Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels the lack of fast bowling in home conditions left the Indian pacers underprepared for the World Test Championship final against Australia, which the Rohit Sharma-led lost by a huge margin of 209 runs.
Chopra noted that there are times when the fast bowlers don’t even bowl a single over while playing in the home conditions as the spin is straight away introduced.
The Indian fast bowlers were coming into the WTC Final after taking part in the IPL. While Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami played consistently for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans respectively, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav missed the fag end of the IPL for KKR due to their respective injuries.
Indian bowlers conceded a huge score of 469 runs in the first innings against Australia as the pacers failed to hit the right areas despite overcast conditions.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “How much do your fast bowlers bowl – not a great deal. You see spinners from the first ball – Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel – they together pick up 20 wickets. The fast bowlers don’t bowl even one over at times.”
The renowned commentator added we hardly get to see fast bowlers bowl in the second innings of home Test matches as the conditions are spin conducive.
“You might still see them bowling a little in the first innings and it becomes even less in the second innings. There is an odd inspiring spell in between from Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj or Mohammad Shami and that’s it, you don’t require more than that from them.”
Chopra added that once you don’t have the habit of bowling 25-27 overs in a Test inning, the chances of winning the WTC Final will take a hit.
“If you don’t develop the habit of bowling 25-27 overs in a Test innings, when you reach the WTC final, you will be defeated. There was a problem now in any case – that they had gone after playing a lot of T20 cricket, whether it was Shami or Siraj, and Umesh and Shardul Thakur were troubled by injuries.”
Meanwhile, the Indian pacers bowled a maximum of only four overs in the IPL, and their workload was expected to be manifolded in a Test match but their body wasn’t ready for the same.
Chopra concluded, “When you suddenly convert four overs to 28 overs, that’s what Irfan Pathan was saying and you should listen if he is saying something as a bowler, it does not happen. It takes time. You are not even doing that when you are playing Test matches in India because you don’t need to do that.”
India will play two Test matches, three ODIs, and five T20Is against West Indies.
