IND vs AUS 2ND T20 – India Playing XI 2ND T20: The performance of the Indian bowlers, sans Jasprit Bumrah, has been a talking point. Be it the Asia Cup or the game against Australia in Mohali, Rohit Sharma and co have been found wanting. Ahead of the India vs Australia 2nd T20 in Nagpur, Bumrah will be under immense pressure to perform. India trails the three-match series 0-1 currently, making this match even more important. Former India opener Wasim Jaffer believes these matches have showed how dependent India have been on Bumrah. Follow India vs Australia T20 series live updates with InsideSport.
Bumrah has not played any competitive cricket since July. He was expected to feature in the Asia Cup, but back injury ruled him out. He was also rested for the India vs Australia series opener in Mohali.
But the way things unfurled in the Mohali T20, there is a serious need for India to address their bowling woes. India could not even defend a score in excess of 200. All the pacers, including experienced campaigner Bhuvneshwar Kumar was taken for big runs.
Indian main pacers in Mohali
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 0/52 at 13.00
- Umesh Yadav: 2/27 in 2 at 13.50
- Harshal Patel: 0/49 at 12.20
The situation has been quite worrisome for India in the last couple of months when Bumrah has not played. Here are some cases in point.
England scored 215/7 in the 3rd T20 with all the pacers going for more than 8.7 runs per over in July. Against West Indies too, they missed his services though India won the series. The problem for India has mainyl been while defending targets.
With no Bumrah, youngsters like Umran Malik, Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh were also given games. But they did not do much to gain major success. The biggest shocker came in the Asia Cup for India. With a mix of youngsters and experienced campaigners, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the bowlers failed. In the Super 4 stage, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka chased down India’s score of 181 and 173 respectively.
The biggest concern was reflected during the death overs. Pakistan scored 26 runs from the last two overs to win the match. In the Sri Lanka game, they hit 21 in less than two overs. It was even more poor from Indian bowlers in the last T20 against Australia in Mohali. Australia hit 40 runs from 14 balls to emerge victorious.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar in India’s last three losses
- 0/40 in 4 overs (Pakistan)
- 0/30 in 4 overs (SL)
- 0/52 in 4 overs (Australia)
In all these, Bhuvneshwar has come under severe criticism. In Bumrah’s absence, he is the senior most bowler, but has failed to lead the attack. He conceded 52 runs in the last match.
It is at that juncture, where Bumrah comes into the picture. The pacer is one of the best in world cricket when it comes to slog overs. His variations, especially the yorkers make him a difficult bowler to score runs against. Jaffer also stressed on the importance of Bumrah in this current set-up.
“I’ll be very concerned. Bhuvi hasn’t been at his best. We know he is very good at the start of the innings but the way he has bowled in the death is a huge concern. You can sympathise with Harshal Patel, he is just coming out of an injury. It shows how dependent India are on Bumrah to bowl well up front and then again in the death,” Hindustan Times quoted Jaffer as saying in ESPNCricinfo.
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