Shortly after India’s capitulation in the Centurion Test match against South Africa on Thursday, social media started murmuring that now, the axe will fall on bowlers after a defeat characterised by a massive batting disorder. On either side of South Africa’s 408, India managed 245 and 131. Can the bowlers be blamed for this?
The answer is yes, at least partially. Bowling was also responsible because South Africa should never have been allowed to get that far on that pitch. India’s fast bowlers had a chance to corner them, but let them breathe free by releasing the pressure in key moments.
One should never be judged by a solitary performance, but Prasidh Krishna should have done better. Conditions couldn’t have been more ideal for a fast bowler on debut. He and Shardul Thakur undid the good work done by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. In different phases, introducing them into the attack resulted in a flurry of fours and a sudden spike in the scoring rate. The plan with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also remained unclear.
More than the immediate future, this is a concern for the team management in the long run. India became an all-weather force due to their fast bowlers. They were effective everywhere and troubled every team. Successive World Test Championship (WTC) finals, series wins in Australia, Test victories in England and South Africa were achieved largely by them.
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There was a pool. Mohammed Shami, Bhuvnsehwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav. Bumrah became a lethal addition. Siraj was a handy inclusion afterwards. But the situation has changed. Bhuvneshwar, Ishant and Umesh are out. Shami is aging and has been injury-prone. Bumrah’s fitness is always a question. Even Siraj will be 30 in March.
Going ahead, India’s pace reserves suddenly appear thin. This might bother the think tank, because the collective quality in that bunch was formidable and they offered variety. Also, some of them took time to mature and became forces to reckon with after gaining experience.
The worry is two-fold. Talent can be replaced. The same doesn’t happen with experience. If there are no ready-mades, then options will have to come through a trial-and-error process, which will take time. The second is an apparent dip in quality. Few in the future crop look as good as their predecessors.
The schedule may make it more difficult to zero in on names. After another Test in South Africa, India don’t play away in the 2023-25 WTC cycle. With points at stake at home against England, Bangladesh and New Zealand, spin will be expected to play a bigger role.
Not many of Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan or others can be tried out in those 10 Tests in India. So, unless there is an India A plan going on, there is no scope to check resources or do experiments. The Ranji Trophy and IPL may unveil talent, but there will be little opportunity to test them for the international red-ball game for some time.
That is why the Centurion saga doesn’t augur well. In conditions hostile for batting almost all through, bowlers as a unit looked devoid of a plan and lacked application. The pace pack about to become history was high on these. They were relentless and disciplined for hours. That made them successful, not just swing, seam movement or bounce.
It’s a not a question of axing one bowler for one Test. This defeat points towards a cupboard getting empty. This is one box Indian cricket wanted to tick since time immemorial — a bunch of fast bowlers. Having possessed that for a while, to see it disintegrate is not a great feeling. That’s where it hurts.
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