Duleep Trophy: India's Red-ball Pace Bowling Bench Strength To Come Under Focus

Nitish Kumar Reddy: After three Tests against England, India’s fast-bowling resources had come under strain ahead of the game at Old Trafford, Manchester. Akash Deep was ruled out due to a groin niggle picked at Lord’s, while seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy’s left knee ligament injury sent him back home.

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who was in contention for a Test debut in Manchester, suffered a hand injury during a net session in Beckenham and wasn’t ready in time to play at The Oval, while Anshul Kamboj had an underwhelming debut in Manchester.

With the Duleep Trophy kicking off the Indian domestic cricket season on Thursday, the search for India’s next set of reliable red-ball fast bowlers will be a key narrative this year.

Though Jasprit Bumrah (his availability is strategically managed) and Mohammed Siraj are there, who beyond them can give sustained support is a big question. Akash Deep has shown promise, so as Prasidh Krishna, as seen from their exploits in England.

But beyond that, the red-ball fast-bowling supply line looks thin at the moment. Salil Ankola, former India pacer and selector, feels proper nurturing of the pacers, especially from fitness perspective, is the need of the hour.

“See, the problem over here is, everybody gets down with injuries. It's not that we don't have options. We have a lot of options. But then somewhere they are going wrong over the fitness point of view.”

“But we've got to nurture and take care of them, and teach them proper fitness and diet. Fast bowling is one thing, where they work harder twice than the normal players. There's no option for that, as being fit is the most important thing.”

“Now, Bumrah for that matter also, is bowling within himself. So, the major workload is going to be on the three guys now – Siraj, Prasidh and Akash Deep. But we still need a couple of other guys who can take over the workload,” said Ankola to IANS.

Ankola, who also served three seasons as Mumbai’s chief selector and has dabbled into commentating in domestic cricket competitions, also expressed surprise over someone like Mukesh Kumar not getting a look into the Test team despite faring well on A tours of Australia and England.

“He’s picked up wickets, but then he doesn't find a place in the Test side, which is a little surprising to me. He's one of those fast medium pacers who can keep on bowling from one end and can be number three bowler for India. We've got to plan out the fast bowling situations very well for our country.”

“You cannot just go on randomly picking people or couple of guys who are there in the season. Seniors are there, then you pick up two youngsters and of course, you need to chalk out who's going to be the third and fourth bowlers.”

“Duleep Trophy is one distinct tournament, and I believe that Indian team selectors as well as chairmen of selectors of each zones should work in tandem when selecting the side. In fact, they should also be discussing that whom do they want to see, depending upon the performance in Ranji Trophy,” he added.

Ankola stated young left-arm pacer Naman Tiwari can be a really very good prospect in future, so as Akash Singh. He also felt Umran Malik, Mayank Yadav, Raj Angad Bawa and U19 pacer Pranav Raghavendra are good prospects, but admitted the quartet being laid low by injuries at different times is not helping their cause.

“This new Bronco Test they have got, that should do well, because primarily, fast bowling is all about your endurance and lung capacity. You got to do your gym, but there's a way to do it. So it should be properly planned, as you cannot become stiff,” he said.

Around 2018/19, India boasted a surplus of red-ball fast bowlers. Umesh Yadav was often the back-up to trio of Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, while someone like Siraj was playing plethora of India A games.

But now that landscape has shifted dramatically. Auqib Nabi of Jammu and Kashmir, Manisankar Murasingh of Tripura and Thakur were the only pace bowling options in top ten wicket-takers list of 2024/25 Ranji Trophy dominated mainly by left-arm spinners.

Though the dynamic ‘A’ tours system is being revived slowly, reaching to the fantastic 2018 level will take time for pace-bowling stocks. “The India A tours matter a lot as they give some early exposures to pacers because you're going to play against a foreign team. Here, if Ranji Trophy is 100%, Duleep Trophy is somewhere around about 120%, which the class of cricket here goes up by about 20%.”

“But then when you talk about these two trophies and then jump to international cricket, the difference between the two goes up by 100%. It means first of all, you cannot relax - you've got to give your 200% all the time. So you've got to pick the right people who can carry the pressure and what is needed for international cricket.”

“When you see a fast bowler, or any cricketer in the nets, they look good. They are of the same calibre. But then what differentiates them between the nets and the match is how you handle pressure. In a Ranji Trophy, there's very less pressure. But when you graduate to international class and how you handle that pressure, that is what separates the normal players from rest of them,” added Ankola.

There’s also the question to develop more seam-bowling all-rounders, with Ankola saying Nitish in his view is more of a batter, and can give you a few overs as a fill-in bowler. “Maybe in a day, he can bowl around 8-10 overs. He's got swing and everything, but you can't rely on him as a bowler. Like, how Australia had the Waugh brothers - they used to come, bowl and get away with couple of wickets and all that. So that is Nitish Kumar Reddy for you.”

Ankola also noted the amount of cricket being played domestically and internationally has also gone up quite a lot, and that workload management has to be redefined. “You can't just use the word workload management and not make a bowler bowl. It should be redefined. Like if somebody needs to practice on certain angles, then he should be made to practice in that way.”

“See, a fast bowler peaks only after turning 24. They mature and peak later than the batters. So you've got to plan that way and that too in Indian conditions, where wickets are not so conducive to fast bowling."

“Here you've got flat tracks resembling a cemented road where nothing happens, and you've got to bowl fast on that. But there you've got to learn how to bowl fast and there's a vast difference between red ball bowling and white ball bowling. Bowling 4 overs, 10 overs and then bowling 20 overs in a day, there's a lot of difference,” he concluded.

“See, a fast bowler peaks only after turning 24. They mature and peak later than the batters. So you've got to plan that way and that too in Indian conditions, where wickets are not so conducive to fast bowling."

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The Duleep Trophy, therefore, will serve as the starting point for selectors and team management in their pursuit to address lingering concerns and build a sustainable red-ball pace bowling bench for future challenges.

Article Source: IANS