India’s fast bowling crisis: Who is battle-ready to back up Bumrah, Shami, and Siraj?
Arshdeep Singh is eager to step up but who else is ready amongst the 21 seam-bowling options picked for Duleep Trophy?
As the pacer Navdeep Saini and Gaurav Yadav replace Mohammad Siraj and Umran Malik respectively from Duleep Trophy squads, it’s a good time as any to raise a question as India aim a third ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final: Is there an underlying crisis within India’s Test set-up?
Should Rohit Sharma’s team make next year’s WTC final at Lord’s, they would have competed in 16 Tests (11 overseas) by August 2025. The main cast appears steady. However, the absence of backup seamers, equipped to take flight in foreign conditions, is a distending concern as the marathon begins in September.
With Jasprit Bumrah rested, Mohammad Shami yet to regain full fitness and Siraj out ill, the national selectors have gone all-out in picking 21 seam-bowling options, with mixed international and First-Class experience for the upcoming Duleep Trophy. The red-ball tournament, which has borne nominal value for years, arrives as a timely laboratory to whittle down the pacers before the Bangladesh and New Zealand Tests and the blockbuster Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in November.
Bumrah, Shami (fitness subjective) and Siraj will form the crux of India’s pace department for their first five-match Test series in Australia in three decades. Pause and reflect on their backups for a moment. The fourth and fifth seamers? Hazy.
“It’s a question of identifying the right ones and giving them opportunities to be ready for the Australian trip. There are lots of bowlers who hit 140-150 kph in the IPL. So it is about nurturing and giving them the right exposure,” former India bowling coach Bharat Arun tells Ridents.
| Duleep Trophy Round 1 pacers | |||||||
| Player | FC Season | Balls bowled | Wickets | BBI | Ave | 5w | 10wm |
| Akash Deep | 2019-20 onwards | 4966 | 107 | 6-60 | 23.7 | 4 | 1 |
| Prasidh Krishna | 2019-20 onwards | 1256 | 38 | 6-35 | 17.76 | 2 | 1 |
| Avesh Khan | 2019-20 onwards | 4348 | 106 | 7-38 | 21.37 | 5 | 1 |
| Mukesh Kumar | 2019-20 onwards | 5372 | 118 | 6-32 | 20.3 | 5 | 1 |
| Khaleel Ahmed | 2019-20 onwards | 1271 | 20 | 4-19 | 31.25 | – | – |
| Umran Malik | 2021-22 onwards | 1034 | 16 | 3-25 | 44.62 | – | – |
| Arshdeep Singh | 2019-20 onwards | 2932 | 49 | 5-33 | 31.97 | 1 | – |
| Vidwath Kaverappa | 2021-22 onwards | 3610 | 80 | 7-53 | 20.08 | 5 | 1 |
| Gourav Yadav | 2019-20 onwards | 4554 | 114 | 7-49 | 21.85 | 7 | 2 |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | 2022-23 onwards | 2125 | 50 | 5-53 | 22.44 | 2 | – |
| Yash Dayal | 2019-20 onwards | 2701 | 42 | 5-48 | 30.38 | 1 | – |
| Vijaykumar Vyshak | 2021-22 onwards | 3769 | 86 | 5-59 | 23.5 | 3 | – |
| Mohit Avasthi | 2021-22 onwards | 2895 | 72 | 7-52 | 21.83 | 4 | 1 |
| Sandeep Warrier | 2019-20 onwards | 4257 | 76 | 5-68 | 28.43 | 2 | – |
| Himanshu Chauhan | 2023-24 onwards | 1161 | 30 | 5-39 | 18.76 | 3 | – |
| Anshul Kamboj | 2022-23 onwards | 1716 | 24 | 3-24 | 38.91 | – | – |
| Tushar Deshpande | 2019-20 onwards | 3259 | 59 | 5-37 | 31.38 | 2 | – |
| Aditya Thakare | 2019-20 onwards | 2872 | 62 | 7-55 | 20.82 | 4 | – |
| Harshit Rana | 2022-23 onwards | 1107 | 28 | 7-45 | 26.35 | 1 | 1 |
| Akash Sengupta | 2022-23 onwards | 1200 | 12 | 3-136 | 66.41 | – | – |
| Navdeep Saini | 2019-20 onwards | 3369 | 64 | 5-72 | 31.25 | 2 | – |
| Shivam Dube | 2019-23 onwards | 496 | 13 | 4-10 | 15.38 | – | – |
Riches or pipe dreams?
Since January 2020, India have played 30 seam bowlers across all formats. Thirteen of them featured in at least one Test. 11 of these 13 bowlers played in overseas conditions, but only six of these pacers remain in the system heading into the 2024-25 season.
Ishant Sharma’s career halted at 105 Tests in 2021. Umesh Yadav, 36, last featured in the home 2023 WTC final against Australia. Shardul Thakur, currently out injured, seems to have lost favour after a poor South Africa trip last year. T Natarajan faded out and Jaydev Unadkat briefly reappeared after 12 years in 2022.
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