India’s bowling firepower: Batsmen unleash in nets!

The bowling nets at the stadium in Delhi were buzzing with activity, just like they were in Gwalior. The atmosphere was lively, filled with playful banter. Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh joked about their international wickets—Rinku has three, while Tilak has two. But Tilak took the chance to remind Rinku that he dismissed Nicholas Pooran in the IPL. Rinku fired back, highlighting his performance in the Powerplays for Meerut Maverick, claiming seven wickets. Both of them bowled together alongside Harshit Rana in the nets.

Surrounding them, several batsmen were eager to take their turn bowling. Riyan Parag warmed up with the ball before putting on his pads. Opener Abhishek Sharma took a five-minute break after an intense batting session before returning to bowl to Jitesh Sharma. Head coach Gautam Gambhir positioned himself nearby to observe the action.

India had ten bowling options in the first T20I match against Bangladesh in Gwalior. Except wicketkeeper Sanju Samson, every player in India’s starting XI was capable of bowling. India hasn’t experienced this level of versatility in the white-ball format over the past decade.

Looking back at some statistics from past ODIs reveals interesting insights. Sachin Tendulkar, who bowled a mix of inswingers, outswingers, leg-breaks, and off-breaks, ended his career with 154 ODI wickets. Sourav Ganguly, relying on his military medium pace, took 100 wickets, while Yuvraj Singh, whose bowling was crucial in India’s 2011 World Cup victory, finished with 111 scalps. Virender Sehwag contributed 96 wickets, and Suresh Raina added 36 during their time under MS Dhoni. Kedar Jadhav also picked up 27 wickets. All of these players were primarily specialist batters in the top seven. Under MS Dhoni’s leadership, even Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma occasionally bowled a few overs.

Subsequently, a trend emerged where India’s top-order batsmen ceased to bowl. In his book Coaching Beyond: My Days With the Indian Cricket Team, former India fielding coach R. Sridhar attributes this decline to the reliance on throwdown specialists.

“One of the main reasons for that is our coaching system. With the Indian team now, as it has been for a little while, we have three dedicated throwdown specialists, and generally, we get four nets. Two nets are used for full-fledged bowling; in the other two nets, there is always someone who wants extra batting. Most of the batters finish their 20–25 minutes of batting, after which there are between three and five men waiting with weapons in their hands – I am referring, of course, to the sidearm or the slinger. Across formats, all our batters only bat; they don’t bowl at all,” Sridhar mentioned in his book.

New Management, Bustling Practice Sessions

However, things have shifted under Gambhir’s leadership. During Gambhir’s first series in Sri Lanka, India employed at least six bowling options. In the final match, they even utilized seven, with the rarely used Suryakumar and Rinku bowling in the final overs. This strategy was also carried over to the ODIs.

Suryakumar Yadav, India’s T20I captain, who faced scrutiny for a suspect bowling action during a Mumbai Indians match a few years ago, hadn’t bowled until Gautam Gambhir took over as coach. In the third match of the Sri Lanka series at Pallekele, he surprised everyone by handing the 19th over to Rinku, who took two wickets and then bowled the final over himself, claiming two scalps.

The diversity

It’s not just about having additional bowling options; Surya is likely the first Indian captain in any format to enjoy such a wealth of bowling choices. He has left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh alongside the fast bowler Mayank Yadav. Additionally, another pacer, Harshit Rana, is ready to step in.

Regarding spin options, Varun Chakravarthy serves as a mystery spinner, Washington Sundar offers off-spin, and Ravi Bishnoi offers leg-spin. Riyan Parag and Tilak Varma contribute with off-spin, while Abhishek Sharma is an effective left-arm spinner.

Additionally, Suryakumar Yadav benefits from having two genuine seam-bowling all-rounders—Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Before the first match in Gwalior, the captain mentioned that having additional bowling options is a “good headache.”

“It’s a good headache to have when you are on the field on whom to bowl. Every time you have an extra option, it’s a good thing,” he said.

Now that the playing XI includes several versatile cricketers, referencing the Sri Lanka series where he bowled Rinku and himself in the final two overs, Surya expressed his desire to avoid a similar scenario. “Aisi naubat na aa ye toh acha hai (I hope that situation will not come again).”

“I enjoyed it, and we are leading the series 2-0. So we thought, let’s try something different. We had overs left from the fast bowlers, but I wanted to take a chance because the wicket was turning,” he explained. If a similar situation occurs again, he has more players ready to step up. It’s 2024, but it feels like 2011 all over again.

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