Singh bowl like that against South Africa? Was he even watching? Or, instead, was he taking time off the game and clearing up his head? Whether or not Kumar switched on his television is moot – information travels quickly these days and there is no way he missed those spells.
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Even so, it would be a stretch to assume he was perturbed by those Chahar-Singh performances. For one, Kumar is already part of the World Cup squad and unless there is a definitive, unforeseen injury, he will continue to be a part of the touring party Down Under. And two, the team management has shown enough confidence in him to give him this peace of mind.
In fact, this latter bit is quite interesting. Turn the clock back to 2020-2021. The pandemic year was a tough one for most people, including Kumar who sat out most of the time through a hip injury. He featured in only four IPL games that season and then sat out for the resumption of international cricket. Once it did resume, he returned only in March 2021 for a home T20 series against England.
Thereafter, IPL 2021 wasn’t kind to him either. Only 6 wickets in 11 games at a worrying strike rate of 42 and a stinging average of 55.83 – Kumar’s worst outing in an IPL season ever. There were questions asked if he was the same bowler post this latest injury. There still wasn’t much international cricket to judge him on – 5 wickets in three games against an average Sri Lankan side and another average outing in the second half of IPL 2021.
Yet, he was in the 2021 T20 World Cup squad. Things unravelled in the UAE though – he was smacked for 8.33 in three overs against Pakistan and didn’t feature again as India crashed out in an embarrassing manner. It almost seemed a waste of time – Kumar had spent the whole year regaining form and fitness, and both escaped his grasp when things mattered most.
The weird part was when the selectors stuck with him after that World Cup disaster. From November 2021 until the recent Australia series, Kumar has featured in 27 T20 matches, barely missing any live encounters. Barring a higher economy of 7.23, the other figures have seen an improvement from the previous year. In terms of form and fitness, he has really built it up.
The problem is in execution though. Sample this. Across the Asia Cup and the Australia series, leaving out the Afghanistan and Nagpur games, India conceded 317 runs in 28.1 death overs. That’s 11.28 runs per over in the last five overs – it is not World Cup-winning form. And Kumar has been at the very centre of this – on five out of six occasions when he has bowled 18th over or later, Kumar conceded 14-plus runs. Overall, that’s 82 runs in five overs at 16.4 per over.
The underlying point being Kumar is no longer fit for purpose in the death overs. Bowling low full tosses on either side of the wicket, he seems to have lost the control required to be efficient at the death. At best, Rohit Sharma needs to utilize him in the powerplay and/or finish off his quota overs by the 15th. But this was before Bumrah got injured, for India had two other options for the death overs.
Now, there are two main questions arising. With Shami most likely to come in, he will assume the bowling mantle in the powerplay overs. That puts higher responsibility on Kumar to bowl at the death, and Lord knows he needs to regain some semblance of form to do that. Can he do it with three weeks to go for the tournament? Indian cricket fans should start praying right about now.
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