India’s fast bowling switch to Test cricket in the T20 era

In Bumrah’s absence, the Indian pace attack in the Sri Lanka Test series win painted a promising picture

Kolkata: Less than a month back, India’s Test bowling attack appeared to be heading into unfamiliar territory. Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the Sri Lanka tour, and with him went a sizeable chunk of experience and strike power. Mohammed Siraj led the attack, but alongside him India had Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi. Krishna had seven Tests behind him, Brar and Nabi none.

India fast bowler Prasidh Krishna during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 27. He took seven wickets in the two-match series played on slow pitches. (PTI)

It was the sort of selection that can prompt a familiar question in modern cricket: in an age when the quickest route to a career, reputation and financial security runs through T20 cricket, where do you find the Test bowler? Perhaps the more pertinent question is, how do you build him?

The evidence from Sri Lanka was reassuring. Krishna’s returns across the two Tests suggested that experience, while valuable, is not the only currency required for Test bowling. Quality, preparation and, above all, the willingness to embrace the demands of the longest format can still carry a bowler a long way.

Former India fast bowler Varun Aaron, one of the younger coaches right now, believes the fundamental skill remains much the same regardless of the format. “Test or T20, the basics don’t change. It’s not a coincidence that some of the best Test bowlers are the best T20 bowlers as well,” he told HT.

The underlying craft isn’t entirely different. The complication, however, is the volume. What has become harder is finding the time—and the physical preparation—to move between formats. Describing the challenge before the Galle Test, India bowling coach Morne Morkel pointed out that returning to the rhythms of Test bowling required something more than simply remembering where to pitch the ball.

“In these conditions, it’s all about your mindset. If you’re a fast bowler, if you’re going to bowl the shortest spells, the energy you put in the ball and putting it into good areas—you’ll always have opportunity. As the Test match will go on, hopefully there will be a little bit of uneven bounce.”

Then comes the harder part. “It’s about how we can stack up overs together with intensity and create that pressure. Because we haven’t played a lot of red-ball cricket in the last couple of months, going back into that is going to be a challenge as well.”

Intensity matters as well. Test bowling is not simply T20 bowling repeated for longer. It’s the ability to sustain physical and mental pressure when there may be no immediate reward. For a young fast bowler accustomed to bowling four or ten overs, the biggest adjustment may therefore be psychological as much as technical.

Yet the desire to make that adjustment has not disappeared. Like Arshdeep Singh, who has often been described as a white-ball specialist but his ambitions stretch beyond it. After taking 3/53 and 1/40 for North Zone in their 52-run victory over West Zone in Bengaluru to enter the Duleep Trophy semi-finals, he spoke like a bowler rediscovering a part of himself.

“Very rarely I get the chance to play red-ball cricket. And this was a chance,” Arshdeep was quoted as saying. “I wanted to showcase my skill set and just see how many overs I can bowl. The rhythm feels nice. After a long time, I was playing a red-ball game. I put in a lot of hours in practice, and it felt nice.”

The physical demands of fast bowling change considerably between formats. Former India team physio John Gloster had explained to HT in an interview that high-speed running effort in Test cricket is around 30% or 40% less than in T20 cricket. A T20 game is compressed, short, explosive bursts repeated at high intensity. Test cricket spreads the workload across much longer periods, demanding the ability to repeat efforts over spells and sessions. That means returning to T20 mode too isn’t easy.

“If they are not adequately prepared they are going to get injured. Injury, therefore, becomes another consideration for the medical team for the Test specialists. They would need at least 4-6 weeks of high-speed running before the tournament to ensure they are ready for the exertions of T20 cricket,” Gloster said.

The modern fast bowler, then, needs to multitask. The body has to be prepared for the explosive demands of T20 while retaining the endurance and repeatability required for Tests. That is a complicated workload to manage, particularly when the calendar offers little uninterrupted red-ball cricket. The increase in fast-bowling breakdowns has made the problem more visible. But it hasn’t made Test cricket impossible.

The two Sri Lanka Tests played by Krishna, who has suffered issues with his lower back and leg throughout his short India career, were a useful reminder. On surfaces that hardly offered much assistance, he bowled 351 balls—nearly 60 overs. It’s evidence that a bowler developed in today’s crowded white-ball ecosystem can still embrace the old demands when the opportunity arrives.

The coaching challenge is to identify the appetite early, expose bowlers to enough red-ball cricket though Ranji Trophy and A tours to develop the necessary rhythms, and then manage their bodies intelligently to minimise injury. There will always be a choice though. And as long as there are bowlers willing to make that choice—and coaches willing to prepare them for it—Test cricket should continue to find its bowlers in the T20 age.