Conditions in England in the earlier part of their summer will aid fast bowlers. There will be swing, and also some seam movement. It’s an enticing proposition for the Indian pace attack. Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj and others will look forward to the World Test Championship final with great expectation. Even though not all of them are out-and-out swing bowlers, they will still be excited by the prospect.
Now comes the more critical question. Will they be able to adjust to the conditions in just a few days, and find the right lengths? In the past, we have seen that Indian bowlers got carried away and ended up conceding runs galore instead of taking wickets. They thought that conditions would be the decisive factor, not length and direction, and lost the plot. In other words, they got too excited and overdid things instead of keeping them simple.
This is something this Indian pace unit will have to be careful of. This is no doubt a talented bunch. They have done well from time to time. And there is no reason to believe that they will not do it again. But the point is, there will be little time to adjust. After a gruelling Indian Premier League (IPL) season, they will be physically fatigued. And there will be no second chance. It is just one match. There will be no chance to come back and do better at the second opportunity.
One reason for this is that few of them have the experience of playing County cricket or even league cricket in England. In the past, bowlers like Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar played in the County Championship. In 1986, when India beat England 2-0 in a three-Test series, Madan Lal was called up from Ashton in the Central Lancashire League to replace an injured Chetan Sharma in the second Test. He delivered, and his familiarity with the conditions helped India’s cause in a big way.
Even Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma all played in the English County Championship. That made them familiar with the pitches, weather and other factors. They knew what lengths to bowl, and when and how to alter plans according to the need of the hour. That is something this group of Indian fast bowlers are not aware of. Because of the IPL, they cannot play County or league cricket in England, and that is where there is a bit of a lack of learning.
The same applies for Australia. Mitchell Starc had a stint with Yorkshire, but Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have not taken part in domestic cricket in England. So they too face the challenge of getting it right at such a short notice in a one-off Test. Like their Indian counterparts, the Australians will also face the task of finding the right lengths immediately in a Test match.
Coming back to the Indian pace attack, Shami, Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat will not be immune to this problem. Some of them have played in England, and done well. But none of them have the experience of bowling there in the early half of the summer. The conditions will tempt them, and they have what it takes to make that count. What they have to do is find the right length. It’s easier said than done. Let’s see how they cope with this task.
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