There were many questions spinning around at Old Trafford at stumps on this seemingly decisive day of the series. Why didn’t Washington Sundar bowl till the 68th over? Why Kuldeep Yadav hasn’t played a Test? Can Anshul Kamboj be a third seamer at the international level by bowling around 120 kph? Are Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah fit after the grueling day of cricket?
First the fitness update by Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel. “Unfortunately, when we took the second new ball, Bumrah rolled his ankle going down the stairs and Siraj rolled his foot in one of the foot holes. But they seem to be okay,” he said.
Morkel also had one generic answer to India’s forgettable bowling performance — their lack of pace and bite on the Old Trafford pitch.
“That is something that we’re definitely also trying to get our heads around. On a flat surface, you need a little bit of energy behind the ball. I think that’s definitely one of the factors for us so far in our bowling innings … You need that little bit of energy on the ball on good surfaces where the ball at times is not doing as much,” he said.
Morne also said the team didn’t stick to plans and they leaked too many runs. “We were fantastic in the last two Tests, but we had a bad day yesterday, we were on the back foot. We had plans, but at the end of the day, you can have a plan, but it is about executing those plans for a longer period of time,” he said.
Needed: Support for Bumrah
On the question of Bumrah’s ineffectiveness with the new ball, he mentioned the run leak. “We are finding it hard to create pressure from both ends. For Bumrah to be successful, we need to build a partnership. So the other guys need to help him out. And I think at times, you know, the guys are also trying from the other end. It’s a little bit greedy, trying to strive too much and we leak runs to release the pressure.”
In the four Tests that India has played under Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir, the team management have been obsessed with bowlers who can bat. They have tried every possible combination but still refused to give a chance to specialist Kuldeep Yadav.
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At Old Trafford, the captain showed the same stubbornness in not getting Washington Sundar into the attack. The off-spinner came on to bowl at 305/2 in the day’s 69th over. The bowling coach had an answer for that too.
“It was Shubman who took the call to stick to the seamer a little bit longer … I think in the first couple of days (when England bowled) we saw the ball moving and seaming around. And then when we got the opportunity to bowl, we missed out … Did we bowl enough good balls to decide to (turn to) spin straight away? I don’t think so,” he said.
Captains generally bank on gut feeling and conviction to take important decisions. Either way, Shubman got this one wrong. Washington, as was the case at Lord’s, got the ball to drift and that got him the wickets of Ollie Pope and the dangerous Harry Brook.
Why no Kuldeep yet?
In such conditions Kuldeep could have been a handful. He and Root have a history, one in favour of Kuldeep. Back in 2018, in the space of three balls, within 10 days, across two games, first in a T20 and then in an ODI, the wrist spinner had taken out Root.
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The T20 dismissal in fact came at this same venue in Manchester and the ODI was at Lord’s. Both dismissals were in contrasting manner. The T20 at Old Trafford had Root stumbling clueless to the ball sliding away from him and dragged out of his stumps while groping for the ball in the dark, he was stumped by MS Dhoni. At the Lord’s ODI, he went back but was bewildered by the ball that spun in sharply to pin him lbw.
Morne conceded that Kuldeep was a good option but the limitation of the rest of the squad is keeping him away.
“We are trying to find balance and how can we get that batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger. We’ve seen in the past that we’ve lost wickets in clumps and Kuldeep is world-class and he’s bowling really well at the moment. So we’re trying our best to find ways for him to get in,” he said.
The bowling coach sounded totally helpless when asked about Kamboj. Was he fit? How come he bowled at an average speed 125 kph? “He’s definitely fully fit. I wish I could give you that answer (about speed) because I would have told him then how to bowl quicker, but when he arrived here, he bowled well in the nets. He was definitely quicker when bowling for India A and games back home,” he said.
