Who will take the wickets in the middle overs? Shubman Gill pins hope on high fast bowlers Cricket News
Times of India. com in Chennai: One of India’s biggest concerns in the build-up to the 2027 ODI World Cup has been their inability to bat consistently in the middle order. Between the ages of 20 and 35, when teams often try to consolidate before launching into death, breakthroughs only come in patches.The trend has been evident throughout the recent bilateral series. Against Australia, India managed just four wickets in the three-match phase, while New Zealand exposed the problem further, with India going wicketless in both Rajkot and Indore ODIs, which they eventually lost. South Africa offers a brighter picture as Kuldeep YadavHarshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna combined for nine wickets in three matches.The Afghanistan series continued the mixed returns. India took five wickets in the rain-shortened Dharamsala ODI and another five in Lucknow, but managed just an average wicket in Chennai despite dominating the contest. Interestingly, with the team management seemingly losing faith in left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has been India’s genuine wicket-taker in the middle, Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill will need to find a solution.Captain Gill believes the answer lies in India’s fast bowlers: Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana, who he believes are capable of creating opportunities even when the conditions offer little assistance.“Honestly, the combination and the type of bowlers we’re going to try to play is part of what we’re building. We want to create as many opportunities as we can,” Gill told reporters after India sealed a 3-0 win over Afghanistan.“In that middle phase, we’ve seen that once the ball is a bit older on a good wicket, with only four fielders outside the circle, batting becomes a lot easier. That’s why we try to play bowlers like Prasidh and Harshit. They are tall and fast bowlers who offer us something different.“At the same time, it’s important to give someone like Nitish Kumar Reddy enough overs in the middle, even though we know there could be better options for the conditions that can get us wickets. It’s important for players like him to gain confidence going into the World Cup,” added Gill.Gill said India’s young fast bowlers have been trained to adapt quickly to different surfaces by identifying the ideal length as early as possible. On the red clay wickets, he wants the bowlers fuller, while the black clay pitches ask for slightly shorter lengths.The focus, he said, is to consistently hit the top of the stumps, around the fourth stump area – the hardest line for batsmen to score. India also want their pacers to use their natural bounce to continue to create wicket-taking opportunities, even if that occasionally results in extra runs.“It’s about assessing the wicket. Different wickets require different lengths. On a wicket like this, you have to bowl a bit fuller, whereas on a wicket on black soil, you might have to bowl a bit shorter. As a bowling unit, what we try to do is assess the conditions as quickly as possible and hit consistently that the top-stump area is full. the hardest ball to swing,” he said.“At the same time, we want to continue to use the bounce. It also gives the batsmen scoring opportunities, but also creates chances for us to take wickets.”Gill seemed quite happy with the performance of the Indian pace quartet in this series. It was the debut series for the likes of Gurnoor Brar and Prince Yadav, and the captain felt it was an encouraging sign.
“It is very encouraging. These are great signs for Indian cricket that we can continue to produce fast bowlers who consistently hit 140-plus,” said Gill, who was adjudged Player of the Series.“We have a good number of tall fast bowlers who can hit the right areas and still create opportunities with the old ball, even when there is not much help from the wicket or the conditions.”Among the tall fast bowlers, Gurnoor Brar was probably the find of the series. The six-foot-five pacer took seven wickets in three matches, bowled at a quick pace and extracted good bounce from the surface. But Gill feels that Brar has a lot to learn going forward and is hopeful that the 26-year-old pacer will only grow in confidence from here.“I think he ticked most of the boxes. There are some things that just come with experience, and I hope he continues to grow as a bowler.“If he has to be really critical, he conceded a few runs and was a bit inconsistent at times. But he’s young, his first series at the highest level, and he’s fast bowling. He’s got all the qualities we want in a young, tall fast bowler, and with experience he’s only going to get better,” said Gill.Prasidh Krishna, another tall fast bowler, blew away Afghanistan on a pitch with some pace and bounce in Chennai, producing a sensational bowling performance to claim his first ODI five-for.“What he brings to the table is that we saw there was good bounce in the wicket earlier and the ball was doing a bit,” Gill said while praising his Gujarat Titans teammate.“If he continues to hit those areas consistently, he can create a lot of opportunities for us as bowlers. If he continues to do that, it will be great for the team.”Gill said India are keeping their fast bowling plans flexible rather than assigning fixed roles. With Jasprit Bumrah expected to return for the England tour, indicated that Bumrah could take the new ball, while Prasidh Krishna is equally capable of doing so if required.
Should Kuldeep Yadav be trusted with more overs despite recent inconsistency?
“It’s about being flexible. There is no fixed role,” Gill said.The captain added that the management is encouraging the bowlers to adapt to different combinations and bowl with maximum intensity.“We try different combinations, and we encourage our bowlers to give it their all, regardless of whether they are bowling with the new ball or as first change,” he said.“We have talked about giving bowlers like Prasidh and Gurnoor shorter spells of three or four overs and asking them to bowl their hearts out and bowl as hard as they can.If the experiment succeeds in the end, it will become clear only closer to the World Cup, but the direction of India is obvious. Instead of relying solely on wrist spin for middle overs, the management is investing in a battery of tall fast bowlers who can extract bounces, hit the hard deck and force errors even on placid surfaces. If Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana continue to develop, India could go into the World Cup with a very different plan for the media.
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