By all accounts, except for “Boom-Boom” Jasprit Bumrah, India’s performance in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was run-of-the-mill. The series began in the Western Australian city of Perth, moved to Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne, and finally ended in the famous harbour city of Sydney.
Of course, young lefty Yashasvi Jaiswal – likened to a southpaw pugilist throwing heavy blows – made a good impression on his maiden tour of the antipodes. And to an extent debutant Nishit Kumar Reddy. But the nearly two-month tour was unproductive for the giants Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and for K.L. Rahul and Shubman Gill—all in the top and middle order.
With qualification for the ICC World Test Championship at stake, the batters had to make the scoreboard formidable, especially in the first innings. But collectively, they fell short, which transferred a burden to the bowling department.
Eventually, India felt the pinch when its lead bowler, Bumrah, suffered back spasms and could not send down more than ten overs in the first innings of the fifth and final Test and nothing in the second. As it transpired, India went down on the third day, with Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna giving their best shot on a pitch that showed bias to the fast bowlers and their ilk.
The big question is whether India will have the fast bowling quality and depth to torment the England batters during the five-match series in England from mid-June this year. Bumrah will have time to rest and recover—almost six months before the first call is sent down at Headingley, Leeds, where overcast conditions encourage bowlers with the skill to manipulate the seam with the Duke ball – move the red cherry in the air and off the pitch.
The workload on Bumrah was intense in the last two months --- he sent down 151.2 overs for a fantastic record-breaking collection of 32 wickets on Australian soil. But his drive and brilliance did not get much meaningful support in the first three Tests in Perth, Adelaide (pink ball) and Brisbane from the likes of Siraj, Harshit Rana and Akash Deep. The tall and gangling Krishna was picked only for the last Test --- that too because of a back-related niggle to Deep.
The absence of Mohammed Shami for the entire series deprived Bumrah of adequate time in the field to be free of anxiety, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was lost after ten years. Shami had been a great support on two of the three previous tours in 2014-15 and 2018-19, taking 31 wickets at 32.16, but an ankle injury after the 2023 ICC World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad rendered him out of action in international cricket for 16 months. Shami is 34, and the selectors and tour management did not risk for fear of him breaking down during a Test match. Once he returned to competitive cricket in India – in the Ranji Trophy and white ball domestic tournaments- he was reported to have developed knee-related issues.
In these circumstances, can India—in the next six months --- shortlist more than half a dozen fast bowlers who can bowl with speed and possess skills to deploy the Duke ball to good effect against a strong England batting line that will include Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, and Ben Stokes.
After the Australian experience, India will be doubly careful and circumspect with Bumrah. The coming days will reveal whether the selection committee will risk him for the three-match ODI series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy on the sluggish pitches of Dubai. There are reports of Bumrah missing a part of the England series should the back issue be diagnosed as not just a back spasm but something more serious.
Since his long layoff, Bumrah has exerted a lot and sent down 48.3 overs in two Test matches in South Africa, 103.5 overs in the home series against England (he did not play the fourth Test in Ranchi), 49 overs in the two-Test home series against Bangladesh and 41 overs against in two of the three home-Test series against New Zealand and 151.2 overs in the five-Test series against Australia. All this works out to 393 overs (2358 balls) for a magnificent reward of 77 wickets. So India will need Bumrah to be in his best physical shape during the English summer; he has taken 37 wickets in nine Tests at 26.27 on three previous visits to the Old Blighty.
The selection committee will be forced to distinguish between the most definite, like Siraj (he completed 100 wickets in the Sydney Test), and the tried ones, like Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, and Deep. Those in contention would be Mukesh Kumar (who has played three Tests) and left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh.
The selectors will have a basket-full to look at; they tried around twenty fast bowlers during this season’s Duleep Trophy. The message, though, is clear: India must hunt for fast bowlers and equip itself for the next significant engagement, and that’s against England in England. That series will begin the next ICC World Test Championship cycle, and sixty points will be at stake. Bumrah needs support; he cannot be overused again!
Published: 09 Jan 2025, 08:50 am IST
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