Indian pacers revert to Australia plan of targeting the stumps and taking on-side out of playEnglish summer and swing bowling are synonymous.
The ability to get the ball to cut through the air and take it past the eye line of the batsman is perceived to be the more easily accessible weapon in cloudy English conditions.
The New Zealand bowlers kept the Indian batsmen guessing through the first innings of the World Test Championship final with prodigious swing.
It appeared to be the obvious template.
On Tuesday, however, the Indian pacers were out to prove that you don’t necessarily have to rely on movement in the air to be successful in English conditions.
Read AlsoWTC Final: Shami seizes the day but openers fall to peg India back ahead of reserve dayThe team’s tirelessly accurate pace lengths, highlighted by a Mohammed Shami masterclass in attacking seam bowling, and Kiwi captain Kane Williamson’s obdurate stonewalling in difficult batting conditions marked a captivating full fifth day of play in the WTC Final.For the first 50 overs of the New Zealand innings on Sunday, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah tried to move the ball in the air.
Their lines, in general, was wider of the off-stump looking for movement.
The heavy overhead conditions did ensure there was some movement but it was nothing compared to what the New Zealand attack had derived in similar conditions.
It was a grind to get two wickets in 50 overs.
WTC Final: Southee double gives New Zealand hope against IndiaYoung Shubman Gill, asked to face the media on Sunday, could only say that the three pacers were unlucky.
Ishant, Shami and Bumrah have all tasted success out of their ability to get the ball to seam off the pitch.
They are more seam bowlers than swing bowlers.
It was time to go back to their strengths.
Before play got underway, India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, while talking to official broadcasters before play on Tuesday, couldn’t stress enough on this point.
“Our bowlers are very good seam bowlers.
They may not have got as much swing but that doesn’t matter.
Someone like Shami can seam it off the pitch from a fuller length and target the stumps.
He can bring LBW and bowled into play,” Rahane stated.
1/10Bowlers leave WTC final on knife edge on Day 5 Previous NextShow CaptionsNew Zealand claimed a handy first-innings lead of 32 and restricted India to 64/2 to maintain their slight advantage after an absorbing fifth day’s play in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship on Tuesday.
(Getty Images)Mohammed Shami inspired India’s lion-hearted effort with the ball on day five to deny New Zealand a bigger lead in the low-scoring match.
(Getty Images)India are 32 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand heading into the reserve day on Wednesday, which has been activated to make up for lost time in the weather-hit match.
(AFP Photo)Captain Virat Kohli, batting on eight, and Cheteshwar Pujara, on 12, will hope to avoid any dramatic collapse which could gift New Zealand a shot at the title.
(Reuters Photo)Earlier, resuming on 101/2, New Zealand were all out for 249 for a 32-run first innings lead at the Ageas Bowl.
(Reuters Photo)Kane Williamson compiled a painstaking 49, while Tim Southee (30) and Kyle Jamieson (21) provided cameos to push New Zealand past India’s first-innings total of 217.
(AFP Photo)Shami (4/76) led India’s fightback after skipper Virat Kohli made three inspired bowling changes in the morning session.
(Getty Images)Williamson hit a boundary to put New Zealand ahead but fell agonisingly short of what could have been only the second individual fifty of the match.
(Getty Images)Ishant Sharma (3/48) ended the New Zealand skipper’s five-hour vigil, inducing him into feebly poking at a delivery and Kohli grabbed the edge standing wide at second slip.
(AP Photo)India lost opener Gill before they could wipe out the first-innings deficit and Rohit Sharma made 30 before Southee trapped him lbw to deny India the upper hand.
(Getty Images)The plan was clear.
Target the stumps more than obsessing about getting the outside edge.
When Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor came out to bat on Tuesday, they took stance with a shot mid-wicket, a square-leg and a leg-gully in place.
The Indian attack had gone back to its plan of taking the leg-side out of play and cutting down on the scoring shots.
A plan that has been revered after the success in Australia.
Shami ripped through the defence of BJ Watling and Colin de Grandhomme to get them bowled and LBW respectively.
The plan was working again, and India were staging a comeback in the Test in Southampton.
None of Shami’s four wickets came in the slip cordon.
Yet, he looked every bit menacing.
One may recall Shami was referred to as the unlucky bowler when India last toured and England and kept going past the outside the edge.
This time he has got a tad closer and the results are there to see.
Read AlsoWTC Final: Two people thrown out of stadium after hurling racist abuse at Ross TaylorThe World Test Championship final in Southampton was marred by racist behavior by a few individuals in the crowd on Tuesday.
It is learnt that the New Zealand team was at the receiving end of uncharitable words from the crowd while racist slurs were hurled at Ross Taylor.Interestingly, Jamieson, after completing his five-wicket haul on Sunday, had stressed on the need to moving off the surface.
“At times, there was too much swing.
We were looking to wobble the ball more than swing it.
The seam on the Dukes ball stays pretty good even when it gets old.
It was more about how much and when you want to swing it,” Jamieson had said.
Ishant, India’s leader of the attack, attributes the turnaround in his career to the time he spent with Jason Gillespie at Sussex in 2018.
The key takeaway according to him was to not just look to swing the ball in England.
“Gillespie told me that in order to increase pace of my fuller deliveries, you don’t just release it but hit the deck so that it should hits the knee roll,” Ishant had said.
Ishant got his three wickets with ball kicking from a good length.
There’s experience talking for India.