T20 World Cup 2024: Are India over-reliant on Jasprit Bumrah?

India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad features only three specialist pacers - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh.
 By Darpan Jain Updated: Jun 4, 2024, 09:56 IST
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The gap between the premium pacer Jasprit Bumrah and the rest is worrying.

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India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad features only three specialist pacers - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh. Further, Hardik Pandya will play as a batting all-rounder with a couple of overs with the ball. While Shivam Dube can also roll his arms, he is not a regular bowler, leaving only four pace bowling options for India.

Usually, the selections in such mega events have raised eyebrows, for India always had an unexpected name on the list. However, the choices are understandable this time, at least in the bowling department. The selectors went for experience over youth and assembled the best bowlers available.

Still, the pace bowling department has obvious holes, easy to exploit for quality sides. The gap between the premium pacer Jasprit Bumrah and the rest is gross. Bumrah will do his job in most matches; that’s a given.

He dismissed 20 batters at 16.80 runs apiece, conceding only 6.48 runs per over in 13 outings in IPL 2024. The other two main bowlers - Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh - are vulnerable. Arshdeep was among the wickets, snaring 19 at 26.58, but went for 10.03 runs an over in the season.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj took 15 wickets at an average of 33.06, leaking at an economy of 9.18. These numbers worsen as the game moves, making them easier to hit at the back end of the innings, especially Arshdeep. He had an economy rate of 12.20 and gave a boundary every 3.30 balls.

Siraj wasn’t as penetrative and couldn’t make inroads consistently with the new ball. His economy rate stood at 9.46, going for a boundary after every four balls. He leaked over 9.50 in six innings and was among wickets in only four of the 14 matches, depicting he was neither a wicket-taker nor a run-regulator early in the innings.

Siraj did better in the second half, ending with an 8.92 economy rate and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 4.94 in the final four overs. But he is too fragile to bank upon in high-octane games when only a few deliveries are left. Once batters go after him, Siraj sprays his lengths all around and bowls as many loose balls as possible.

For instance, look at his over-construction in the 19th set during the KKR game. Siraj erred his length on the first ball, bowling a fuller one, and Ramandeep Singh dispatched it for a six. The following delivery ended in the slot for another maximum, and Siraj suddenly forgot what to do.

He was so under pressure that he ended up bowling wides outside off and outside leg and most other balls on the fuller side against big hitters. The over ended with eight balls and 20 runs. Similarly, Siraj conceded 15 runs when RCB needed to stop CSK inside 200 runs, bowling wayward and opposite to the field.

Despite being RCB’s premium pacer, Siraj only got one over to bowl in the death overs in ten of 12 innings. It might be tactical sometimes, but showing a lack of confidence in Siraj’s execution. It is also the reason for his relatively low economy rate in this phase.

Since 2022, Siraj has featured in only six games, which is only 9.09% of the total matches played by India. Siraj won’t have the exact modus operandi of the team or role clarity. While Jasprit Bumrah has also played only one extra game than Siraj, he is a different operator with superior skillsets.

Also Read: A look at India's selection conundrums heading into T20 World Cup 2024

Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh has just gone from bad to worse. Earlier in the Australia and Afghanistan series, he showed encouraging signs in the slog overs, for Arshdeep tried different lengths rather than focusing on yorkers only. He would bowl short and into the body at varying speeds to deceive batters.

However, the progress didn’t really culminate in a quality IPL season for Punjab Kings (PBKS). Arshdeep leaked 12 or more runs in seven of the 12 innings and 10+ in further two matches in death overs in IPL 2024. He managed to go through the phase without conceding any boundary only once.

Arshdeep missed his yorkers numerous times, bowling loose full tosses in several games. He became a one-trick pony, and his predictable lengths dispatched consistently. Rewind to the match against CSK in Chennai.

Arshdeep tried yorkers on 12 different deliveries and ended up in the slot or full tosses ten times. Similarly, he kept bowling fuller against RCB in an away fixture and gave 23 runs in eight balls to help the opponent win out of nowhere. More than the execution, it’s about his stubbornness to try landing every ball into the blockhole - a strategy that often backfires in T20 cricket.

Previously, Arshdeep has been the culprit of the same crime in the blue jersey. To have confidence in yorkers is good; being rigid and not developing more options leads to destruction every time. All this despite Arshdeep having such a potent short delivery to rush even the best pace hitters in the world.

Even in the powerplay, Arshdeep’s lines were wayward and lengths shorter than usual in IPL 2024. The conditions in Mullanpur were ideal for the seam bowlers early in the innings, but Arshdeep hardly pitched his balls up to exploit the conditions. Consequently, he could snare only seven wickets at 34 runs apiece, giving away 8.81 runs an over.

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya was mediocre in the first half but returned strongly in the second half. Still, Hardik is less dependable in T20s than in ODIs, especially with his fitness concerns. IPL 2024 confirmed one thing - Hardik doesn’t bowl hard lengths as consistently anymore and errs on the fuller side more consistently than ever, particularly when hit for boundaries early in the over.

He could only pick 11 wickets at an average of 35.18 and had a shocking economy rate of 10.75. Sure, this season was severe on bowlers, but even that doesn’t allow a decent bowler like Hardik to give more than ten runs per over in nine of the 12 outings. Even in the warm-up fixture against Bangladesh, he bowled three more boundary-hitting balls after being whacked for a maximum on the second delivery of the over.

Shivam Dube bowled well in the practice game, but that doesn’t really suggest he is in good form. He didn’t bowl much in IPL 2024, and his batting touch has also been at its lowest in the previous two years. Dube might not feature in the starting XI, or even if he does, Rohit knows he can’t depend on him to bowl frugal overs as consistently.

Unfortunately, the Impact Player rule has reduced the value of all-rounders in IPL. The medium-pacers like Dube hardly bowl in the league, eventually impacting the national team. Dube would have grown massively as a bowler had he bowled consistently in the last couple of IPL seasons.

All this suggests India will be over-relied on Jasprit Bumrah like Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL. The dependency on a particular bowler is not concerning, but MI’s performance depicted the downsides of over-dependency on specific players. Only Bumrah stepped up in the pace-bowling department, and MI ended at the bottom of the points table with the worst numbers in almost every parameter.

T20 is a ruthless format, and teams need to fire on every cylinder to remain ahead against top nations. India are already a pacer short since they opted for an additional spinner. So, the pressure to perform in every game will be on from the start.

While the spinners will dictate terms, pacers will have to do the harder part; they can’t escape. Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep will have to act immediately. If they fail to do so, familiar scenes will unroll again, and the wait will extend further.

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