BIRMINGHAM: India fans flooding the grounds in waves of blue has been one of the highlights of this World Cup. Most of them have names of stars written on the back of those shirts. Virat, Dhoni, Rohit are the common ones. Even Sachin continues to find mention on many of these.
A striking feature of all these shirts is the absence of the names of bowlers. There is no Bumrah, Shami, Bhuvi or Chahal on the back of these. All of them are named after batsmen. Those who have played a leading role in keeping India unbeaten in the tournament so far are still not the rage among fans. Ironical it is, as India head towards the end of the league stage as the team to beat, the worries are over batting. Bowlers are the ones to have planted doubts and fear in the mind of the opposition. Get the quicks to do early damage, bring them back from time to time and unleash the spinners to control the middle overs has been the strategy. Here’s a glance at how they have done so far.
Jasprit Bumrah:
Perhaps the best fast bowler of the tournament because of being a constant headache for batsmen at all stages of an innings. There are many with more variations in swing and more wickets in the first spell. Kohli’s trump card is different because he is effective at all stages. The booming in-swinger at searing pace early on, yorkers afterwards and change of pace make him a deadly package. The slower yorker in the West Indies game didn’t get him a hat-trick, but landing it in place showed his command over his trade.
M 5 W 9 ER 4.45
Mohammed Shami:
Likely to continue since Bhuvneshwar Kumar is still not certain. Even otherwise, he would cause a selection dilemma for the way he has grabbed his chance. Fast and straight, hitting the deck with some no-nonsense stuff, he has also used the bouncer liberally. Said after the West Indies match that he knew not giving width would land Chris Gayle in trouble. It showed how confident he is at the moment. No wonder then that the captain keeps bringing him back when looking for wickets.
M 2 W 8 ER 3.16
Yuzvendra Chahal:
That the likes of him in other teams have mostly been liabilities underlines his effectiveness. Doesn’t experiment much and uses the wrong one sparingly. Seldom errs in length and allows shots like cut or pull. Add a strike rate of a wicket almost every four overs and what you get is an option which is particularly useful when defending and the opposition is looking for runs. That’s how it has been so far and India’s highest wicket-taker has struck vital blows in three of the four matches India bowled second.
M 5 W 10 ER 5.47
Kuldeep Yadav:
One who bowls chinaman is a rarity. Rarer is one with a better economy rate than strike rate. Don’t go by the number of wickets in this case. He has come back after a bad start and played his part in keeping things tight in the middle overs. Given the ball air and got it to turn. His own analysis for fewer entries in the last column is batsmen have been cautious against him. The high percentage of defensive shots against him lends credence to that. Can be the trump card still, especially in high-scoring games.
M 5 W 4 ER 4.40
Hardik Pandya:
If your fifth bowler clocks 135-plus, opponents have to take the bowling unit seriously. Has a tendency to bowl a loose one, but can make up for it by slipping in the one that shapes away from a good length and catches the batsman by surprise. It’s his ability to bowl those deliveries befitting a specialist bowler that makes his dangerous. Batsmen can’t target him, like most teams do when they see the fifth bowler in operation. Due to him, the skipper has seldom had to look at part-timers so far.
M 5 W 5 ER 5.69