Jasprit Bumrah casually jogged toward his teammates on Thursday in Delhi, who rushed in return towards him. The 22-year-old had just scalped his third wicket in three overs. He was satisfied that he had done the job his team wanted him to do. His team was overjoyed at the emergence of a new, death-over specialist.
The consistency with which the bowler from Gujarat had unleashed the toe-crushers had left New Zealand’s Matt Henry mentally wary. That was when the Indian pacer deceived him with a slower delivery and castled the stumps.
A couple of overs prior, Bumrah had nearly destroyed Tim Southee’s stumps with the perfect yorker – reminiscent of the kind of delivery Southee himself bowls, and also reminiscent of the master of that delivery, Shane Bond.
In the same over, Bumrah’s pace variation had Anton Devcich caught at short fine-leg by a diving Axar Patel. But Devcich’s wicket had been on the cards.
New Zealand were stuck in a rut in the second One-Day International of the series against India. From 202/3 after 40 overs, the visitors had plunged to 216/6 after 43.3 overs when Devcich walked in. The Kiwis were in the eye of an implosion. And Devcich was aware that he was the most capable of the batsmen to come, who could restore parity for Kane Williamson’s men.
But another tight over and a half, with Devcich unable to free his arms, led to desperation. Devcich was out, eventually, trying to paddle Bumrah over short fine-leg. The necessity to create that shot had been forced by some incredibly tight bowling by the two spinners – Axar Patel and Amit Mishra.
The answer to Dhoni’s death-bowling woes
“Right from the time he [Bumrah] began his international career he has always been someone who can bowl yorkers at will, and that’s why he has been someone I can always bank upon,” said skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after the loss in the second ODI – the outcome was a result of the failure on part of the batsmen, despite the strong effort from the bowlers.
“A lot of times I had to see how every bowler is bowling and then decide who will bowl the last few but with Bumrah be it any condition or situation he has always been someone who gives me those last few overs,” added a pleased Dhoni. “He practices that way, he has an awkward action. Still credit to him for consistently bowling those yorkers.”
The three wickets rocked New Zealand. But the tourists’ ship had suffered the major blow when their captain fell after a crafty century. It had been 31 balls – bowled among Mishra, Patel, Umesh Yadav and Bumrah - since the Kiwis had managed to strike a boundary.
To break the deadlock, Williamson attempted to loft Mishra for a straight six without getting to the foot of the delivery. The imperfection of the moment meant he was caught in the deep. But once again, it was the pressure of some tight death bowling – a captain’s dream – that had scalped a well-settled batsman.
The discipline the Indian bowlers had tightened the noose. The Kiwis were allowed to muster a mere 40 runs in the last ten overs in New Delhi, as the Indian bowlers dented the batsmen’s challenge with constant strikes. Everyone – barring Hardik Pandya, who has been preferred in the initial overs so far – contributed with miserly overs and wickets that made New Zealand bleed.
Even in the first ODI, the Indian bowlers had won the battle before it even reached their batsmen. First, they dismantled the top-order with precision. And though the visitors managed to crawl to 190, the Indian bowlers ensured they were rolled over six overs before the allotted 50 were complete.
Had it been the Indian bowling attack of the last couple of years, even the opponent’s lower-order could be expected to launch an assault and get away with it. But the combination of Bumrah, Axar, Mishra and Yadav has introduced the fans to a new dimension. And lest it be forgotten, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma are not even in the team yet.
Remember the Mohit Sharma experiment?
The problem had, however, reached boiling point in January 2015. India were beaten by England in their final game of the tri-series in Australia. It meant that the Men in Blue remained without a win in the one-dayers. The result hurt because it had followed a winless Test series.
The pain that stemmed from the lack of victories should have cornered all the attention. But, instead, a strange team selection and a mysterious justification for it from the captain overshadowed the agony of the defeats.
The World Cup loomed. But without a single triumph on the tour, India’s team combination was in disarray. And lack of form and injuries had meant the bowling line-up was in poor shape.
A knee injury had troubled Ishant Sharma on the tour. It had ruled him out of the final tri-series game against England at Perth. Either Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav, both on the bench, should have played. For, Dhoni had insisted prior to the start of the triangular series that he would look to play only those who were in the World Cup squad. But, instead, he opted for Mohit Sharma.
Not a part of the World Cup squad, Sharma and Dhawal Kulkarni had been included in the team as additional members. They were to manage the workload of the other pacers, who were in Australia since the end of November, and fill in, if any niggles needed rest. They even did the bulk of the bowling in the nets. But when Sharma was preferred over Umesh and Bhuvneshwar, eyebrows were raised.
“Who should have played?” Dhoni shot back, when asked why he had played a player from outside the World Cup squad. When reminded of Bhuvneshwar and Umesh’s availability, he quipped, “There has to be a reasoning, no? That’s why they haven’t played.”
Dhoni was irritable. The losses, the inability to control the runs and the difficulty to pick up wickets had frustrated him; so much so that, he detested questions on the makeup of his bowling line-up.
Mohit Sharma’s inclusion could have been justified had the team known that Ishant Sharma was to be ruled out of the World Cup. But in the same press conference, Dhoni had claimed that the physio had assured him that the Delhi pacer would be fit in four days.
A problem that might have cost a World Cup
The unsaid reason for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav to have watched Sharma run in and bowl at the WACA from the bench could be that the two had struggled, especially at the death. They had three wickets in between them in the four games they had played in, apart from the inability to strangle the run-flow.
Dhoni was aware that if runs were gifted to opponents in the same manner come the World Cup, without any incisions caused by wickets, India could lose a game from any situation.
And a poor finish in the last ten overs with the ball, expectedly, cost India the World Cup semi-final against Australia. They leaked 89 runs and picked up only three wickets, as Australia finished on 328/7. The pressure of the occasion and that of the steep score got to the Indians, who crumbled in the chase.
India’s inability to hold their nerve with the ball during the death persisted ever since. In fact, it was born about a year before the bowling unit’s breakdown in the build up to the World Cup. It was when Australia toured India for an ODI series in late 2013 that the problem came to the fore. Glen Maxwell, George Bailey and James Faulkner constantly feasted on freebies towards the end of their innings.
Fortunately, the start to this ODI series has been refreshing from the death-bowling point of view for India. The Indian batting unit may be amidst a struggle to find the finisher – a batsman who can leave an impact in the last few overs. But the bowlers have suddenly found life in that patch of the innings where they have struggled to even survive for a while now.
