The India vs Australia 1st T20I at the Manuka Oval in Canberra saw the visitors dropping Arshdeep Singh, their left-arm pace bowling option. The management leaned on Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana as their specialist quicks, with a three-spinner line-up.
Now, Arshdeep Singh has proven credentials in both the powerplay and the death overs. His strike rate with the ball in the shortest format of the game in international cricket is nearly impeccable, and his versatility only adds depth and flexibility to the team composition.
Why the Arshdeep call matters
The bigger picture here is the usage of bowlers. During the Asia Cup, India repeatedly frontloaded Jasprit Bumrah - three overs inside the powerplay. It worked there, but the biggest truth is that there were not many batting line-ups in that competition to test India’s bowling depth.
{{/usCountry}}The bigger picture here is the usage of bowlers. During the Asia Cup, India repeatedly frontloaded Jasprit Bumrah - three overs inside the powerplay. It worked there, but the biggest truth is that there were not many batting line-ups in that competition to test India’s bowling depth.
{{/usCountry}}Using Bumrah’s three within the first six leaves only one of his overs in the death. That trade makes sense only if another proven death bowling expert is present. Arshdeep Singh is exactly that profile: left-arm angle, control over yorkers, and variations to deceive the big hitters of the opposition. Removing him from the equation is actually playing into the hands of the opposition in the crucial finishing overs.
Harshit Rana is a good bowler and has always cut across as a competitive figure. He has the numbers in the death overs too, but given the lack of experience at the highest level, it is as if the management is betting on an untested entity and hoping that the experiment pays off.
Where the problem might arise for India
In the Asia Cup, most of the batting line-ups crumbled against India’s spinners in the middle overs. Suryakumar Yadav and his bowling attack were not tested against elite hitters in the death overs.
However, in the World Cup, India will be facing teams like Australia, England, and South Africa. These teams will come with their homework done on the Men in Blue. The clear strategy from these teams will be to play out the spinners, keep wickets in hand, and then attack in the death overs. With Bumrah able to bowl only one over, India will be primarily dependent on an inexperienced Harshit Rana and the three spinners. These are dangerous territories against players like Tim David, Dewald Brevis, or Harry Brook, to name a few.
The death-overs geometry India need to fix
If India insist on going with the 3-over powerplay Bumrah split, they must field Arshdeep Singh to own the non-Bumrah death overs. That would be the simplest path for the Indian team to secure the death phase without diluting their new-ball punch.
If Arshdeep is not playing, then India needs to rebalance Bumrah’s over splits. Notably, with Rohit Sharma at the helm, India used a couple of overs from the ace pacer in the powerplay, then used one of his overs in the middle overs and one in the death. Without the left-arm pacer in the XI, India need to fall back to this strategy, or they can use one Bumrah over in the powerplay, one in the middle, and two in the death.
Hardik Pandya’s absence in the Australia series will probably expose this gap in strategy even more. His return would provide a bit of cushion in the World Cup; however, Pandya’s injury proneness makes it a risk to depend on him. India need to devise a plan proactively, and not wait for this weakness to be exposed on the field before remedying it.