World Cup 2019: The evolution of India's pace attack

Seeing an express Indian bowling line up run through the opposition batting unit might be something regular to the young fans of Indian cricket, but the older generations can certainly enjoy the new feeling of complete domination by the Indian bowlers.

India has traditionally not produced express fast bowlers who clock over 140 kph, but the memorable journey, from producing just medium pace bowlers to pace bowlers who can create havoc for opposition batsmen with the variety has been a memorable journey.

The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami have consistently hit the 140 kph mark while Bhuvneshwar Kumar's ability to swing the ball at a lively pace has added an extra dimension to the bowling unit.

In this article, we chart out India's journey from just a regular fast bowling unit to one of the best in the world.

Leading to the Mega Event

February 15, 2015

On this day, against Pakistan, it was India's first match in their World Cup campaign as the defending champions. India had received a fair amount of drubbing from Australia in the past three months where the hosts had bullied the Indian bowling line up and outplayed India in all the departments.

Added to it, India finished last in the tri-series involving England and Australia. As harsh as it may sound, India had not seen victory in any format since the beginning of their Australia tour.

However, as they say, the biggest stage is meant for the finest of the people. The Indian team did stand up to its expectations and what we saw ahead was a commanding performance by the Indian side, only to be stopped by Australia who went on to win the World Cup.

India were first up against the arch-rivals Pakistan. Traditionally, an India - Pakistan match is primarily about India's batting versus Pakistan's bowling. Batting in the first innings, at one stage, India looked to cruise beyond 330 but were restricted to 300 by the Pakistani bowlers.

However, India went on to win the match by 76 runs and carried on their unbeaten record against Pakistan. However, India's proficiency with the ball in hand was what stood out from that game.

A tale of seam, swing, pace and bounce

We saw a charged up pace trio threating the opposition with pace, bounce, seam, and swing. Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami took eight out of the 10 wickets in the Pakistan match, that led India to a comfortable victory.

When one looks back four years, it would be hard to find a precise moment from where things started to get better. This pace trio was not the best India had produced, but looking at the strides Indian bowling has taken from there, it will be fair to say that the 2015 World Cup was from where the story all began.

India won that match by 76 runs.

India took 70 wickets in the first seven matches of the World Cup and the only time they were not able to do so was against Australia, where they had to suffer a defeat.

From there on, it has been a path of upheaval. From having a single fast bowler in the team to hosting a proper pace trio that can terrify batsman at their backyard. From changing the tag of 'medium pace bowler' to ' fast bowler,' the journey has been magnificent. Each of the bowlers brings in a whole new dimension with himself.

For a long time now, Jasprit Bumrah has been the go-to man for Kohli will his ability to pick up wickets with awe-inspiring consistency. Bhuvneshwar Kumar provides the swing early on in the innings. When the ball is not doing much, India have Mohammed Shami to trouble batsmen with pace and purchase off the wicket.

The passion for fast bowling has undoubtedly grown leaps and bounds in India. One can see the sheer pace the India U19 bowlers possess and with the likes of Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ishan Porel, Shivam Mavi and Navdeep Saini waiting in the wings, the Indian bowling future looks in safe hands.

Indian Bowlers dominate the World

So how do the numbers stack up for the Indian bowling and what has contributed to the rise of Indian pace bowling?

Let us look at the Test performances of the Indian bowlers in 2018. The pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Bumrah and Ishant Sharma have taken a total of 136 wickets in South Africa, Australia, and England. Take, for example, the South Africa series where India took all the 60 wickets across three Tests and pace accounting for 53 wickets out of 60.

With similar performances stacked up against England and Australia, Virat Kohli can boast of an attack that has the capability of getting 20 wickets irrespective of conditions in a Test match.

So when India defeated Pakistan by 89 runs at Manchester, the story came a full circle. The victory depicted the amount of work which had gone into the making of the fast bowlers, the diet plans, the fitness regimes, and the discipline of following it for extended periods.

"Our fast bowling is now one of the best in the world. Our current crop of fast bowlers - Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammad Shami - are far better than we were. They've got a fantastic seam position, swing, variation and pace. They're a full package. They're very talented and skilled", said Venkatesh Prasad in a recent interview.

Even in this World Cup, there have been shaky moments from the batting side. Take, for example, the Afghanistan match where India was humbled to a score of 224. However, as Kohli described, the confidence and team morale was right up there.

Throughout the second innings, the pressure was always there on the Afghan side, and as it turned out, India were able to constantly apply pressure on the batsmen and claim a win in the end.

Shami took a hat-trick in the Afghanistan match, to become the second Indian to take a hat-trick in a World Cup.

There are a lot of challenges ahead for the bowling attack. With teams looking for a cautious start in the beginning and firing at the back-end of the innings, it will be interesting to see weather Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvaneshwar will be able to get early breakthroughs or not.

Though India have a good option in the wrist spinners who come and take wickets in the middle overs, the opposition once in a while do have a go on them. Pulling things back at the death and regaining the momentum becomes pivotal in these matches and the Indian fast bowlers will need to ensure that the runs are stopped and wickets are taken.

Injuries have always hovered around the careers of fast bowlers, and keeping themselves fit and fresh will be of importance as the World Cup progresses in India's journey to a probable third title.