Mohali: Two things happened with India’s bowling attack on Tuesday night. One pertained to Umesh Yadav’s weird selection. He isn’t going to the T20 World Cup, he is not even in the reserves. Yet, he’s currently a backup for reserve bowler Mohammed Shami, who is down with Covid-19.
Despite these parameters, for Yadav to play the first T20I against Australia made absolutely no sense. While Shami was out, Jasprit Bumrah was afforded additional time, Arshdeep Singh was rested from this series and Deepak Chahar would have put a one-dimensional outlook on the pace attack. Hence, some would argue that Yadav’s pace was necessary.
That is a cynical argument. It is nothing more than an admission that India’s original World Cup squad is now missing the element of raw pace. Bumrah will be India’s quickest bowler in Australia, unless Shami makes the jump from reserves. Even so, it would give the same look to India’s bowling as last year’s T20 World Cup, thus rendering any team experimentation moot.
Analysis Men in Blue’s listless bowling at death and other talking points from 1st T20I
First, let’s take stock of what Jadeja’s absence really means. To quote an Indian former selector, he is a three-dimensional player. The current management decided to use Jadeja’s batting skills higher up as they fit in Dinesh Karthik at the expense of Rishabh Pant. As a left-hander coming in at number five, Jadeja reversed the right-hand uniformity, pushed Hardik Pandya down to number six and elongated India’s batting line-up. It was an add-on to his primary bowling and fielding skills, thus underlining his impact as a vital T20I player.
With Jadeja ruled out, India’s batting and bowling balance goes for a toss. Suddenly, your second spinner is out, Pandya needs to step up with his batting and bowling. He is now the No 5 batter as well as the finisher with DK pushed to the last couple overs. Additionally, he needs to take more bowling responsibility instead of the two or three over spells.
Suddenly, without Jadeja, India’s plans seemed astray, so much so the management still hasn’t found out a solution to fit Pant back in even if for his left-handed batting ability.
Read