India v England, Lord’s: In absence of Bumrah, the missing guiding light

In the England-India final ODI at Lord’s, the fielder at mid-on or mid-wicket tried to keep the shine on the ball on one side before giving it back to the bowler. And this practice was repeated after almost every ball. Now, you might wonder what is so surprising about it as that routine is a part and parcel of cricket. Just peel the outside layer of that aforesaid line and you might observe very little communication between the two bowlers — the stationed fielder and the bowler who was completing his over. The larger picture to look at is how India seemed like a leaderless bowling attack in the absence of the injured Jasprit Bumrah.

Yes, Shubman Gill, the skipper, was constantly looking to manoeuvre the fields. Just that the onus was also on one of the bowlers to take leadership duties in crunch situations. For instance, when Gurnoor Brar, the rookie fast bowler, was going for plenty in his final over, Axar Patel, Prasidh Krishna or Arshdeep Singh could have come around and reminded him about the plans or patted his back.

The same could be said about Prince Yadav as well. The ODI debutant was perhaps struggling to adjust to the Lord’s slope in his first spell. That was the time when he needed a bit of advice or words of encouragement.

Then there is the curious case of Prasidh. To cut some slack, for about 7-8 overs of his 10-over spell, Prasidh was India’s best pacer on show. Unfortunately, in his last over, he somewhere lost the plot. In the past, too, under pressure in the slog overs, he hasn’t always backed his strengths. Just a few weeks ago in Belfast, when the pitch was offering a hint of nip and tennis-ball bounce, he ushered in full deliveries and attempted slower ones. The dimensions of the ground, too, weren’t really suited to bowling fuller. In the Lord’s game, too, he could have backed his strengths and attempted a couple of hard-length, pacy deliveries in his 10th over.

A few years ago, Eric Simons, the CSK bowling coach, had shared his thoughts on backing your strengths to this writer. “Sometimes if that is the best ball to bowl, then bowl it again. I think bowlers must not try to have too many variations. In the end, stick to what you’re good at, and then execute and set a field to it.” In that respect, in the death overs, Prasidh is still searching for those missing pieces of the jigsaw.

With Arshdeep Singh also being largely erratic, it turned out to be a forgetful day for the Indian pace-bowling unit. In the Indian bowlers’ defence, they were confronted with a batting paradise. Moreover, England’s bowlers went for plenty as well.

Yet while looking back at their efforts, it felt as if India lacked a spearhead on the field. Here, it has to be remembered that Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj aren’t getting any younger. And when both of them are missing from the action, there is an opportunity for someone else to take up the mantle and become a guiding force to the rest of the bowlers. On a day when the Lord’s cricket ground bathed in radiant sunshine, we perhaps didn’t see enough of it.

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