By India News Newsdesk
New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) With suspense still present over Jasprit Bumrah鈥檚 participation in the Edgbaston Test starting on Wednesday, pressure mounts on India鈥檚 other bowlers to improve from their erratic outing in Leeds and step up in the battle for survival in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series.
India鈥檚 five-wicket defeat in Leeds yet again showed the yawning gulf between Bumrah, who picked a five-wicket haul and the rest of Indian fast bowlers 鈥 Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur. While Bumrah had a match haul of 5-140 in 43.4 overs, Siraj, Prasidh and Thakur had combined figures of 9-482 in 92 overs.
The erratic length and line of the trio presented numerous scoring opportunities, thus enabling England鈥檚 batters to accumulate runs with relative ease and chase down 371 on the final day鈥檚 play in Leeds. With India yet to secure a Test match victory in Edgbaston, the performance of their bowlers and how they improve on the mistakes made in Leeds will be subject to intense scrutiny.
Irfan Pathan, the former India left-arm fast-bowler, feels the bowling line-up with or without Bumrah should get two things right to level the series: 鈥 adjust their length and then make subtle changes in their lines for every England batter, including resorting to bowling a defensive line if needed.
鈥淥ne thing which I would say is that adjusting the length according to the batsmen, which is very important, that鈥檚 first thing (to improve upon). The second thing is, when England is attacking, going all out, can we not bowl a defensive line? But that defensive line will give you lot of opportunity to actually play with patience of England batters.鈥
鈥淟ike, employ a 7-2 field, which comes to my mind, as I talked about it as well in the commentary box. If you bowl that line, and if you are able to maintain it in that channel once they are set because see, once the batter is not set, you want to get him out. But if the batsman gets set, you want to get it away from him, and still bowl lot of dot balls, and maidens.鈥
鈥淚 remember there was a phase where in 12 or 13 overs, in fact, quite a few phases where the maiden overs hadn鈥檛 come. So, can we not think about that? I think we should think that. If England wants to play that bazball or attacking cricket, then play against that. Don鈥檛 give them what they want. So, that should be one area they need to look, but that requires lot of control on line and length,鈥 said Pathan to IANS in a virtual interaction organised by Sony Sports Network on Tuesday.
Bumrah bowled incisively and had control over his lengths at Leeds, unlike his less penetrative fast bowling colleagues. Granted that barring Bumrah and Siraj, rest of the fast bowlers are on their maiden tour of England, but they are now facing the steep challenge of squaring the series at Edgbaston.
Pressure will be on India鈥檚 support bowlers, including Siraj, to rise to the occasion, and produce exceptional performances at Edgbaston from Wednesday, with or without Bumrah鈥檚 presence. 鈥淚f that (control on line and length) happens, you can bowl with lines for 7-2 field and say, 鈥榦kay, you go on the leg side and try to hit it鈥, and see how much patience you have to play to that particular line.鈥
鈥淚f England is playing with five, five and half or six runs per over, that鈥檚 actually taking the game away from you, especially when you were already ahead in the game in the first innings and this is what happened in the last game. So, two things India can get better at 鈥 adjusting the length and the line according to the batsman.鈥
鈥淏ecause someone is tall or short, someone plays pull shot really well, someone plays straight bat shot really well, someone leaves the ball more, or someone doesn鈥檛 leave the ball more. Once you have tried everything, if it doesn鈥檛 work, go for defensive line which can be very attacking against England,鈥 concluded Pathan, who played 29 Tests for India.
Watch 2nd Test Between India & England on July 2nd, 3:30 PM onwards LIVE On Sony Sports Ten 1 & Sony Sports Ten 5 channels