If there was one luxury that India rarely enjoyed in its illustrious cricket history, then it has to be having a quality fast bowling attack. India never remained behind to any other team in producing world-class batsmen and spinners. However, they rarely produced fast bowlers who could terrorize the opposition. The likes of Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath came like a fresh breath of air but they turned out to mere exceptions.
Well, the current scenario is different. Probably for the first time in their history, the current Indian team has the bowling attack that is more than capable of disrupting any batting lineup. The likes of Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and veteran Ishant Sharma have given Indian cricket a new identity.
The Indian fast bowlers were one of the biggest reasons behind India’s decent performances in England and South Africa this year. Although India lost both the series, they had a chance to win almost every game because of the performance of their fast bowlers. However, former India batsman VVS Laxman is unhappy about the fact that the bowling line-up in ODIs is too much dependent on Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar.
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As per the quotes in Times of India, Laxman said, “We have a settled batting unit, but I am not too sure on the bowling front. I am happy with the bowlers’ recent show with the red cherry, but as for white-ball cricket, I feel they are still not ready, mainly in the pace bowling department. We have good spinners in (Yuzvendra) Chahal and Kuldeep (Yadav), but we are too dependent on Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) and (Jasprit) Bumrah in ODIs. Whenever these two have been injured, the team has suffered.”
Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah have become one of the crucial members of India’s bowling attack in limited-overs cricket. The two have played 30 ODIs together so far in which Bumrah has returned 49 wickets at 24.16 while Bhuvneshwar has 34 wickets at an average of 36.70.
In fact, India has lost just one ODI series in their last 11 assignments. The defeat came in England this year. Interestingly, Bumrah missed the assignment with an injury while Bhuvneshwar played just one game in that series.
