Without Shami, India could never have had a combination of three pace bowlers who would have been consistently threatening over a span of five days
It was almost like all hope ended right after Jasprit Bumrah finished his spells.
Mohammed Siraj tried his best and bowled quite well in bursts, but the effect was not the same. Prasidh Krishna bowled some magic balls, but kept dishing out boundary balls like waiters serving dosai one after the other in Bengaluru’s Vidyarthi Bhavan. And Shardul Thakur? Well, he was just present.
India’s pace bowling in the first Test was essentially all Boom or just doom, and resembled India’s batting in the 1990s, which revolved around Tendulkar’s bat.
Look at the pitch map from the first Test for yourself. The three other pacers whose name isn’t Bumrah leaked runs at 4.5 runs/over even from a good length, and it wasn’t like their record at any other lengths got better. It was worse.
While the inconsistency is a function of poor execution, it also reflects a deeper problem haunting India: there are frankly no ready-for-Test-cricket kind of pacers with a proven track record over a period of time.
No shadow A-tours due to the pandemic, and later India moving away from Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav left the Men In Blue devoid of experience in their pace attack.
However, even if Ishant and Umesh are no more in the scheme of things, there was one Indian pacer whose presence here at least would have ensured that the Indian attack didn’t look this toothless: Mohammed Shami.
Last time Shami toured England in 2021, he averaged 27.5 at an economy of just 3.1 and picked 11 wickets in the five innings he bowled. His impact, however, wasn’t plainly limited to taking wickets – he provided India a cushion.
With Bumrah and Shami as the first and second pacers, India won two of the four Tests despite Mohammed Siraj being the third pacer, as he was given a cushion by the two stalwarts who took the ball for India. Siraj proved himself to be a really good third pacer that tour, as India were looking solid to go with this pace attack in the next few World Test Championship Cycles.
However, Shami’s knee injury post the 2023 ODI World Cup has made it really hard for the Bengal pacer to return to the Indian Test side, as even after more than a year in recovery, his body isn’t fit enough to sustain the rigours of Test cricket. Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar couldn’t have said it in clearer words after selecting the Indian squad for the current England tour.
As a result, Siraj, who averages 31.8 in Test cricket, is forced to perform the role of the second pacer of the side after Bumrah. Moreover, in the two Tests that Bumrah would miss, he would be India’s frontline pacer who would be expected to take a wicket in every spell that he bowls.
While Siraj can be really good in small bursts, he has failed to show the kind of impeccable control over an entire innings that someone like Shami has done multiple times in his Test career.
India are not only tactically handicapped in Shami’s absence, they are also a much less threatening bowling attack in England, because gone are the days when swing bowling used to be the dominant mode of wicket-taking in cricket’s birthplace.
Wobble seam deliveries (perfected by James Anderson and now being employed by almost every pacer who bowls in England) and the conventional in-seaming deliveries have proved to be more lethal than conventional swing as Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have repeatedly asked for flatter surfaces in Test matches so their batters can ‘Bazball’.
Shami’s seam position is probably the best in world cricket, and that’s where he would have been a potent weapon for India throughout this series. Additionally, in his absence, India have gone for hit-the-deck options like Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna, who have failed to control the runs or give consistent wickets to the Indian side.
Without Shami, India could never have had a combination of three pace bowlers who would have been consistently threatening over a span of five days. It’s not to say that Shami’s presence would have surely won India the Test match or the series, but his absence has surely worsened the quality of India’s pace attack. The first Test was proof of that.
The unfortunate thing for Indian cricket is that they would need to be patient now in developing whatever pace bowling resources they have at the moment, and give them the confidence and experience. Because as of now, India’s Test bowling future looks bleak, with Bumrah having to shoulder the burden all on his own.
The upcoming A-tours would be a great opportunity for the likes of Anshul Kamboj to claim a spot. Until then, fans and the team management alike would have to acknowledge that India lack red-ball pace bowling depth.