Indian bowlers fall short of expectations on a lively track

Centurion: At the end of their innings on Wednesday, India had scraped together 32 fours and five sixes en route 245 runs at a run rate of 3.62 runs per over.  

A large chunk of that - boundaries and the resultant spike in run rate - was because of KL Rahul and his counterattacking 137-ball 101. 

At the end of their innings on Thursday, South Africa had belted 55 fours and four sixes to get to 408 all out in 108.4 overs at a run rate of 3.75. 

That difference in run rate between the sides might not seem significant, but the number of boundaries conceded offers a view of how poor India’s bowlers were in those sessions. 

India gave away 244 runs in boundaries, meaning only 164 runs came from running between wickets and in the form of extras.  

Of course, this meant South Africa’s batters tackled the conditions well, especially Dean Elgar and Marco Jansen. But to turn a blind eye to how mediocre India were with the ball would be dishonest.

For the last few years, India’s bowling has seldom painted such a poor picture. Their indiscipline in the hours spent bowling at the South Africans was so pronounced that Rohit Sharma’s normally expressive face did nothing more than stare in blank confusion. He didn’t even have it in him to yell at his bowlers after a point. 

KL Rahul, as it turned out, donned those duties, having a go at anyone who didn’t look like they wanted to be out there.  

Since taking over as captain, Rohit has rarely seen such a pedestrian performance from his bowling unit so it must have come as a shock. 

It must have also made him want Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja back. 

Shami was ruled out of the series due to an ankle injury, and Jadeja was pulled out of the opening Test due to back spasms.

So, India came into this Test with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur and R Ashwin. 

A recovering Bumrah last played a Test in July 2022. Siraj, Shardul and Ashwin last played a Test in July 2023. Prasidh has never played Test cricket. 

All of this rustiness and inexperience was abundantly evident in the overs they struggled to get through. This despite there being plenty to exploit off the pitch and from the heavy overhead conditions. Even on Thursday, though there was plenty of sun, there was enough juice in the pitch.  

Bumrah was, by far, the best of the lot. He too was guilty of straying it into the pads from time to time, but for the most part, he was on target. At least he kept the slip cordon alert as and when he came on for his spells. 

While Siraj wasn’t too bad either, he didn’t find the right lengths to attack. In fact, he barely bowled a short ball when the batters were still getting their eye in. When he did, he wasn’t directing them well. 

Shardul was too full, and Prasidh was unable to overcome the anxiety of playing his maiden Test. The duo began sprightly but were reduced to a trundling mess by the end of it, unable to get past their early failures to focus on the sessions to follow.

Meanwhile, Ashwin was tidy but hardly someone to fear. Actually, save for Bumrah - and even that only sporadically - the South Africans had nothing or no one to fear. It showed.