INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018

India's bowling pool - A result of planning and providence

by Kaushik Rangarajan • Last updated on

Jasprit Bumrah had last played a first-class game a year ago before making a surprise Test debut. © AFP

"We were extremely confident that they would come here to South Africa and make inroads into their batting," Bharat Arun asserted before the Pink ODI in Johannesburg. Being an Indian bowling coach has been a historically tough job to undertake but Arun finds himself at the helm with the bowling in the pinkest of health. He and his team will contest that the success shares a more causal relationship than a simple co-relation. But the naked facts have been there to see. On the tour of South Africa, India's bowling attack has captured all 60 wickets in the Tests and 28 of the 30 possible in the three ODIs so far.

On the face of it, the guiding principles of setting up a bowling attack may appear fairly uncomplicated in this Virat Kohli - 'go out and look for wickets at all times, irrespective of format, pitch or opposition.' But Arun and head coach Ravi Shastri along with the national selectors have taken a more holistic approach into creating an envious blend of bowlers, which if kept fit and healthy over the next 15 months, can keep India competitive for honours in both away Tests and ODIs.

Perhaps the only missing link in there is a mean left-arm quick to pose more angular problems. But otherwise there's Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami's swing and fuller length, Ishant Sharma's relentless accuracy, Jasprit Bumrah's shock and awe and the ability to bowl the heavy ball, and Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja both tying up an end and yet still attacking in the process. Then when the game gets abridged, there are the two wrist spinners to bowl alongside the two best death bowlers. Most bases covered.

Of course, there's been a bit of planning and providence that's brought India to this position. The decision to hand Bumrah a Test cap in Cape Town brought several eyebrows and knives out simultaneously. He was, afterall, a white-ball specialist whose last first-class game had come a full year back. But while Bumrah had an uncertain beginning, he finished the Test series with a very commendable 14 wickets at 25.21. Arun revealed that the decision to play the seamer was not a spur of the moment decision but one that had been made months in advance, when the 24-year-old Baroda pacer was specifically left out of the Sri Lanka Tests at home while he conditioned himself for the increased workloads.

"We had made a conscious decision that we will play (in South Africa) Bumrah right in India," he said. "So we deliberately kept him out of the Test matches against Sri Lanka. He was at the NCA working on his fitness and strength, because we knew the workload in South Africa is going to be pretty high. So we prepared him accordingly and I think he was pick of the bowlers.

"Wherever he has been given chances, he has done exceptionally well. In the limited overs he did well enough for us to understand that he could be a handful in Test cricket as well, we have been preparing him to do well here."

While Bumrah's initiation into Test cricket was a carefully regimented plan, India's jealousy-inducing two prong wrist spin attack of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal was a happy realisation of an experimentation process. It began before the tour of Sri Lanka in August when selection committee head MSK Prasad decided to expand the spinners' pool.

"I still maintain the same thing that I have been saying everytime. We have given opportunity to the youngsters. We have increased the base of our spin department, pool of spinners," Prasad said. "Considering whatever the bigger tournament that comes up, the best possible combination will be taken into consideration. So when we have enough bench strength in every department then why not have in spin department. We have 6-7 good quality pacers, a person who has scored a triple-hundred in Test is waiting in the wings... so similarly we thought of increasing the pool of spinners. And we wanted to bring some variety into spin department."

Arun admitted that the management had stumbled upon the two gems in the ODIs at Sri Lanka in August 2017 while employing a more regular rotation-for-rest policy post the Champions Trophy. The two finger spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja haven't played an ODI since the bilateral series in West Indies in July with Kuldeep and Chahal stretching their successful run to South Africa, where they've now taken 21 wickets from three games.

"At that point of time we wanted to try out all our talent that we had. We had a good pool of bowlers and given the volume of cricket we are playing, we need to keep rotating these bowlers and keep them fresh for every format. These two bowlers showed a lot of promise and we thought that in these conditions wrist spinners would do lot more than finger spinners, and rightly so they have come to the party here.

"We wanted to look at all the existing talent in the pool and then we wanted to decide who we wanted for the ultimate goal of the World Cup. It's not that Ashwin and Jadeja are out of the race, they could still be into the team. [But] Kuldeep and Chahal are extremely positive, not afraid to flight the ball, not afraid to impart extra spin to gain something, and they are not dependent on the wicket. They get a lot out of the air. They have enough skills in them to beat batsmen in the air and they back their instincts."

This investment in a well-rounded bowling arsenal is yet to manifest itself into a series win (although they're just one win away from history in the ODIs) but it is from here that the management will need to tread more carefully to allow them to sustain this period of effectiveness for a long time to come. Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar have already bowled 134 and 89 overs respectively on the tour so far and their workloads will come into attention.

"It makes a lot of sense, as we have said earlier we will rotate the bowlers and keep them nice and fresh, after this tour we will take a call. But it will not just be my call, it's a team decision along with physio and trainer who is involved. Within the series, it is too early to say that, lets see how it progresses and we will take a decision.

"My job as coach is to give enough feedback to the bowlers to understand themselves better. If they do understand themselves better they know their strengths and shortcomings, that will help them to go out and perform to the best of their abilities. This is exactly where we started, we said we understood the South African wickets and the lengths that we need to bowl. And my job is restricted to just giving them the right feedback so that they use it to the best."

© Cricbuzz

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