Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead India’s attack on the tour of Australia; but the hosts have already played a smart card, according to former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull, trying to “cook” India’s ace fast bowler.
India will defend their decade-long hold on the Border Gavaskar Trophy in a series of five Tests beginning November 22. The visitors, who won the series on their last two tours Down Under, are aiming for a hat-trick. However, the Indian team won’t land in Australia high on confidence after being whitewashed 0-3 in a Test series at home by New Zealand.
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Adding to those worries will be the inconsistent red-ball form of Indian batsmen, particularly Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who have failed in 9 of their last 10 respective innings against Bangladesh (two Tests) and New Zealand (three Tests) on home soil.
If anything, the fast and bouncy Australian pitches will present a stiffer challenger for the Indian batsmen, while also allowing the pace battery led by Bumrah to come into its own in favourable conditions. However, Doull feels Australia have planned the fixtures smartly to wear Bumrah down and thereby lessen his impact towards the later part of the tour.
“What Australia have done smartly is scheduling. They know that while batters are going to be key in some shape or form, their biggest threat is Jasprit Bumrah,” said Doull talking on a JioCinema show.
The former Kiwi pacer went on to explain how by picking Perth and Brisbane as the venues for the first and third Test, with a pink-ball match in Adelaide sandwiched, the Australians are hoping Bumrah’s workload increases by bowling “a lot of overs”.
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“They have gone with the three hardest and fastest surfaces, plus the pink-ball Test. They are trying to cook Bumrah. They will cook him in the heat of Perth, where he will have to bowl a lot of overs. Then he is going to have to go and bowl a lot of overs in that second pink-ball Test match in Adelaide. And then you’ve got to go to Brisbane where generally, first up, the seamers are quite good as well,” Doull explained.
“So they’re going to cook Bumrah in the first 2-3 Test matches, make sure he bowls a lot of overs, and then they (India) are going to have to make a change. They’re going to have to go to someone else. So I think the scheduling from Australia’s point of view has been quite smart because very rarely do they start a series in Perth.”
It’s noteworthy that Mohammed Shami’s chances of making a comeback to the Indian team during the Border Gavaskar Trophy are all but over after a fresh injury. The veteran pacer, who had an ankle surgery and a lengthy rehab after that, has picked up a side strain that will delay his return to the pitch.
The other specialist pacers in India’s squad for Australia are Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and the uncapped Harshit Rana. Also included in the squad is uncapped all-rounder Nithish Kumar Reddy, who bowls seam-up.
While Siraj hasn’t been at the top of his game recently, Akash (5 Tests) and Prasidh Krishna (2 Tests) will be on their maiden tour of Australia.