At one point of time, South Africa were 11 for 3 in the Ranchi ODI. Despite vital hands from Matthew Breetzke and Marco Jansen, South Africa then slipped to 228 for 7. Yet, the Proteas finished up with 332 in a chase of 350. Eventually, India did win the encounter, but question marks were raised over India’s bowling without Jasprit Bumrah, the spearhead.
Just to put things into perspective, the conditions were rather unfair on the bowlers. Even in the first innings, the track seemed to resemble a motorway. With the dew also coming into play in the second innings, it just got worse for the bowlers. So, while criticising the Indian bowlers, one has to remember that the climes were tailor-made for the batting side.
Despite a few shortcomings, there were bright spots on the bowling side of things. Harshit Rana, who has been incessantly trolled on social media platforms, bowled with a fair amount of zest. Harshit blended a burst of pace with movement and hit-the-deck skills to pick up early wickets. He also seems to have upskilled his game when it comes to defensive skills in the slog overs. The pacer also gave a good account of himself in the final ODI in Australia, and in the subsequent A series against South Africa A.
Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh backed him up with a couple of wickets. In limited overs, it is always an asset to have a wrist-spinner, and that too a left-arm wrist-spinner. And Kuldeep once more attested to that with a four-for. Just scratch the surface, and the detractors would point fingers at the duo of Prasidh Krishna and R Jadeja. However, the pair bowled when the dew had taken full effect. Moreover, Prasidh did pull things back to some extent in the end overs; not known as one of his main strengths.
The troika of Harshit, Prasidh and Arshdeep have played a mere 40 ODIs in total. Although there are some similarities between ODIs and T20 cricket, one can still argue that bowling in the middle overs in the 50-format requires a slightly different skill set. On an overall basis, the litmus test in Ranchi will only help some of the inexperienced Indian bowlers to grow as cricketers and nurture their skills.
