CHENNAI: It is a strange English summer. Right through the four Tests so far — three against New Zealand and one against India — the pitches have been predominantly batting-friendly so that the hosts successfully chased targets of over 270 in all four matches. And the pattern continued in T20Is where placid pitches made for high-scoring games.
Everyone expected nothing less in the ODIs. Ever since England started taking ODIs as a format where batters are supposed to call the shots, the pitches have been amongst the flattest in the world. Since the 2015 World Cup, there are 82 instances of teams scoring 300 or more in ODIs, easily the most for any host country.
However, at the Oval, there was something totally different. The sell-out crowd was greeted to a pitch with good grass cover – the most seen in the English summer – with typical gloomy conditions for company.
When Rohit Sharma won the toss, the decision to field first was a no-brainer, especially when India had Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in the ranks to exploit the conditions.
And the two literally ended the game in eight overs and before India could make a first change.
In such conditions all it needs for pacers is to get their line and length right and the two didn’t waste any time whatsoever.
Every time they ran in, they landed the ball in areas allowing it to move both ways. The only way the batters would score runs was if the pacers offered width to free their arms or bowled too full or short.
But Shami and Bumrah were in no mood to be generous. All it needed was the two to keep it simple and ensure the decision to field first wasn't wasted.
Over the last few years, India’s preferences have been to chase in ODIs and while most of it is down to their batters being more at comfort in pursuit of a target rather than setting one, they have been able to do it thanks to their bowlers. And the key to it has been the fact that their bowlers have ensured teams who are asked to bat first don’t run away with the game.
Take Shami and Bumrah for instance. In matches where India won the toss and asked the opponents to bat first, the two have picked up 55 and 45 wickets respectively.
And it also happens to be the highest for them. And in matches where India was made to bowl first, they still accounted for 42 and 27 wickets, which is way better than how they have performed while defending a target (irrespective of the toss outcome).
With Bhuvneshwar Kumar no longer in the ODI mix — a key component of India’s attack and their man Friday to pick up wickets with the new ball — Bumrah and Shami have a job at hand.
The last time the two played an ODI and India didn’t field Kumar in the XI, they had two forgettable outings in Australia. With no wickets to show off the new ball and openers playing them out, it resulted in Bumrah conceding over 70 runs in successive matches and Shami giving away 59 and 73.
In these conditions, the two were not going to throw away any freebies and they ran through the English top-order, sending back Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Liam Livingstone for four ducks inside eight overs. And from there on the hosts managed only 110 with Bumrah returning his best figures of 6/19. His first spell read 5-2-9-4 with five of those wides.
They won’t get such days often, but for an attack that is beginning to move away from Kumar, Tuesday was a perfect confidence booster.