CHENNAI: India has one of the most potent pace attacks in world cricket today. A lot of credit should go to the late Ravi Mammen of MRF who first had a vision and dreamt of India possessing a talented pace attack. In order to fulfill this dream he set up the MRF Pace Foundation in the late 80's in order to pick and groom young fast bowlers. He had also then roped in Aussie legend Dennis Lillee and later former India player TA Sekhar as the coaches.
Scores of fast bowlers from India and other countries have benefitted from the foundation's initiative. Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, and S Sreesanth are some of the players to have benefited from their stints at the foundation. From then on the NCA has been nurturing fast bowlers.
Chepauk for long was a bastion of spinners and none expected fast bowlers to call shots at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
But on Friday India speedsters Jasprit Bumrah (4/50), Mohammed Siraj (2/30), Akash Deep (2/19) bowled in tandem to torment the Bangladeshi batters and the visitors were bundled out for 149 in 47.1 overs on the second day of the Test at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
Thanks to their efforts, the hosts are now in firm control of the match. At the end of the second day's play, India had a sizeable lead of 308 runs. Spinner Ravindra Jadeja also chipped in with two wickets on a wicket that has been favourable for pacers so far.
Despite taking a lead of 227 runs,India did not enforce the follow on and opted to bat for the second time instead. The skipper himself didn't last long but India were placed at 81/3 when stumps were drawn.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, the man who had chipped in with a half-century in the first innings, was the other man to fall cheaply in the second innings. Virat Kohli hung around for 37 balls before being adjudged leg before wicket off the bowling of Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Kohli, who got beaten on the inside edge to be trapped low on the front pad, decided against taking the review but replays suggested that there was a spike on UltraEdge.
Earlier, the trio of Bumrah, Siraj and Akash were unplayable and they made life difficult for the visiting batters with their probing line and length. It certainly caught the eye of former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey. "Fantastic show. They showed the ability to recover from a poor start and put runs on the board. Ashwin and Jadeja were fabulous and their partnership was crucial for us," the former India player said.
Bumrah led from the front and was the one to give India the breakthrough when he castled Shadman Islam in the final delivery of the first over. Shadman misread an in-swinger and did not offer any stroke, only to witness the stumps being dismantled. "Brilliant show by our attack. Their work ethic is fabulous. I'm happy with the pace attack that we have and the way they went about their task in getting Bangladesh all out under 150 runs. It speaks volumes about their hard work and dedication," said Mhambrey.
Akash Deep then entered the picture and reduced Bangladesh to 26/3, tightening India's grip on the game. Mhambrey credited Bumrah for being the guiding force for the youngsters in the team. "Bumrah is a thinking cricketer. He has the uncanny knack of exploiting the conditions. He knows the angles to bowl and modulate the speed variations to surprise the batsman. He is a class act," opined Mhambrey.
"Akash Deep was also useful and handy today (Friday). That's how one works in an attack and shares the spoils. I have seen Bumrah interacting with Akash. The Bengal-based cricketer can learn a lot from Bumrah. We have three world class bowlers in our ranks and an all-format player in Jadeja. We also have an experienced player in Ashwin. I believe that our attack can adapt to any situation and win matches on a regular basis,'' said Mhambrey.
Earlier, riding on Ashwin's century (113) and his 199-run partnership with Jadeja for the seventh wicket, India had finished with a total of 376 runs in their first essay. Resuming the day's play at 339/6, India lost four wickets for just 37 runs with Jadeja (86) being the first man to depart. Centurion Ashwin could just add 11 runs on the day. Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud, who had done bulk of the damage on Day 1, picked up the wicket of Bumrah to finish with a five-wicket haul (5/83). Taskin Ahmed sent back Jadeja, Ashwin and Akash Deep to end up with figures of 3/55.