CHENNAI: For all the criticism of how they have been less imaginative with their batting resources and approach of the batters in the ODIs, India have been totally the opposite with the bowlers. They have been proactive in terms of what they need and who they want to play, even going to the extent of taking bold calls with regards to dropping Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in their peak years for less experienced, untested wrist-spinners — Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
In a format where batters were willing to be aggressive in the second powerplay, thanks to four-fielder restrictions, India felt compelled to go for wrist-spinners as they were going to bring a better chance of taking wickets in the middle-overs. With Bhunveshwar Kumar for new ball and Jasprit Bumrah at the death, and all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja in the mix, it allowed India to dictate the terms in the middle-overs.
For two years they bowled together up until the 2019 World Cup, nobody had as many wickets as Kuldeep (87) and Chahal (66). Then something changed during the World Cup. Actually a bit before that. The former struggled during the IPL and went into the World Cup, low on confidence, only for the captain who once favoured their combo, separating them in the middle of the campaign after the two picked up only one wicket between them against England. Since then, the duo have played only in two ODIs before Kuldeep was sidelined first because of poor form and then with injury.
And here they are now, back together, with a chance of playing alongside each other in the first ODI against West Indies looking bright. It is, perhaps, the unavailability of Ashwin and Jadeja for the series that forced the selectors to look at them again. But given what happened in the ODIs in South Africa, they perhaps find the need to have the wrist-spinners back. In South Africa, India picked up only eight wickets in the second powerplay (overs 11-40), conceding 525 runs. It meant without taking big risks, the opponents nearly scored at 6 an over in these 30 overs, allowing them to set up a base from where they can launch on in the last 10 overs. The end result was what head coach Rahul Dravid called an eye-opener.
“I think through the middle overs we need to probably improve our wicket-taking options,” Dravid had said. “We do understand that’s an area in the game we have been behind a little bit — the ability to take wickets through the middle overs — and what we need to do about that,” he said.
The World Cup in India will be played in the months of October-November, a period where dew comes into play in the second-half of the match. Given India usually play day-night games at home, they are aware finger spinners will give them much better control. And between Ashwin, Jadeja, Chahal and Kuldeep, it is the finger-spinners who have an economy rate of under five. The wrist-spinners, though, are way ahead with strike-rates.
It is pertinent for India to fix a template soon, rather than tweaking it much closer to the World Cup. If they are willing to change their approach with the bat, then India might as well play two finger-spinners as it will give them control in the conditions at home. A good performance from the wrist-spinners in this series might only give them more headaches.