Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Does India really need its seamers?

Apart from a session on the first day and a small bit of the second, India thoroughly outplayed Australia in the first Test at Chennai. The Australian batsmen seemed to have no answer to the Indian tweakers and it seemed almost a case of when, rather than if they’d fold up and give India the match. Kudos to the Indian bowlers for dismissing Australia twice in the match.

Do they really need me?

Wait a minute though, bowlers? All of them? Ishant and Bhuvneshwar too?

In the first innings, Ishant and ‘Bhuvi’ bowled for the first 4 overs after which the spinners were introduced into the attack. This barely gave them time to loosen up and get the muscles going, leave alone make inroads into the Aussie batting lineup. The shine was still fresh on the ball when Dhoni tossed the ball to Harbhajan Singh, showing how much the skipper trusts his pacemen. The only time Kumar and Sharma bowled in tandem again was from the 83rd to the 86th over of the first day! When they bowled along with a spinner, the Australians looked at ease and relieved to see the ball come onto the bat.

The second dig was even worse, with Sharma coming on second change and bowling a whole 3 overs. Poor Kumar didn’t even get to see what the ball looked like.

On day 4, the Indian spinners looked in their own, on a spitting and turning Chennai wicket, zipping through the visitor’s batting lineup with consummate ease. Based on this performance, one can safely predict the way the series is going to go and the kind of wickets one can expect. The victory in the first Test was relief, more than elation for the Indian team after being beaten by the English just a few months back. By the performance, it became certain that spinners would be the way forward for India. But then where does that leave the pacers?

The Indian camp suggests that they’re not playing pacers as the pace bowling tank is running on reserve with all fast bowlers succumbing to niggles and injuries. But then India hardly have and pace bowling luxuries. Apart from the current two, Zaheer Khan, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, and Irfan Pathan (trying to rediscover himself all the time) are the only names that one can think of. The Indian wickets are a primary reason for the decline of fast bowlers and the scarcity of fast bowling depth in the country. It needs a bowler with the heart and quality of James Pattinson to succeed on a track such as the one at Chepauk and India has nothing close to that quality.

So then, are they really needed? Dhoni could very well go in with another spinner for the next match and request (read demand) for a rank turner to finish off the Aussies. Pragyan Ojha, who was conspicuous by his omission in the first Test is most likely to be drafted in place of Ishant. The Chennai curator spoke of ‘selective watering’, which shows India’s lack of confidence in their spinners too, to an extent. India will continue playing to their strength and ‘doctor’ pitches at home, which will horribly expose them on non-turning tracks, but doesn’t seem to be the BCCI’s concern now.

Spin is the way to go for India, at least in the subcontinent, where the pitches are a graveyard for fast bowlers. The second Test at Hyderabad will almost definitely throw up a similar wicket, crumbling-turning-spitting and looking at the way Ojha and Ashwin dismantled the Kiwis last time around, a raw Aussie batting lineup can expect similar fate.