In Johannesburg three years ago, India did something that was so startling, so historically unexpected that for many it overshadowed the result of the Test match. India beat South Africa, but what stood out was their bowling line-up.
They went into the match with five fast bowlers, and nary a spinner in sight. Jasprit Bumrah, the spearhead then (as now) turned 27 this month, and might wonder what the fuss is all about. After all, he leads an attack capable of crossing the 140kmph mark consistently, But consider this: India’s ‘tearaways’ who have opened the bowling include Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Wadekar, Tiger Pataudi, and even wicketkeeper Budhi Kunderan. There is a generation in India who will find it difficult to believe that India’s fast bowling attack, if not the best in the world, can match the best.
Up against Pat Cummings, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood are Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and possibly Umesh Yadav. Except for the fact that one set is playing at home, there isn’t much to choose between them.
When India won the last series there, Bumrah, Shami, Ishant Sharma claimed 48 wickets. They finished 2018 with 130 wickets together, equalling the record of Holding-Marshall-Garner in 1984 when the West Indies ruled the world.
As another series begins, the question is, can the Indian bowlers repeat their success?
A larger question is, how did India, for so long the land of spin and gentle surprises become home to some of the fastest men in the business? Why, for years did Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan (who had 981 Test wickets among them over three generations) have to go it largely alone?
It wasn’t always like this. India went into their inaugural Test in 1932 with Mohammed Nissar, as quick as Harold Larwood of Bodyline fame, and Amar Singh who, in the words of the English batsman Walter Hammond, “came off the pitch like the crack of doom.”
Birth of spin tradition
In the first post-War series, left arm spinner Vinoo Mankad made his debut; he was joined a couple of seasons later by off spinner Ghulam Ahmed and then by leg spinner Subhash Gupte. The first great Indian spin trio was born, as was an Indian tradition (although individual spinners had made their mark earlier).
The affinity between Indians and slow bowling has been commented on for decades. Perhaps it had something to do with the climate and a certain philosophical detachment. Perhaps it was a manifestation of a non-violent form of attack. Whatever the reason (and there were many theories), spin was seen as India’s thing, to use a modern idiom.
Nearly six decades ago, when Tiger Pataudi took over as captain, he soon had some of the greatest spinners — Prasanna, Chandrasekhar, Venkatraghavan, Bedi — in his side, and looked no further for bowling resources. The odd medium pacer who came along, Subroto Guha for example, was seen as an anomaly.
Pataudi was a pragmatic man, and it is possible that he destroyed pace bowling in India, convinced it could not, in fact, need not grow in the shadow of spin. He didn’t think there could be a bowler here like England’s John Snow, whom he captained at Sussex. Or maybe it was an idea whose time hadn’t come.
“Pick your best bowlers, and if they are all spinners, so be it,” he said. Indian bowling attacks were lopsided for years.
The theory was successful at home on helpful wickets, but failed in England and Australia. Even as recently as the 2014 series in those countries the familiar cry was articulated after India lost: We must find fast bowlers. We must prepare wickets for them in domestic competitions.
Soon after, the Board of Control for Cricket in India told its curators to leave grass on the pitch (between 3mm and 8mm) to aid fast bowling. It helped. As did the general level of fitness and bowler-specific regimen developed by professional fitness men attached to the teams. Playing alongside some of the finest fast bowlers year after year in the IPL — Bumrah and Lasit Malinga were teammates at Mumbai Indians — ensured that free education was available on tap.
The Arun influence
The coming together of a whole set of circumstances meant that India has enviable bench strength. Bowling coach Bharati Arun has been the quiet strength behind the scenes — a diffidence that means he has not been given the credit he deserves for developing India’s bowlers. His contribution is significant. Lead spinner R. Ashwin has acknowledged that.
In Australia, India will miss Ishant Sharma’s experience — he is just three short of 300 Test wickets — but it might mean, as the series progresses, a call up for Navdeep Saini or Mohammed Siraj.
The return of Steve Smith (and later, David Warner) will keep the spotlight trained on Bumrah and the heroes of 2018-19.
