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Test match outcomes are frequently determined by the
calibre of change-up bowlers. Without a weak link, opposing hitters are never
given a break and ultimately give up.
The three seasoned bowlers from India, Jasprit Bumrah,
Mohammed Siraj, and R Ashwin, bowled 69.4 overs in Centurion for 201 runs and
seven wickets. 201 for 7 is a respectable reply to being bowled out for 245 in
an increasingly conducive batting environment compared to the first day.
Nevertheless, no matter how much criticism is levelled at India’s hitters, the
Test was lost when Shardul and Prasidh were hammered for 194 in 39 overs.
Not that the batting doesn’t need to become better; it
was the bowling that kept giving trouble. Even if they hit better areas, as
they did for extended periods with the new ball in Centurion, India’s bowlers
tend to pull less seam movement or inconsistent bounce from wickets in South
Africa than the bowlers from the home team.
India has nevertheless triumphed in a Test in four of
their last five trips to South Africa. This is because, unlike at Centurion,
where India lost two of the four bowling sessions to overwhelming odds, the
bowlers who were getting less out of the pitch were still able to exert
control. while this attack was at its peak, they used to take great
satisfaction in their ability to bowl calmly while conditions were not in their
favour.
In the first innings, India’s Centurion performance
was their least impressive since Lord’s in 2018, but concerningly, in the last
three years or so, these kinds of performances have increased in the second
innings.
Between 2018 and the beginning of 2021, there is a
noticeable decline in this team’s bowling energy. It’s appropriate to
acknowledge how fortunate India was to have Bumrah, Siraj, Ishant Sharma,
Mohammed Shami, and Umesh Yadav at their peak during that time.
It is necessary to consider Krishna’s hardships in
Centurion. India is in transition, and although they identified Krishna as the
bowler who should replace Ishant, his back ailment prevented them from
developing him.
Only Siraj is the outcome of a process in which the
BCCI provided them with whatever they desired while the team management,
selectors, and India A teams collaborated. The current situation is a result of
the BCCI’s hesitation to fund development initiatives following the Covid-19
pandemic.
India doesn’t have a bowler available in 2023 in case
Shami gets hurt. Thakur’s luck as a rookie has changed, and in his last five
Test matches—all of which have taken place in seam-friendly conditions—he is
averaging 56 per wicket. In the New Year’s Test in Cape Town, India may
question if they would be better off using a more potent bowler coming forward
rather than Thakur if the trend holds true.
In the wake of Centurion, there is indignation; the
loss in the first of two Tests guarantees that South Africa will remain the
only nation where India has not yet won a series.
A portion of the indignation is due to this team’s
unrealistic expectations following their victory in Australia in 2020–21. The
extraordinary amount of good fortune that India required to win the
Border-Gavaskar Trophy when their entire first-choice assault was sidelined by
injury is something we often overlook. In Test cricket, the Centurion struggle
is more typical of an inexperienced attack.
India must therefore begin getting ready for the
Australian tour at the end of 2024 as soon as possible, starting the second
week of the year following the Cape Town Test.