Image Credit- AFP
In his mid-innings interview, Kuldeep Yadav was
understandably arrogant. It was something like this: did you see Rizwan didn’t
try to sweep me even once? Exact words won’t do justice to what he stated.
When Kuldeep had to wait eight overs for his first
wicket, he was responding to a query about the mindset of a wicket-taking
bowler like himself. He nearly shrugged and answered, “I bowled
brilliantly,” instead. Only 27 runs were scored in seven overs with no
breadth or sweeps.
If Kuldeep hadn’t been throwing out undisputed facts,
he would have sounded pompous. A fantastic tiny microcosm of this Indian
bowling group is bowler Kuldeep. For instance, Kuldeep is turning the ball half
as much in 2023 as he was when he first appeared on the scene in 2017. He is
throwing lower than he used to and practically out of the umpire’s hearing.
Modern ODI cricket is understood by the Indian bowling
attack. They do not view “defensive” behaviour negatively. They value
the ability to force batters to take chances in order to score runs—even with
two new balls and an additional fielder within the circle—as a significant
skill. Jasprit Bumrah also makes just enough ball movement. He doesn’t often go
looking for wickets. Whenever R Ashwin gets to play, the same applies. Ravindra
Jadeja is at his best right now; he hits the decent length so frequently that
he may possibly draw water in some coastal regions.
The others obtain permission to conduct searches
thanks to the pressure they exert. The fact that Mohammed Siraj had been doing
that far too frequently for a frontline bowler, however, had been a minor cause
for concern. He scored 18 runs in his first two overs, demonstrating the
effectiveness of his strategy. He then expertly pulled his length back and
resumed using the tops of the stumps as his target. Instead of the outswinger
or the wobble-seam ball, which he uses less frequently, the cross-seam ball put
an end to his World Cup wicket drought.
Without really appearing in difficulty, Babar and
Rizwan contributed 82 runs for the third wicket, however they only averaged
4.77 runs per over. This is due to the fact that they are afraid to take a
chance against Kuldeep, and chances against Jadeja in this form rarely pay off.
So even though Babar and Rizwan added 87, they did so
awkwardly. When Rizwan attempted to sweep Jadeja, he almost fell out. The only
major blemish on India’s day was some errant bowling from Shardul Thakur, but
even then, they were unable to bowl at the rate of five an over. A bottom edge
from Jadeja, a high-risk slog sweep, and some loose bowling.
Rohit decided the iron was hot in the 28th over. It
was now time to act. He went to Siraj before Bumrah, perhaps because they
wanted him to use the reverse they were expecting. In his second over, he once
more achieved the breakthrough with the top-of-the-stumps length bowled with a
cross seam. He nearly had Babar caught at midwicket in his first over back.
India began to circle like sharks after becoming
conscious of a fragile middle order. Kuldeep’s party tricks surfaced, only less
overt and spectacular than they were six years prior. Bumrah returned and
struck the top of the off with two miraculous deliveries, one a slower offbreak
and the other an outswinging reverse swing.
They will show you Kuldeep bowling a right-hand batter
behind his legs in the highlights or Bumrah’s slower ball and the bail-skimmer
later, but the highlights won’t do justice to the hard work in the 30 overs
before that. In the back room, India like to focus more on those 30 overs.