Akash Deep keeps it simple, with a dose of Bumrah wisdom
India's bowlers, led by Bumrah, adapt to Australian conditions as they prepare for the fourth Test, focusing on discipline and strategy against Travis Head.
Melbourne: It’s when you watch the India nets from a vantage point that you truly realise how different a ball bowled at the same pace and place can be. The swing, the point of release, the angle – every little thing matters. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the nets are at a lower level than the rest of the stadium, so you can get a top-down view of the action, and that’s when it all becomes that little bit clearer.
The practice pitches haven’t exactly been green, rather they looked like the kind of tracks one would usually have for white-ball games. So, the bounce isn’t great, at least nothing like we have seen in the Test matches so far. Still, it was enough to see Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep go all out in the nets.
Cricket is supposed to be complicated but the normal rules don’t seem to apply to Bumrah. Almost all the batters tend to take an additional backward step while facing him. The ball cuts in sharply, it is visibly quick and his lines constantly challenge the batters. Siraj tends to surprise batters with the odd delivery — a little quicker, a bouncer or one that does something extra off the wicket.
Now, between them sits Akash Deep. He isn’t express, doesn’t get the same bounce as the other two and his ball tends to skid onto the batter. It cuts in sharply enough but this is the kind of bowling that usually works so well in India. In Australia, with the bounce, there can be a temptation to change things.
“This is my first time playing in Australia, so I had no experience of the conditions” said Deep on Sunday. “Jassi bhai keeps on telling us things about how we can go about our job. It is not complicated stuff and it makes my job easy. He told me one thing, “Don’t get too excited. Bowl in the right spot. Just focus on your discipline. There will be something in the wicket. Just go about your job as you do in Indian conditions, repeat that here.” He told me just this.”
If someone else had been telling him, Deep might even have double-checked, but with Bumrah it’s different.
“You can trust him because of the way he has bowled here or anywhere else. He keeps telling you small things which are very useful,” said Deep.
Of course, it is not just Bumrah. The batters are doing their best to bring him along. Virat Kohli is constantly giving him inputs, as are Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. It is very much a team effort. This kind of support is what has really helped him, even when he did not play the first two Tests.
“It really helps and makes things simple for me,” said Deep. “When you see someone bowl in the match, it doesn’t look like he is playing his first match in these conditions. It doesn’t feel like Harshit (Rana) played in the first two Tests. They are very clear about what they want from a bowler and spell it out for me. When the mind is clear, it shows in the bowling.”
Deep added: “My role in the team is to bowl a good line and length; to be consistent. It is not about bowling the short ball. It is about making the most of the wicket and utilising the help that is there in it.”
And these are the kind of things that helped the pacer in the third Test. There was a period of time in the first innings when Steve Smith could hardly lay bat on ball but he got through that to score a gritty century.
“For some time, I thought I was really down on my luck when I kept beating Smith but didn’t get his wicket. Then I told myself that regardless of whether I get a wicket or not, I had to continue bowling in the right spot and that is what I stuck to after that.”
However, as good as Deep was in the second innings at the Gabba, it was his exploits with the bat in the first innings that brought a lot of cheer to the Indian dressing room. His 31, batting at No.11, saved India from a potentially dangerous follow-on.
“We come to bat lower down the order, so contributions of 20-25-30 runs are very valuable,” Deep said. “My mindset is just to contribute. I wasn’t looking to save the follow-on that day, I was just looking to not get out. My mindset was this. God willing, we were able to save the follow-on.
“When you save the match from such a situation, the entire team gains confidence, and our dressing room reflected just that. Everyone was having fun and enjoying.”
However, the one thing this Indian team has not enjoyed is the batting of Travis Head. With 409 runs in the series, he has almost single-handedly pushed India back. There have been a few plans that have been put into action but none have worked. In the Brisbane Test, all the bowlers went over the wicket to him. Previously, they were over the wicket. So, what plan will be put into action next?
“Jo plan hai wo nahi bata sakte, wo bhi tayyar ho jayenge (Can’t reveal our plans, they’ll also prepare accordingly),” said Deep. “As fast bowlers, we will stick to the same deliveries and maintain discipline in our bowling. We will bowl from both over and around the wicket, assess the pitch and conditions, and plan accordingly.”
“I think Travis Head, in particular, struggles against short balls. We will try to not let him settle at the crease. We’ll target specific areas and hope to force him into mistakes, which will create chances for us,” he stated.
“If you look at it, it’s 50-50, even though we were behind in the last match. But the confidence we built on the last day, we still have that. So, I can say it’s 50-50, and this Test (Melbourne) is very important for both the teams.”
The series is interestingly poised at 1-1 as the fourth Test looms and even though Australia landed a few heavy blows in the last two Tests, India found a way to fight back. This is exactly the scenario where players can tend to start overthinking things, but that is something one can count on Deep to not do. For he is all about keeping it simple.
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