Is Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj enough backup? Day 2 in Adelaide tells a story Cricket News

by

At one point, Jasprit Bumrah went to the ground in agony. He lay down on the floor, spreading his legs, and ran away. Six cricket days into the series, it was a dream moment of fear. What if something happens to Bumrah; What will happen to the Indian attack? Fortunately, the groin pain went away with some treatment – “It was just a cramp,” bowling coach Morne Morkel would say later, but a day when Travis Head walloped them, some concerns grew.

As harsh as it is to criticize someone as young and inexperienced as Harshit Rana, a couple of things must be said. His bowling plans and skills were involved, but that could still be put down to his experience and part of the learning curve that is important for any youngster, with his fitness appearing to be a major concern. Especially that part should not be raised against a young person. He ran out of gas in his later spells; It was also seen in Perth; The speed decreases, the poison that hits the deck decreases that he shows on his first spell.

This makes one wonder if a seamer who could skid the ball would have been a good choice punt for the deep pink ball Test. It will not be surprising if Deep replaces Rana in the next match. Bowling to Head was never going to be easy, especially for a rookie like Rana, as Head could make a mockery of the length with his batting approach. What is a good length for others can be almost a touch short for him as he hangs on the back foot to hit them square. And when the Rana tried to flourish, the head would hit them too.

Those errors are understandable, especially when one remembers the ferocity of the delivery he served to dismiss the same batsman in the first innings of the Perth Test, but the manner in which his pace and intensity declined in subsequent spells is cause for concern. Rana certainly has the potential to improve as a bowler, but given the circumstances, his bowling level would understandably be an all-rounder, not good enough for a specialist pacer. His condition was like this when he was repeatedly beaten with his head, even Rohit Sharma could not protect him from the attack, who will he turn back? The next Test in Brisbane follows almost immediately on the heels of this one, with Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj to spare. It would certainly have been a different attack had Mohammed Shami been fit and playing, but in his absence, as expected, some weaknesses emerge.

Not that everything is broken. Siraj produced the best spell of his career in the morning, but wickets fell short. After the first, a little way where he was chasing through middle and leg, Rishabh Pant ran in for a long chat. It is not certain whether the later change was a result of that, but things changed rather dramatically. He was fizzing the ball around the off-stump, tailing and straightening them – and almost always getting them to play. A few balls flew past Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney and he continued to attack. He also had a good start in the head. He tried to cut the ball off the goal stump; The plan was perfect but he has not yet brought the ball to the point of deflection and gets the batsman to slow down the piece tempting him to make a mistake. But otherwise, he was spot on with his line, length and aggression. The one moment he boiled over came right after heading out, but India should be thrilled with his bowling throughout the day.

Ashwin uses the wind

Ashwin did his best on the pitch on day two, trying his best to keep things tight and using the wind to repeatedly skid the ball into left-handers and away from right-handers. One such ball reached the outer edge of Mitch Marsh’s lung and was caught by Pant. The Indians didn’t make much of an appeal, but Mars was out by then. “Tu appeal he nahi kiya?!” Ashwin will oppose the sheepish Pant.

For India’s batting, the refreshing highlights came at the end from Pant and later, Nitish Reddy. Pant charged down the pitch to slam Scott Boland, who looked visibly dazed. Pant will specifically target Boland with his boldness. Dropping to the off side to lap a short rising ball or going down the track to smear him through the off side. Boland is a bowler who usually hits the same length consistently and Pant’s approach was conducive to pushing him out of his comfort zone. And it worked. Nitish also cottoned on to Pant’s approach, and even walked the first ball he faced, and crunched two aggressive hits before being stumped.

India had a good phase again when Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting, but he destroyed an away-angler off Boland’s first delivery. Even as KL Rahul cramped for room with that ball on the leg stump, he went to pull off Pat Cummins and gloved it behind wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Virat Kohli was steady in the first innings, but he too fell, getting inside the line of Boland’s delivery which straightened to take an edge. The dismissals of Jaiswal and Kohli may have done what Pant did for Boland.

Rohit’s dismissal is worrying

Rohit Sharma was also dismissed as he thought he would be able to survive the day with Pant. It was the best delivery of the Test from Cummins. It landed on a length around the off stump and straightened to hit the off peg. Just like New Zealand’s Trent Boult dismissed Rohit Sharma in the recent home series. This is because of the way Rohit sometimes bats: he is not much of a forward and plays the line of the ball more importantly. And even the slightest deviation from what he expects can be enough to go over the edge and hit the off stump. Or go to trap him for LBW. Playing that line was one of the reasons for his success as a Test opener in England in 2018, but his footwork was crisper, quicker and more purposeful then. As seen in this Test, the Australians will frequently target him with such deliveries: one that goes a touch sideways to threaten his off-stump or moves further back to threaten his pads. He must find a way. But, then, so does the Indian batting unit as a whole. It is now up to the daring Pant, shrewd and calculated risk-taker, and the influential and efficient Reddy.

Leave a Comment