Asia Cup: Bumrah, Kuldeep, Siraj and the rest – Indian bowling at its best in time for World Cup

Ahead of their second Asia Cup Super 4 fixture against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, there were doubts over whether India would take the field with a full-strength XI. Having played Pakistan only on Monday and with less than a 15-hour turnaround, resting Jasprit Bumrah and bringing in Mohammed Shami would have been a safe option given the former’s injury concerns.

But, India were in no mood to do so, instead choosing to send a message or two across by retaining their new ball pair of Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj – who had bowled only five overs each against Pakistan — intact and bringing in Axar Patel for Shardul Thakur. They were in the mood to go for the kill.

If they had 356 to defend against Pakistan, whom they blew over for 128, against Sri Lanka they had only 213 runs to work with. The slow conditions on Tuesday where the ball turned and gripped, posing all sorts of problems for India’s batsmen, had disappeared when they bowled. Those conditions were tailor-made for Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Instead, the heavy showers just before India’s innings ended meant they had to deal with a wet outfield conditions and a pitch, which was two-paced earlier but became a lot more batting-friendly.

In the World Cup at home, India could face such situations as dew tends to play a big role in the evenings and the nature of the pitch differs from the first innings to the second. On such instances, matches are won with the new ball, where the fielding side has to break the back of the opposition before the ball goes soft and spinners find it challenging to grip a wet one. And with the new ball, India went the full throttle.

On such days, India need their spearhead Bumrah at his best, where he is providing the early breakthroughs. For a pacer who has been out injured for a year, India had got used to life without him. And on successive evenings he showed what it is to be in a team with him in the ranks.

Against Pakistan, he put their top order in all sorts of trouble, greeting Babar Azam with a one that shaped away and missed the edge by a whisker. Their two left-handers at the top just hung the bat, more in hope that it doesn’t take the edge for no way they could choose to leave any of the deliveries that pitched on leg and went with the angle.

A different challenge

Against Sri Lanka, Bumrah had an even bigger role to play. He had to give the spinners as much help as possible before they came on. He knew skipper Rohit Sharma was not going to keep the tweakers waiting and he had little time to work around. There are still doubts if we can see the same old Bumrah. But not in Bumrah’s mind. Those deliveries that angled away from the left-handers are intact. The out-swinger which he added to his armoury after spending a lot of time on it is there too as Pathum Nissanka found. Even the mean slower one, which is hard to pick with his action, was on display when he foxed Kusal Mendis.

After undergoing a career-threatening back surgery, there were doubts if Bumrah could bend his back and get the ball to snort or deliver those toe-crushers. But on successive nights, he used them whenever he intended to, a clear sign that Bumrah is back to where he left. Having given two openings and Siraj taking care of another, India’s new ball bowlers had done their job and now it was over to Kuldeep Yadav, Jadeja and Axar.

India’s Kuldeep Yadav celebrates the wicket of Pakistan’s Faheem Ashraf during the Asia Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Monday, Sept.11, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Like in the game against Pakistan, it was the wrist-spin of Kuldeep that broke the middle order. New batsmen coming in can find it hard to pick, and having a potent new-ball bowler is giving Kuldeep the luxury to attack more. He looks a different bowler these days, one who runs in a lot straighter and lands consistently in the same spot, uses his variations according to the situation and doesn’t over-bowl his googlies. He is also showing more patience than ever before. With him being India’s lone strike option in the middle overs, it is crucial for him to go into the World Cup with confidence high, and following a five-wicket haul against Pakistan, he came up with a four-fer on Tuesday. But unless the new ball bowlers deliver their part, Kuldeep can become redundant.

These are the two around whom India’s attack revolves. Apart from another strike bowler in Siraj, there is Jadeja and Axar to provide the control they seek and Pandya – who at times touched 140kmph – capable of finding seam movement, the six bowling options (Shardul/Axar) look rounded. And even before the ball got soft, they had inflicted plenty of damage so that even when Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage built a partnership and briefly threatened India, at no point did they seem to doubt themselves.