Dominance shown by the current Indian team at home is unheard-of. In the last three years, India lost only one Test at home. Previous Indian teams never had such dominance and it is all achieved on fair pitches, not on rank turners. Indian spinners always take truck-loads of wickets, but pacers never failed to impress. Credit goes to skipper Virat Kohli. He always trusts pacers and plays three pacers many times, even if it means India have to play with one less batsman. He has given them complete freedom to execute their plans and has supported them when they failed. That’s why he is often called as a bowler’s captain. Also, his obsession with fitness makes the standards of fitness very high in the team, so it helps pacers to bowl long spells.
With complete domination at home, the focus is on the best bowling line up that India should field to take this domination to the whole new level in Tests.
Leader of the Pack – Jasprit Bumrah
At times, he rekindles memories of our prime. The pace, aggression. The hostility, the craft. The way he outclasses the batsmen, the way he out-thinks them. He could have been one of us, he is so complete a bowler that he could have played in any era.
– Sir Curtly Ambrose said about Bumrah
Bumrah is one of the best bowlers in the current era. He has conquered every country he has visited till now. Many greats of the game have said big things about him. Many were surprised to see the speed he generates from such a small run-up. Many claimed that his action will make him injury prone.
Still, the Indian team-management has used him well till now. He was sidelined from the South Africa series, as he was injured with a stress fracture in his back, but it is a minor injury. Even at the start of his career, he took 62 wickets in only 12 tests averaging a fabulous 19.24. Among Indian bowlers who took 50 wickets in last three years, he is only Indian bowler who has a ratio of wickets per Test of more than five. In the whole world, among bowlers who took a minimum of 50 wickets in Tests, he is second in the list of the ratio of highest wickets per test as we can see in the following table –
We can see above, he has the highest average and strike rate among the bowlers who took a minimum of 50 wickets in the last three years. The special thing about this record is, he is yet to play his first Test at home, which means he took all these wickets in away conditions. Definitely, he is the leader of our pace attack as he took five-wicket hauls more frequently than other Indian bowlers, so he can change the direction of any match. Don’t be surprised if many more match-winning performances will be showcased by Bumrah in the near future.
Swing King – Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
Much like Praveen Kumar, Bhuvneshwar beats many batsmen with his in-swing and out-swinging deliveries. The career of Bhuvneshwar could have been stupendous if he had not been injured in 2018 before the England tour. The English conditions perfectly suit him. If he could have played that series, maybe the series’ result could have been different. As he got sidelined, other bowlers got chances and Kumar has been out of favour since then.
He took 22 wickets in the last three years with an average of 22.45 and strike rate of 46.5. His average and strike rate is only next to young sensation Bumrah. He took 12 wickets from four Tests at home, with an average of 24.25 and 10 wickets in just two Tests away, with a stunning average of 20.30. So he is equally good at home and away. Also, he can bat well in away tough conditions. As a second pacer, Kumar can be the right pick for team India, if he remains fit.
| Table 1.2 Indian bowlers with the highest wickets in the last 3 years (mini. 20 wickets) | ||||||
| Player | Test Matches | Wickets | Average | Strike Rate | 5W Hauls | 10W Hauls |
| R Ashwin | 29 | 136 | 27.08 | 60.3 | 6 | 1 |
| RA Jadeja | 26 | 123 | 25.01 | 58.9 | 4 | 1 |
| M.Shami | 26 | 96 | 24.65 | 47.3 | 3 | 0 |
| I.Sharma | 22 | 71 | 24.52 | 53.5 | 2 | 0 |
| U Yadav | 22 | 67 | 28.31 | 51.2 | 1 | 1 |
| J Bumrah | 12 | 62 | 19.24 | 43.7 | 5 | 0 |
| K.Yadav | 6 | 24 | 24.12 | 41.2 | 2 | 0 |
| B.Kumar | 6 | 22 | 22.45 | 46.5 | 0 | 0 |
Finisher – Mohammed Shami
Second innings and Mohammed Shami are a match made in heaven. He is the go-to bowler for skipper Virat Kohli in the second innings. So many times he finished matches for team India by bowling out teams. In the last three years, Shami picked 96 wickets in 26 tests with average 24.65 and strike rate of 47.3 as shown in the above table. He is stunning when the ball gets old. His stats are very good among all bowlers in the world in the fourth innings.
