MANCHESTER: Following a mixed bag day at work during the third day of the fourth Manchester Test against England, Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel spoke on pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s lack of success with the new ball during this series, pointing out on lack of support from other bowlers and failure to create pressure on batters from both ends.
During the course of this series, Bumrah has taken a total of 13 wickets at an average of 26.69, with two five-wicket hauls. However, except for him removing openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett within first 30 overs, he has had a very little amount of success with the newer or a slightly used ball, with the wickets mostly coming when the ball got really old.
Speaking about Bumrah’s performance with the new ball this series, Morkel said, “I had a conversation with Bumrah’s last night. He is obviously a guy who is highly skillful and he wants to create things for us with the ball.”
“But at the end of the day, we need support from the other end as well. And I think that is, you know, a big thing in this sort of bowling innings is that we are struggling to create. We are finding it hard to create pressure from both ends,” he added.
Morkel said that for Bumrah to be more successful, bowlers need to partner with him well, but the other bowlers are trying to go after wickets too much and end up leaking runs.
“And, you know, he sort of released that pressure. But, yeah, I cannot, you cannot say anything about Boom. He is number one in the world. He is skilful. And, you know, at times you are going to get in the wicket column. But I think also, you know, you need help from the other end,” he added.
Speaking about spinner Kuldeep Yadav being ignored in favour of all-rounder Washington Sundar, Morkel said that the team is trying to find a way to fit him in, but since India has “lost wickets in clumps” in the past, they need their batting line-up a little longer.
“Kuldeep is world-class and he’s bowling really well at the moment. So we’re trying our best to find ways for him to get in. But unfortunately with that, just the balance with batting throws it out a little bit,” he added.
The bowling coach admitted that the Test series, without Mohammed Shami supporting Bumrah and featuring plenty of newer talent like Prasidh Krishna, Anshul Kamboj, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep, is a “real test” of team’s bowling depth and it is being tried they get used to playing five-match Test series.
“We play three, two test match series a lot and this is now the first time in a while we have gone into five. You know, it should not be excused but in terms of conditioning, getting the guys conditioned and get them ready for five test series coming straight out of the IPL is sometimes an issue.
Because you have to balance between test matches, getting these guys a good amount of recovery time, but also to keep their bowling loads up,” he continued.
“And that is why it is important for us to look at the future and get a good core of five, six bowlers that we can rotate and these guys can come in and they can do the job. At the moment there is not a lot of experience with the ball. We have got Siraj and Bumrah that played a lot of tests and then Akash has played a little bit but he’s out injured.”
“So we keep on finding ways to bring new guys in that are learning now in international cricket, learning their trade in international cricket. So it is not easy at the moment but it is just a phase, a period that we need now to work through and get these guys fitter and stronger to last for five test matches,” he concluded.
England started off their day at 225/2, with Ollie Pope (20*) and Joe Root (11*) unbeaten. The duo went on to have a century partnership, building on exploits of openers Ben Duckett (94 in 100 balls, with 13 fours) and Zak Crawley (84 in 113 balls, with 13 fours and a six), they took England to 332/2 at the first session end, with both having scored their fifties.
In the second session, while Washington Sundar (2/57) removed Ollie (71 in 128 balls, seven fours) and Harry Brook (3), skipper Stokes and Root thwarted any further resistance from India as Root completed his 38th Test ton and going past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest Test run-getter. England ended second session at 433/4, with Stokes and Root unbeaten. Siraj and Bumrah faced fitness issues during the session, having walked off the field, with Bumrah contributing only one over with the new ball.
Stokes, while he completed his fifty during the final session went off the field due to trouble in his left leg. Root was removed by Jadeja for a brilliant 150 in 248, consisting of 14 fours. Bumrah and Siraj removed Jamie Smith (9) and Chris Woakes (4) quickly, reducing England to 528/7, but Stokes (77*) came back to bat and along with Liam Dawson (21*) kept any other possible disaster at bay. England ended the day at 544/7, leading by 186 runs.
Earlier, England opted to bowl first after winning the toss and India made 358 runs, with half-centuries from Sai Sudharsan (61 in 151 balls, with seven fours), Yashasvi Jaiswal (58 in 107 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Rishabh Pant (54 in 75 balls, with three fours and two sixes) were major contributions for India. Stokes (5/72) struck tough blows on India, never really letting them settle with a massive partnership. (ANI)
