"The fast bowlers don't bowl even one over at times" - Aakash Chopra on India's bowling issues in WTC final due to being underprepared
Aakash Chopra believes lack of long-format preparation at home contributed to the Indian seamers' underwhelming performances in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
India allowed Australia to post a mammoth 469 runs after asking them to bat first on a green top at The Oval in London. It put Rohit Sharma and Co. behind the eight ball and they eventually lost the game by a massive 209 runs.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that rank turners at home left India's fast bowlers underprepared:
"How much do your fast bowlers bowl - not a great deal. You see spinners from the first ball - Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel - they together pick up 20 wickets. The fast bowlers don't bowl even one over at times."
The former Indian opener added that the seamers hardly get to bowl in both innings of home Tests:
"You might still see them bowling a little in the first innings and it becomes even less in the second innings. There is an odd inspiring spell in between from Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj or Mohammad Shami and that's it, you don't require more than that from them."
Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav bowled 130.1 overs between them in the four-match home series against Australia. 69 of these overs came on a docile track in the final Test in Ahmedabad.
"If you don't have the habit of bowling 25-27 overs in a Test innings, when you reach the WTC final, you will be defeated" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra highlighted that India's problems were compounded by their seamers heading into the WTC final after playing a lot of short-format cricket in IPL 2023, with Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur also getting injured during the tournament:
"If you don't develop the habit of bowling 25-27 overs in a Test innings, when you reach the WTC final, you will be defeated. There was a problem now in any case - that they had gone after playing a lot of T20 cricket, whether it was Shami or Siraj, and Umesh and Shardul Thakur were troubled by injuries."
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Irfan Pathan has highlighted the seamers' difficulties due to their workload getting enormously multiplied:
"When you suddenly convert four overs to 28 overs, that's what Irfan Pathan was saying and you should listen if he is saying something as a bowler, it does not happen. It takes time. You are not even doing that when you are playing Test matches in India because you don't need to do that."
Chopra concluded by stating that playing home Tests on rank turners is a short-term gain but a long-term loss. While acknowledging that reaching the WTC final is not a small achievement, he added that India's ambition is not just to reach the final or to play a World Cup semi-final.