The India cricket team’s overreliance on Jasprit Bumrah was on full display at The Gabba. On the second day of the Australia vs India 3rd Test, 377 runs were scored and 7 wickets fell. Bumrah took 5 of these wickets by giving away 60 runs in 19 overs, while all the other bowlers combined gave away 305 runs in 87.4 overs while taking just 2 wickets. Yep, it was that sort of day.
No blame for pacers
Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja combined averaging 152.5 per wicket isn’t exactly good. After the end of the day’s play, Morne Morkel, Team India’s assistant/bowling coach was asked the right question, what went wrong with India’s bowling?
His assessment of the bowlers was that Akash did well but failed to have luck on his side. That was somewhat right, as he drew just five fewer false shots than Bumrah (44 to 39) but had no wickets to his name. Siraj had troubles with fitness and was cramping. He had walked off at one point but later returned to take the wicket of Pat Cummins while Bumrah did Bumrah things.
“Today, Akash Deep bowled well, I thought. Siraj had cramps. He still ran in at the close of play. Bumrah is the number one bowler in the world, and we need to back it up. I can’t fault other seamers,” Morkel said in Brisbane.
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Planning for Travis Head, an issue
However, he did criticise the bowling in the middle session, especially during the 50 to 80 overs when the ball is getting soft and the main pacers are resting while waiting for the new ball. Morkel added that Team India needs to ponder what is their best way to tackle Travis Head, their wrecker-in-chief. The batter smashed a potential match-winning 152 in just 160 balls, and nothing that the Indian bowlers did seemed to be working against him.
“We need to get better at bowling 50-80 overs. In the first session, we bowled well; they put up a partnership with the softness of the older ball. We have game plans, but are we executing them? That’s something we have to discuss. We need to look at whether to persist with the plan despite Head hitting for runs or change it up. That’s something we will discuss tonight and over the next couple of days,” Morkel added.