He has the fourth-highest wickets in the last three years in Tests in the fourth innings. He took 27 wickets in 11 matches with a very-good average of 18.96 and strike rate of 33.7. The only problem with him is his average is over 40 in the first innings, so he strikes when it gets really late at times. He can be picked as the third seamer and if Kumar is unfit, Shami can play as the second seamer in the team.
Ishant Sharma
From a long time, Ishant has been termed as a very good bowler, who didn’t get wickets. He has been also deemed by some as the worst player who played 50 tests for team India, but now he has started to produce the results for the team. As shown in the above table, he picked 71 wickets from 22 tests at an average of 24.52 to become fourth-highest wicket-taker for team India in the last three years. His away numbers are much more impressive, as he took 48 wickets from 12 Tests with an average of 20.50 away from home. He can surely be one of the main contenders for the position of the third pacer of the team.
Umesh Yadav
A very impressive home season from 2016 to 2018, put his case forward as the third pacer of the team. He took 66 wickets from 22 Tests in the last three years, with an average of 28.21 as shown in table 1.2. The rise of Bumrah put Yadav out of the team many times in the away season. Now looking forward, he can get more opportunities at home.
Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya is the only pace-all rounder India has in tests, who can prove to be vital in tough away-tours. He made 532 runs in 11 Tests, with an average of 31.29 and took 17 wickets in 10 Tests with an average of 29.64. India won the only Test in England tour in 2018 when Pandya took a five-wicket haul and scored a fifty. Team India can invest in him for more away wins in the future. However, on Indian wickets, there are very less chances that he will get any matches to play.
Kuldeep Yadav
With Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the team, it is very difficult to find a place in the team as a spinner (Tests). Still, even if he got fewer opportunities, Chinaman spinner Kuldeep proved that he can be a match-winning spinner. He took 24 wickets from six tests with an average of 24.12 and a very impressive strike rate of 41.2. He took a five-wicket haul in the last Test he played in Australia. In the last three years, he is the only spinner of India who took a five-wicket haul in SENA countries. He averages 23.90 in away in comparison to Ashwin, who averages 28.39 and Jadeja, who averages 30.75.
So looking forward Kuldeep can be our lead spinner. Batting abilities of Ashwin and Jadeja should not be preferred over wicket-taking abilities of Kuldeep in all conditions. Spinner is a specific position in the team. Playing an allrounder in that position will hamper the overall ability of Team India, as they will struggle to take 20 wickets in a match.
Ravichandran Ashwin
With truckloads of wickets, Ravi Ashwin is considered as one of the greatest spinners that India has ever had. He equalled the record of Muralitharan, of being the fastest bowler to get 350 test wickets, in just 66 matches. There is not a single doubt about his home record, but his record in SENA countries has suffered quite a bit.
He couldn’t take a single five-wicket haul in those countries. He took 48 wickets from 16 tests in those countries with a mediocre average of 43.37. Despite that, he is the reason for home dominance in India in the last three years. So he has a guaranteed position in the team till now, but ideally, he should be the back-up of Kuldeep or Jadeja.
Ravindra Jadeja
The rise of Jadeja in the last couple of years threatened the position of Ashwin in the team. He took 123 wickets from 26 tests, with an average of 25.00, which is even better than Ashwin’s average in the same period. Jadeja’s batting is more impressive; as he made 1148 runs from 26 Tests, with a good average of 45.92, which is more than Batsmen like Rahul, Vijay and Dhawan. In the recent two Tests, Jadeja made 91 and 51 in successive innings against South Africa.
Due to his overseas batting, India dropped Ashwin in the West Indies from the 2 Tests, when India need only one spinner in the lineup. He superbly cemented his place in the team as an all-rounder, with his tight bowling and extra-ordinary batting.
There is a tough competition for each place in the bowling department of team India in Tests. Ideally, Bumrah, Bhuvaneshwar, Shami should be our pace attack and Kuldeep, Jadeja/Ashwin as our spin-attack. This team of India can march on to become the greatest Test team in the Indian history of cricket under the leadership of Virat Kohli, if they sustain their dominance in all across the globe.
