Australian cricket great Greg Chappell has credited India's loss in the first Test against England to the absence of variety in their bowling attack and has called on the team management to boldly revolutionize before the upcoming matches.
Chappell emphatically recommended the selection of left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh and wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, whom he described as "perhaps the best wrist spinner since Shane Warne."
India fell to a five-wicket defeat in the first Test at Headingley, where their fielding was criticised after they dropped as many as eight catches. Chappell insisted that poor fielding was not the main reason for the loss.
"Despite how disappointing the Headingley fielding was, that was not the primary cause of the Test loss for India. India's issues were largely self-inflicted. The most costly blunder would be the no-ball that awarded Harry Brook an early life in the second innings," Chappell noted in ESPNCricinfo column.
The ex-India coach referred to the uniformity of India's right-arm pace attack of Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Shardul Thakur as a more pressing concern than fielding errors. They felt their similar styles of bowling gave little trouble to England's batsmen.
More troubling to me, however, is the absence of diversity in the bowling attack. With the exception of Jasprit Bumrah, India's seamers are too homogeneous – all right-arm, medium-fast, moving at similar angles," Chappell added. "There is a reason wickets tend to fall after a change of bowling. It makes the batter recalibrate. That kind of variation is not on offer to Shubman Gill with his current group.
Calling for a shake-up, Chappell recommended adding left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh and the dynamic Kuldeep Yadav to inject variety and unpredictability into the attack. “Without Bumrah, I’d like to see left-armer Arshdeep Singh added to the mix and Kuldeep Yadav, possibly the best wrist spinner since Shane Warne, included in the attack,” he wrote.
Headingley was attacked by Bumrah with 5 for 140 in 43.4 overs. His support was short on penetration—Thakur got 2 for 89 in 16 overs, while Krishna had 5 for 220 in 35 overs, giving away runs at a frightening rate.
"Even with Bumrah in the equation, the rest of the attack needs to get more disciplined. I did not find two balls in a row pitching in a dangerous area. They were too full, too short or too wide. Bowlers need to work in association as much as batsmen," Chappell opined. "All England need to do at the moment is to last out Bumrah and they know that the pressure will travel with him."
Chappell also had problems with the tendency of team management towards batting depth questioning the move to include an all-rounder instead of a specialist bowler.
"I don't subscribe to the view that another batter who can bowl should be chosen as insurance for top-order collapses. The top six should be relied upon to score the runs and that the most effective combination to get the necessary 20 wickets is at the disposal of the captain," he insisted.
India used Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner in Leeds, a choice Chappell believed was not suitable for conditions in England. "Jadeja is not an English conditions front-line spinner. If his batting is good enough, he can be a support spinner; else a rethink is needed," he proposed.
In order to shift the tide of the rest of the series, Chappell feels that now the burden rests with the selectors to take courageous and calculated decisions. "If India are to turn things around in this series then a better-balanced team is needed. The selectors are the ones who are under pressure now.". If bowlers and batters need to be ready to take risks for scoring runs and taking wickets, they also need to possess the strength to make bold decisions.
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