CHENNAI: Since January 2015, India won 23 Test matches overseas including 11 in South Africa, England and Australia. It was during this period that India defeated Australia twice Down Under to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for more than nine years. The trophy might have been lost now as India went down 1-3 in their recent visit to Australia but it began well when the visitors defeated the hosts by 295 runs in the series opener at Perth in November.
Stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah was the architect of the famous win as he claimed a five-fer in the first innings and followed it up with a three-wicket haul in the next. He was rightly adjudged the player of the match for his brilliant bowling but the speedster was well complemented by fellow Indian bowlers to help India beat Pat Cummins and Co.
The recent loss at Headingley in Leeds against hosts England in the five-match Test series, however, presented a sorry state of affairs — India's overdependence on the Gujarat pacer — the issue that needs immediate attention. The slinger was at his best with a five-wicket spell as India managed a slender but six-run first innings lead in the match. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna too chipped in with two and three wickets respectively but went for plenty of runs, opening doors for England batters to cut down the lead. Spinner Ravindra Jadeja and medium pacer Shardul Thakur went wicketless adding to the team's woes. Bumrah's wicket column remained empty in the next essay as England chased down a stiff 371-run target with five wickets to spare. Incidentally, Bumrah is scheduled to play only three matches of the ongoing series as part of his workload management.
Such overreliance on a single bowler was not the case when India won Tests against the Proteas, England and Australia on their backyards in the past few years. Agreed, Bumrah was the bowling spearhead in most of these wins but other bowlers — both pacers and spinners — played their part to perfection as India outclassed their opponents.
Be it the Johannesburg Test in India's tour of South Africa in 2018 or the Nottingham match a few months later, fellow bowlers shouldered responsibilities with Bumrah to help India register victories. It continued till the Perth Test, India's lone win during the 2024-25 tour of Australia where Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar chipped in with a few wickets. Unfortunately, that support went missing in the last few outings.
It's an open secret now with former cricketers expressing their concerns. Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin echoed the sentiments on Sunday when he said India should reduce the burden on the pace talisman. "They are too dependent on Bumrah. It's not easy because you need more experienced bowlers, and they should play Kuldeep Yadav," Azharuddin told PTI Videos.
In these 11 Test wins between Johannesburg in 2018 and Perth in 2024, all Indian bowlers played a big role relieving Bumrah of this burden of being a lynchpin all the time. In their win over South Africa seven years ago, Bumrah was the star performer in the first innings picking up five wickets but it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who claimed three in the first and one in the second to walk away with the Player of the Match award, thanks to his vital contributions with the willow. Apart from the duo, Mohammed Shami bagged five wickets while Ishant Sharma scalped two in the second innings.
In Nottingham, Hardik Pandya returned with impressive figures of 5/28 in the first innings with Bumrah (2/37 and Shami 2/32) playing a side role. It was the role reversal in the second innings as Bumrah completed yet another five-wicket haul overseas with India winning the match by 203 runs.
Now retired R Ashwin played a huge role in India's win in Adelaide in 2018 as he claimed three wickets apiece in both the innings. Bumrah came to the fore again in the Melbourne victory claiming 6/33 and 3/53 in the first and second innings but others including Jadeja (2/45 & 3/82) also made sure Australia worked hard for every run.
Two years later in Melbourne, Bumrah was again the thorn in Aussies' flesh but Ashwin, Siraj and Jadeja too kept their opponents on toes with a handful of wickets in both the innings. Injury ruled Bumrah out of the fourth Test in Brisbane but debutants T Natarajan and Sundar shone with the ball as India conquered fortress Gabba.
Ishant, Shami and Siraj were heroes in the Lord's win in 2021 while Umesh Yadav, Thakur and Jadeja were the stars in the Oval win of the same series. Bumrah, Shami, Thakur, Ashwin and Siraj were equally good in the Centurion win in 2021. The same was the case with the Cape Town Test three years later when Siraj picked a six-wicket haul in the first innings.
With suspense continuing over Bumrah's participation in the Edgbaston Test starting July 2, other India bowlers need to step up to control the slide and help the team put up a fight to stay alive in the five-match series.
Numbers game
11 matches India won in South Africa, England and Australia since their Johannesburg victory in 2018
4 Player of the Match awards went to Indian pacers in these victories. Bumrah won it twice while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Siraj claimed it one time each
