The team is filled with potent bowling options as they head towards next year’s T20 World Cup
Deivarayan Muthu in Hyderabad05-Dec-20194:18
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India have shaken up their bowling attack for the three-match T20I series against West Indies. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is fit again while Mohammed Shami is looking to return to T20I cricket after more than two years. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, the wristspinners, will reunite for the first time since the 50-over World Cup earlier this year. Plus, there are a couple of fingerspinners – Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar – in the mix as well. Who among them will make the XI in Hyderabad?A toss-up between Bhuvneshwar and Shami?
Back in September, India captain Virat Kohli had said that Bhuvneshwar along with Jasprit Bumrah would be the first-choice seam-bowling options for the T20 World Cup next year in Australia.”It will be interesting to see who along with them [Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah] makes the composition of the team,” Kohli said. Since then, Deepak Chahar has moved up the pecking order so swiftly that he may well have locked in his spot for the trip to Australia.With Bhuvneshwar back after injury and Shami forcing his way into white-ball contention, India seem well stocked to deal with even the most explosive batting line-ups.ALSO READ: Who will make the cut for India’s T20 World Cup squad?Over the last three IPLs, Bhuvneshwar has been the second-most economical (9.45 rpo) Indian bowler – behind Bumrah – in the final four overs of an innings. And this is across 53.5 overs in which he has also taken 29 wickets.India became a far more attacking bowling side in ODIs after they replaced their fingerspinners with wristspinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav two years ago•Associated PressSince IPL 2018, Shami has bowled 15 yorkers at the death, conceding just 16 runs while taking three wickets. Only Rajasthan Royals’ Jofra Archer has dismissed more batsmen (five) hitting that length in the final stages of a game.”It’s not that big an issue for us,” Kohli said of the possible toss-up between Shami and Bhuvneshwar. “Shami is coming back in. He’s bowling really really well. So we feel that if he gets into a rhythm and he specifically works on what’s required in T20 cricket, then he will be very, very useful in a place like Australia as well, especially with his ability to pick wickets with the new ball. And he has enough pace to execute yorkers.””So yeah, it’s a good position to be in because everyone is bowling really well and the fight honestly is for one spot. I think more or less three guys have made a place for themselves already. It’s going to be healthy competition and interesting to see how it pans out.”A tale of two fingerspinners and two wristspinners
Since his T20 debut in April 2017, Washington has been among the most economical spinners in the Powerplay, conceding just 6.77 runs while taking 14 wickets in the first six overs.Then, there’s the other fingerspinner Jadeja, who has slotted back in place of Krunal Pandya. While Jadeja has raised his batting to a new plane, he hasn’t been a T20 regular for India, having played just five matches since the start of 2017.ALSO READ: ‘Powerplay bowling is tough but it has excited me,’ says Washington SundarHello again, Chahal and Kuldeep. They haven’t played a game together since they were thrashed by Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow at Edgbaston. Chahal, though, made an excellent comeback against Bangladesh – without ever going away – and even showed the skill and tact to bowl at the death. Given the bowling riches India now possess, there might be a lot of pressure on Kuldeep as he tries to break into the XI again. The 24-year old endured a torrid IPL in April, where he managed only four wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 8.66 before being dropped from the Kolkata Knight Riders XI.Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a bit in the indoor nets•AFPStill there remains an argument for #KulCha to stay in the XI. West Indies’ batsmen tend to struggle against wristspin and Kohli also reasoned that, at the World Cup in Australia, they could toss it up as much as they like because the grounds are larger and hitting them for sixes would be tougher.”Having two wristspinners is a big advantage when you will playing in Australia on big fields,” he said. “There might be some games where both might play together but in T20 cricket, as I mentioned, it’s all about balance.”Predominantly we see one guy [wristspinner] playing with Jadeja and Washi [Washington] because it gives us all kinds of variety in the bowling attack – along with the two seamers and the allrounder, the seaming allrounder.”You need to have six bowling options in T20 cricket, that’s the basic rule. You can’t go in with five expecting everyone to bowl four good overs. It gets very difficult as a team after a while. I think that is the balance that we need to create.”India have bowlers of every variety in their squad – barring a left-arm quick – and that is priceless as the team gets ready for the main event down under in October.”T20 cricket is all about being flexible,” Kohli said. “In where people bowl, where people bat. There won’t be a set pattern. The combination or the XI might be similar but there won’t be a set pattern as to ‘this is how we’re going to go’. We have to be unpredictable.”
