India has pace-bowling depth but where are the backup bowlers?

After an absorbing hour’s play, Rohit decided to give the ball to 35-year-old Umesh Yadav, who bowled half-volleys which the batters cashed upon scoring 21 runs in his first two overs, which completely took away the pressure built early on. Umesh struggled with his line and length for the entire day.

Australia’s Travis Head and Steven Smith at the end of the days play. Action Images via Reuters

“Nowadays India’s enormous depth in pace bowling is the envy of most countries,” wrote Ian Chappell in his ESPNcricnfo column less than a year ago. But this was not the case for the WTC final.

While Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna are recovering from long-term injuries, the likes of Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, T Natrajan and Khaleel Ahmed have always been prone to injuries which questions if their body will hold up for five days.

Apart from Umesh, the management had the option of 31-year-old Jaydev Unadkat in the squad for the WTC final.

Unadkat would have been playing his 3rd Test and first in England if picked. Rohit and Rahul Dravid were reluctant to take that risk and went with the experience of Umesh who has a semi-decent record in England. He picked up 11 wickets from three games averaging 31.18.

However, Umesh has always had a tough time against the Aussies. He did pick up 53 wickets against them but goes at 3.94 runs per over and averages 38.64.

“We could have been more disciplined. After 12-13 overs, we lacked discipline. I felt we conceded more runs than we would have preferred.” said Paras Mhambrey after the day’s play. Though Umesh leaked runs, Shami and Siraj too experienced phases where the batsmen dominated.

When Travis Head was scoring at will neither of the seamers had an answer to his onslaught. They lacked the creativity of setting up the batter with the slower ball or yorker as Jasprit Bumrah does.

Shardul Thakur who played as a bowling all-rounder in the side tried to use a few tricks with the ball and performed his role with the bat in the first innings by scoring half-century.

Would Jasprit Bumrah have made a difference?

The stunned look on Shaun Marsh’s face, when Bumrah bowled a slower ball in a Test match at MCG in 2018 is an indication of what Bumrah can do to any batter. Marsh faced 60 balls for his 19 by then and yet was completely stunned by the delivery. It was not the only occasion when Bumrah pulled off something like that. The slower one to Ollie Robinson at Lord’s is another instance where he a well-set batsman has suddenly looked clueless.

Bumrah has the ability to pick wickets against the run of play or suddenly produce a wicket-taking ball out of nothing. Whilst both Shami and Siraj have their own strengths but the X-factor Bumrah brings helps the bowling attack maintain sustained pressure.

In addition to his wicket-tacking ability, Bumrah always keeps the lid on run-scoring by bowling tight lines and lengths not letting the game get away from India.

“The great bowlers are the ones who are hard to score against and (Jasprit) Bumrah is certainly up there at the moment,” said Justin Langer during his tenure as Australian coach.

Shami and Siraj in the Test match despite not able being to pick a wicket at certain points in the game also lacked the ability to stop run flow. In the second innings, whilst Alex Cary and Mitchel Starc started to play a few attacking shots after the second new ball was taken both Shami and Siraj crumbled under the pressure. They missed their lines and lengths with the new ball and started bowling shorter deliveries outside the off-stump instead of pitching it up and allowing the ball to swing.

Bumrah did play in the WTC final in 2021 and could not pick a single wicket. However, his presence in the game would have made the Aussies plan differently about their batting approach and would have been cautious to take on Bumrah. Langer when asked on air during the game said Bumrah was the the bowler Aussie batters were most worried off during his tenure.

Bumrah’s return from injury might bolster the bowling but returning from a long-term injury has never been easy for any fast bowler and it might be the same with Bumrah. Will he be fit enough to bowl 20 overs per day without a drop in pace or accuracy?

India’s overseas success in recent years has been built on the core pace bowling strength. However, in recent times in the absence of Bumrah at the top and not a lot of pacers being available to selection to call upon from the domestic game due to injuries there seems to be a void.

“Have a lot of expectations from Prasidh Krishna at the Test Level,?” said Sanjay Manjrekar during India vs West Indies ODI series in 2022.

With his ability to hit hard lengths in white ball games and to extract bounce and seam movement, he showed a lot of promise to be a successful Test match bowler. However, a stress-fracture injury has been a setback.

It has been a similar case with the likes of Navdeep Saini who did travel with the side for a few overseas tours but never had a consistent run of games. Mukesh Kumar after having a stellar domestic red-ball record has been named in the reserves for the WTC final. Is he the new bowler management will be looking to blood in only time will tell. For a country which boasts of its fast bowling resources the 2023 WTC final has raised a few questions.