A marked improvement in their death bowling, courtesy of Bumrah and Shami, has allowed India to contain their opposition…
We would typically see teams negotiate the Indian spinners in the middle-overs and wait until the tail-end of the innings to capitalise, with the South Asian side’s fast bowlers notorious for leaking runs in the last five to ten overs. However, that no longer seems to be the case. Even when India have given runs away in the middle-overs, their death bowling has come to the fore and kept opposing batsmen on a tight leash.
Jasprit Bumrah has become the king of death bowling and he’s received ample support from Mohammed Shami. The Indian duo have consistently found the block whole and used their variations to restrict runs towards the end of the innings. Bumrah may have an awkward action, but his accuracy is impeccable. When he changes up his pace and length, it becomes almost impossible for the batsman to let loose. On the other hand, Shami has a tendency to be expensive in the shorter format – but when he’s in rhythm and gets a hint of swing, there’s no stopping him.
Is there a way to score runs off Jasprit Bumrah at the death? #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/60Ru7caAYo
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 26, 2020
In the ongoing T20 series against New Zealand, we’ve seen the Indian bowlers suffer in the opening and middle-overs. However, late spells from Bumrah and Shami brought India back into both games by denying the Kiwis a score beyond reach. During the first T20, New Zealand were on course to score 230+ runs until Bumrah put the brakes on their innings. They ended up with 203, which was just about par for Eden Park given the smaller boundaries.
Even in the second T20, both Shami and Bumrah maintained an economy of roughly 5 an over, which is immaculate in the game’s shortest format. Unsurprisingly, limiting the opposition with such strong displays of death bowling is allowing India to thrive. Where other bowlers are expected to spill at least 10 an over, the Indian pacers are keeping it very tight. On New Zealand’s smaller grounds, this is an especially remarkable achievement and speaks volumes about the talent these bowlers possess.
What a 2019 for Mohammed Shami 👏 pic.twitter.com/wzWbJCHbsM
— ICC (@ICC) December 31, 2019
There will be matches where both Bumrah and Shami get smashed for runs, but they have the mentality to fight and come back stronger in the next match (or even the next spell). Barring any injuries, this bowling attack has what it takes to trouble the best batsmen in the world and they’ll play a huge part in the upcoming T20 World Cup. With the grounds significantly larger in Australia, it’ll be all the more difficult to find the boundary against the Indian pair.