Challenge for India to keep pace with their aspirations

Fast bowlers fuelled India's recent 'away' boost but their performances have dipped sharply of late

- Vivek Krishnan

Jasprit Bumrah would target toes, helmets and stumps with a disarming smile. Ishant Sharma would seldom veer away from a probing channel that stifles scoring. Mohammed Shami would bustle in with a bundle of energy before cocking that wrist to deliver the ball with a bolt-upright seam.

From 2017 to 2021, the coming together of these fast bowlers, supplemented by a decent back-up line, meant India had one of the most potent pace attacks in the world. In Tests outside Asia from 2017 to 2019, India’s pacers took 158 wickets at a strike rate of 50 and an average of 24.81, third only to South Africa and Pakistan. In the subsequent two-year cycle, which culminated in a loss to New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship final, they took 71 wickets at an average of 21.47 and a strike rate of 44.3 – superior to the rest of the world on the latter two counts.

These numbers were truly head-turning. That India, traditionally a land of spin, suddenly had this pot of pace-bowling gold was bound to evoke effusive praise.

“India are at the forefront of this fast-bowling renaissance,” former West Indies pacer and eminent commentator Ian Bishop had said in 2020.

“They recognised years ago that if you are to be the No. 1 team in the world, you cannot rely on your spinners all the time.”

It’s not that India hadn’t produced fast bowlers of repute earlier. From Kapil Dev to Javagal Srinath to Zaheer Khan, they were all stellar bowlers with long-standing careers. But what was lacking was a pace unit that would hunt as a pack; one that had no weak links; one that posed a threat from all corners.