Taking stock: India's pace challenges in red-ball reboot

As India brace themselves for a red-ball reboot after a long stretch of short-form cricket, the 2024 Duleep Trophy offers just the launch pad to the run of 10 Test matches over the next four and a half months. The first round of action, starting on September 5, will see the cream of India's domestic talent both warm up to the different rhythms of the long format as well as vie to make a quick impression.

The Test team more or less picks itself in most departments including the back-ups, but there are a few questions that still don't have clear-cut answers. Primary amongst them will be in the facet of play that is most fragile - fast bowling. The injury to Mohammed Shami and him still being on the mend nearly a year after his exploits at the ODI World Cup has opened up the lookout for a third seamer. At the start of the Tests against England earlier this year, Mukesh Kumar seemed the incumbent to that slot, but after an off-colour outing in Visakhapatnam, he saw his spot go to Akash Deep, who delivered better impact in his lone Test.

But an established presence as India's third/fourth seaming option remains up for grabs and will be a closely watched aspect in the Duleep Trophy. Apart from Mukesh and Akash, the others vying for the spot include a variety of pacers who have been in and out of the Indian team like Prasidh Krishna who missed the just-concluded Maharaja T20 Trophy due to injury and will also miss the opening encounter at the Duleep Trophy.

Others clamouring for the spot include Khaleel Ahmed, who is yet to drive home his credentials as a red-ball bowler and Avesh Khan, who is knocking on the doors. There are others like Yash Dayal, Vidwath Kaverappa and Vyshak Vijaykumar who have excelled in domestic cricket but await opporunities at a higher level. Some notable names in the fray apart from them include Sandeep Warrier, Tushar Deshpande, Harshit Rana and Navdeep Saini, who all bring about varied skillsets.

With a variety of options on offer, the task of the selectors and team management will be far from easy as they set out to prepare for the next five months when they'd be looking for pacers who can do well in India, offer something different in Australia and also earmark a few for the long run.

Paras Mhambrey, who served as the bowling coach of India until the recent victorious T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year, sees an opportunity to grade them across a lot of metrics. "There's quite a lot of Test cricket here, You will require a pool of bowlers to last the 10 Test matches that India are playing because at some point you'd have to rest Bumrah or Siraj. Good to see that some of them are in the reckoning or close to selection," he says in a chat with Cricbuzz.

"Minutely, look at how these bowlers bowl in different phases. On flatter wickets, it's a different kind of wicket they'll be playing in, so how they come in the third spell or the fourth spell - it gives a very clear picture in terms or fitness, their understanding, the reading of the game....lot of these guys are in different phases of their career. So going ahead you can shortlist six or seven quality fast bowlers who you can bank on and rotate, this is only red-ball cricket and most of them will also be playing short formats as well," Mhambrey says.

Shortlisting these names will have to be a careful exercise for the pool of frontline pacers picked across the four Duleep Trophy teams totals up to 17. With the conditions on offer in Bengaluru and Anantpur, the team management and captains may not be inclined to load their line-ups with more than two. But juxtaposed with the senior team's requirements there may be room for rotation even amongst these, as is the norm in such tournaments. And that accommodation could be stretched further if there are more specific requests.

"If you feel a particular bowler is in the scheme of things, I'm sure the selectors could have a word with the captains, it's a personal kind of conversation, right? 'Potentially I would like to see him bowl in this phase, so let him bowl maybe after Lunch or at the end of the day's play you want him to come and bowl four or five overs.'

"That can happen as and when the game progresses. That will happen. It's nice to see that lot of international batsmen are playing, so you're bowling against quality opposition and if you're picking up wickets here, you're putting yourself up for selection," feels Mhambrey.

Adding another layer to the selection criteria would be to label them for some of the tougher courses ahead. Mhambrey goes as far as eyeing the England tour next year, but of more immediate attention would be the marquee tour to Australia in a little over two months. Amongst the 17 names, only Navdeep Saini has had previous red-ball experience in those conditions.

"In India you are not going to be playing more than two seamers because the wickets are such. I don't know how the new staff will look at things and how they want to take it forward. Here, there is going to be black soil, low bounce but there is going to be reverse swing so you look at the guys who have pace and can bowl reverse swing," Mhambrey says.

"Obviously in Australia, the Kookaburra is different and you need to make use of the 30-35 overs with the newish ball because that's when you can look to pick wickets. You are going to want to look at who can give you those wickets, what are skillsets that you feel are going to be important.

"Having that bounce is going to be important, and that is why I want to see how someone like Prasidh shapes up. And I want him to have a great Duleep Trophy then straightaway you have a third seamer who is different from the others. Because later on after the 30-35 overs, it does get flat and you need to have someone to have something different and the bounce is something you can use."

The 28-year-old Karnataka pacer has been battling with recovery from a quadriceps injury and is set to miss the opening game of the Duleep Trophy. However, he was part of the training group for the Shubman Gill-led Team A on the eve of the first game. Whether he gets to feature later in the tournament is yet to be seen.

Extending that wish-list is also the search for a left-arm pace option. Khaleel, Dayal and Arshdeep are all set to be in the tournament and it's here that Mhambrey feels there's room for some grooming. "I want to see three or four guys in the India scheme of things. One of them can be a left-armer," he says. "Someone who can offer a different angle."

For more immediate selection solutions - like for the series against Bangladesh, the form criteria could well be the most basic differentiator. "Form is also important. For some of them who have been around for a while like Avesh, Khaleel if they come in a great form, you know that if you're looking at four seamers one of them could be the third or fourth seamer," feels Mhambrey.

He cites the example of how Akash Deep was picked up by Ajit Agarkar for the England series based on his performances against the England Lions a few weeks before that. The pacer himself had then confessed to having been surprised by the call-up. Instant dividends, therefore, maybe up for grabs to those knocking on the doors and making the quickest impression.