HAVING A BALL

Indian bowlers are winning matches and setting IPL auction records. But brands are not yet bowled over. Will Bumrah get bowlers their due?

- ANUSHKA BHARDWAJ

My favourite captain is me," Jasprit Bumrah said at a media event in July.

It was a rapid fire round and India's bowling spearhead was chuckling. But, as later events show, he walked that talk.

Bumrah led the Indian team to a thumping win in the first Test on the ongoingtour of Australia with a playerof-the-match performance. It is not easy to defeat Australia in Australia, as evident in the fact that India became the first team to beat the home team at Perth's Optus stadium.

Later that day, a bunch of other Indian bowlers were making headlines, but not on the field of play. At the Indian Premier League's Mega Auction, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh became the most expensive Indian pacer in the history of IPL auctions with a price tag of 18 crore and, for the same amount, Yuzvendra Chahal became the most expensive spinner.

This year, six Indian bowlers have been sold for more than 10 crore.

According to data compiled by sports website ESPN, 10 IPL franchises spent almost 285 crore on 71 registered bowlers. Thirty-two batters were sold for nearly 117 crore. That is a far cry from just a few years ago .

"In India, batsmen have been considered the officer class while bowlers are seen as the worker class," said Kapil Dev-who proved that Indians could make the new ball talk and who for a while was the world's leading wicket taker-in 2012.

In the intervening years, there has been a growing realisation of the role bowlers play in winning matches.

"In the last few years, matches are being won on the back of bowlers. Ona bad day, a batter can get out, but a bowler has to bowl a certain number of overs in every match," says former Indian cricketer turned commentator Deep Dasgupta. "That's one of the reasons why franchises are shelling out so much money." However, brands are not listening. Not yet.

Batters rule