If India decides to do a routine of naming the XIs one day before the Test, we can reasonably assume that one of Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini probably knows of a Test debut at Christmas.
It is never wise to speculate on the emotions of the players, but even amid the din of 36 and the exits of two older players, it is hard to imagine that Siraj and Saini are feeling anything other than excitement.
It has taken them years of consistently pioneering India’s representation teams to get into a bowling lineup that has been described by various people, including those in it, as the best in India. A lineup in which two key members were injured to open a spot.
Not bad for a couple who had played nothing but tennis ball cricket during their formative years. To say that it is a matter of dreams would be reductionist; to Saini, who wears a wolf tattoo to indicate his free spirit, and who just wanted to go fast bowling while Gautam Gambhir struggled to make him a regular at Delhi cricket. And to Siraj, who might as well not have been available for this game had he chosen to go home after his father died this month, and who stayed after his mother reminded him that it was his father’s wish to see him play. for India.
Still, it’s hard not to worry about his possible entry into test cricket later this week. Embarrassing backdrop losses or not, Indian bowlers over the past decade have not made a good debut overseas. Aside from Jasprit Bumrah, who has yet to play a home test, there is a sizable list of bowlers since early 2010 who received what now seem like damn debuts.
Karn Sharma, a fairly successful national cricketer and owner of multiple IPL winners medals, is perhaps best remembered as the last contestant on that list. His Adelaide debut in 2014, as the attacking tactic of then-alternate captain Virat Kohli, came with the lands of David Warner, twice, and Michael Clarke. But at the cost of 238 races and an economy of 4.85, that was the harbinger of an end. He has not played for India in any format since.
And yet somehow consider it was a spinner in Australia trying to damage control alongside M Vijay and Rohit Sharma, that was one of the best overseas debuts. If you go further back, you will find domestic giants like Jaydev Unadkat, Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun, either in their overseas debut to never play again, or debuting and not retaining places in the next series. Praveen Kumar was successful on tours of England and the West Indies, but lasted all six auditions for a variety of other reasons.
It was the story of the early parts of the decade, India bouncing from one overseas defeat to another, going through all the best of the Ranji trophy to ultimately form toothless fast bowling attacks. The best seam bowlers were lost to bite into faster pitches, and the quickest ones seemed largely rudderless. In almost every one of their cases, they were undercooked.
Any fears now that a bowler is not ready for the test would likely come from a different and healthier context, perhaps the fact that India’s strict workload management has kept its bowlers fast. key in shape for most cricket in recent years. There has been little room to test a prospective bowler. Shardul Thakur was India’s last fast bowling rookie, at home in October 2018. India apparently doesn’t harbor such fears. At least that was the case before the series began.
“We have five fabulous,” said Ravi Shastri, quoted by Sportstar ahead of this series. “[Umesh] Yadav has the experience. Saini is young and fast. Bumrah one of the best in business. [Mohammed] Shami is eager to go. Siraj is an interesting prospect. You put races on the board and watch these fast launchers hunt down the opponent. They can beat Australia in their own lair. “
Until the collapse of Adelaide’s hitting, the script was largely as Shastri had said it would be. However, in the absence of Kohli, India will worry about how to put runs on the board. Without the edge of Shami’s spells with the older ball, the dramatic notion of chasing Australia or making comebacks will also be – and generally is – restricted in Melbourne.
But things may not be as bad for a rookie as in the past. Bumrah continues to lead the attack. R. Ashwin has already had a good pace early on on the tour, and Umesh Yadav showed glimpses of that in the early innings. From the Indian networks on Wednesday, there is a strong chance that Ravindra Jadeja could be back, and that would be the fifth best bowler in test cricket right now.
If Saini or Siraj make it to the Boxing Day test, they won’t fight for support. But could they still not be ready?
Since 2015, Shahbaz Nadeem is the only bowler to play more games for India A, 19, than Siraj (16) and Saini (14). That effectively makes them, in numbers at least, the most experienced bowling alley in India. And if you look closer, Siraj’s numbers make a good argument for him.
For starters, it’s 16 of their 38 first-class matches played at a higher level than the Ranji Trophy. In those games, he’s taken 70 wickets, second behind Nadeem, who has 75, at 21.88 and a strike rate of 42.2. By comparison, Saini has 34 wickets in 14 games at 34.35 and strikes at 71.4.
Siraj has also played more cricket abroad, 12 matches spread across Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa and the West Indies. In which he has 44 wickets at 27.63 compared to Saini’s 20 wickets abroad in 8 games, at 40.45.
Outside of statistical analysis, Siraj was the most effective bowler during India practice games on this tour, and has previously faced players like Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, who were part of his best 8 career loot. of 59 in 2018..
If Siraj ends up making his Melbourne debut, the obvious difference to those who were chosen by numbers in the past will be that the decision will be better informed, with much more than just data, and the bowler much better prepared for a test match. Saini’s pace and bravado have been among the most exciting things to come up in Indian cricket over the past 18 months, so aside from the relatively lower numbers, there is no obvious reason why he is not chosen either. . But pacing and bravado is not a new phenomenon – bowlers like Yadav and Varun Aaron fast-tracked exactly those attributes, with varying results.
This new structure, the investment in preparing a solid pool, means that an Indian bowler is less likely to be forced to learn on the job in the middle of a test abroad. While that doesn’t guarantee a departure from the trend for rookies, it does suggest that they are more likely to stay in the fray longer and challenge for the starting positions. Even if the beginning is tough. Six years ago, that would have been a Christmas miracle.
Varun Shetty is deputy editor of ESPNcricinfo
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