Belief of sticking to five bowlers worked for us, says Arun

The Indian team management started preparing for Australian tour way before it actually began and the plan laid out by head coach Ravi Shastri fell exactly into place during the gruelling four-match series Down Under. India won the series 2-1 after beating hosts at ‘Fortress Gabba’ by three wickets on the final day of the tour to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy which they won on the Australian turf for first time during the 2018-19 series.

As the country was slowly returning to normalcy after the lockdown, India’s coaching staff — under the leadership of head coach Ravi Shastri  had come up with a plan July onwards to tackle Tim Paine’s men during the year-end series.

The idea was to bowl a straight line and make the Australian batsmen struggle on the leg side.  Months later, after India’s win, the team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun was happy that their planning and hard work had paid off.

“Ravi called me sometime in July and we were discussing the Australia tour how we needed to take the off side out of the Australians. We had our own analysis and we felt most of the runs Smith, Labuschagne and most of the Ausssie batsmen scored, were from the cut and pull on the off side,” the 58-year-old said on Friday during online media interaction.

“We took cue from the New Zealand attack. When they bowled to Smith, they just attacked his body and he felt very uncomfortable,” Arun added.

“Shastri called and said ‘I want you to make a plan where we can eliminate their offside’. We thought about it and decided that we will attack more on the straighter lines and have an on side field. It becomes very difficult for the batsman to consistently clear the on side field. That worked for us.  We discussed it with Virat, he bought the theory. We used the same thing in Adelaide and then Ajinkya was magnificent from Melbourne. The bowlers adjusted to that beautifully,” Arun said.

The Indian team faced many injury challenges during the four-match contest and Bharat lauded Shastri for having the foresight to retain a few of the limited-overs specialists like Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar and T Natarajan for the Tests. With India hit by a barrage of injuries during the series, all three ended up playing the Brisbane Test and made useful contributions.

“The Australian tour is a big challenge. Any cricketer who has toured Australia would know that. It’s probably one of the most challenging tours. I think in the Covid times, it was a good move by Ravi Shastri to hold back all the net bowlers as well. After the ODI series, most of them were supposed to go back, but somehow, we thought that in case anything happens to a player, it will be impossible for anyone to come because of restrictions. We said we will manage with everyone and since they were with us for long, it became possible for them to understand what was demanded of them to be successful in Australia,” he said.

Even though Sundar and Shardul were retained as net bowlers, the support staff made sure that the two also got to bat in the nets. As it turned out, the duo stitched a 123-run stand for the seventh wicket in the first innings of the Gabba Test that allowed India to fight back in the game.

“Washington, though he was a net bowler, used to bat every day for half an hour. We needed to spend extra hours in the net but we needed to give each and everyone the attention. In the end it paid off,” Arun said.

Except for the day-night pink ball Test at Adelaide, India played five specialist bowlers, which has been the norm overseas under Virat Kohli’s captaincy.

“...On most occasions, we play five bowlers abroad because to bowl out a team in conditions abroad demands a lot out of just four bowlers. It’s a huge task,” he said.

The thought of playing an extra batsman did creep in briefly after the Adelaide debacle but the team stuck to its belief.

“The guiding principle of this team is to be fearless and honest. We don’t fear losing games. They teach us a lot of lessons.

“In the last Test there were discussions about playing an extra batsman but we felt that it would have been a negative move and all of us felt the five-bowler theory has worked for us. We knew Washington Sundar is more than a capable bat,” said Arun.

The injuries were a setback but at the same time, they did expose India’s solid bench strength in the bowling department. Whoever was given an opportunity rose to the occasion.

“If you want India to be doing well sustainably, you need a pool of bowlers who will be rotated time and again so that they stay fresh. Now we are blessed with a great bench strength....”

“This tour has taken a lot out of the boys, but now in future you have seven fast bowlers raring to play for the country.

“With the number of Tests we are going to play — four against England here and five in England, it will be very handy. They will all be rotated and we will make sure the best team is put forward,” he said.