Although India were knocked over for 217 in the first innings by the New Zealand pacemen, things were still on a knife’s edge. A good performance with the ball from the Indian pacers was necessary and aided by the conditions at hand, it wasn’t a far-fetched possibility.
However, the pace troika of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammad Shami weren’t as effective as their Kiwi counterparts. They failed to hit the right line and length and weren’t able to generate anywhere close to the swing that the Boults and Southee’s did.
For a brief period of time, Shami was able to trouble the openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway, but his fate of poor luck in English conditions continued. Ex-cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra, who is part of the analyst panel on the Star Sports show for the WTC Final, felt that India were missing an outright swing bowler in Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
He could have done everything for Team India – Aakash Chopra
In a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash had a Q&A session with the fans where he responded to a question on Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He felt India is definitely missing the swing bowler from Uttar Pradesh. Although Ishant was able to generate a bit of swing, Shami and Bumrah were dependent on their pace.
“Swinging conditions can only be utilized if the ball leaves your hand accordingly. We saw Colin de Grandhomme getting a lot of swing, then Southee, Jamieson, and Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma is still somewhere close but the other two are far behind. They don’t swing the ball, they are seam bowlers,” Chopra said.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has the best figure of 6/82 in England the last time he toured, is capable of producing an all-round performance as witnessed in India’s tour of England back in 2014. Not only could India have used his skills in the English conditions, but he would also have been valuable with the bat lower down the order as well.
“India is definitely missing Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He has three special aspects as well. Firstly, he does magic with the new ball. Secondly, he bowls the long spells. And the third thing is that he can bat as well. He could have done everything for Team India,” he said.
