With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah injured, the Indian bowling stocks have taken a hit, but Virat Kohli and management seem to have the belief that there is enough depth in the bench strength to pick up 20 wickets.
Ashish Nehra is an astute cricketing brain and he understands the dynamics of fast bowling and in a chat to ESPNCricinfo dissected the Indian bowling attack and outlined exact points which need to be considered.
Ishant Sharma needs to bowl a lot fuller
Nehra believes that Ishant's biggest strength is his physical fitness and can easily give the captain 22-23 overs per day. His fitness will be paramount for Kohli since he has the experience of playing in England.
However, Nehra said that Ishant is more of a hit the deck bowler and prefers bowling back of a length. He believes that the lanky pacer needs to pitch the ball further up to grab edges and target the stumps,, especially against someone like Alastair Cook, who generally sits on the backfoot, the length should be up.
On Mohammed Shami
Nehra calls Shami a highly skilful bowler who might go 'ten to 12 overs without a wicket and suddenly in 18 overs he might take five wickets'.
Also, Shami's hand is very straight and he keeps landing the ball on the seam which makes the ball something even when the pitch is flat and there is no assistance. The fact that he generally pitches the ball up makes him an ideal bowler to extract reverse swing and since the weather in England has been dry, the conditions are conducive for him to generate movement.
However, Nehra wants Shami to focus on his fitness as the Bengal pacer has been struggling with injury concerns in the recent past. If he is fit, he will definitely do well.
On Umesh Yadav
Fitness is the key for Umesh and he is definitely the fittest bowler in the team. He generally pitches the ball up at pace and gets it to move away.
When the conditions are conducive, he needs to pitch the ball up and extract movement, also when the conditions are flat, he should look to get reverse swing. However, Nehra has said that the fast bowler needs to guard against dishing up freebies and focus on hitting correct line and lengths.
On Jasprit Bumrah
Nehra says that Bumrah's biggest x-factor is his action as it is unconventional.
He too is a back of a length bowler, but in England, he needs to alter the length and try to bowl fuller and aim for the stumps a lot more.
"Bumrah should stick to the strengths he utilises in limited-overs cricket. If the ball is reversing in the second or third session, he should not be shy to bowl a yorker," Nehra assessed.
On Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Nehra says Bhuvneshwar bowls the perfect Test match line and length and has a good head on his shoulder too. However, he has said he should bowl in short sharp spells. Also, if the ball is not swinging, he needs to bring back his length back and alter the mode of attack.
On Shardul Thakur
The former fast-bowler wants Shardul to vary his lengths according to the conditions, but at the same time, he says that since Shardul pitches the ball up and is a skiddy bowler who gets the ball to nip around.
The challenge for him will be to get into the Test match groove as soon as possible and then be prepared for the grind of Test cricket.
