A tale of contrasting turnarounds: India's pace bowling during and post-Bharat Arun era

Bharat Arun (C) with Mohammed Shami (L) and Hardik Pandya (R) (Source: AFP)

For almost the last one year, India’s pace-bowling has been through a struggling run of form across all formats. Especially in two major formats i.e., Tests and ODIs, India have found themselves in trouble due to the lack of a consistent and regular bowling line-up. It includes their two major home-series defeats against New Zealand and South Africa. 

Besides that, Indian pace attack’s performance has also dipped in the limited-over cricket, including both ODIs and T20Is. But things were not always like this with the India team as there happened to be the years when India had a fierce pace attack at least two to three permanent frontline pacers across all formats, including the likes of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and then-young pacer Jasprit Bumrah.

It all happened possible for India when their bowling unit was being guided by the former bowling coach Bharat Arun. He served India for two separate stints and produced some amazing results with the Indian pacers. 

Hence, here I’ll take you the journey and dissection of this entire arc from success to uncertainty for Indian pace attack over the years during and post-Bharat Arun era. 

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The killer instinct: From peak to rock bottom

Bharat Arun’s stint as bowling coach was mostly during the captaincy of former India skipper Virat Kohli, the most successful Test captain who ever led India. The experts, analysts, and the former cricketers used to call him the bowlers’ captain. He also proved the same during his tenure.

It was Kohli’s firm belief that, ‘a team can only win a Test match by taking 20 wickets’ and he also implemented the same in the Indian team during his captaincy. Aligning himself with Kohli’s aggressive pace-heavy mindset, Bharat Arun also worked in the same direction to strengthen India’s quick unit. From 2017 to 2021, the trio of Shastri as head coach, Arun as bowling coach, and Virat Kohli as India’s captain happened to be the nightmare for the opponents across the formats. 

This trio developed a killer instinct in the pace battery and always went to take 20 wickets to win a Test match. One of the famous examples of this killer instinct of Indian pacers was against England in the second Test at Lord’s during India’s tour of England in 2021-22. In the Lord’s Test, Indian pacer dismantled the entire English batting attack and bundled them at 120 while defending the target of 273 runs. 

Numbers reflecting the inconsistency and instability

One of the major USPs under Bharat Arun’s coaching was the consistency he managed to execute across all formats. He used to invest almost in the same bunch of pacers with a few changes here and there, be it in red-ball or in white-ball. In his second and a long stint from 2017 to 2021, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah used to be three frontline pacers across all formats. 

At least two of the above three mentioned pacers were there in the list of leading wicket-takers for India across all formats from 2017 to 2021 when Bharat Arun left after T20 World Cup 2021. 

Leading wicket-takers for India in Tests from July 1, 2017 to November 14, 2021

Leading wicket-takers for India in ODIs from July 1, 2017 to November 14, 2021

Leading wicket-takers for India in T20Is from July 1, 2017 to November 14, 2021

The above-mentioned numbers seem to be enough to advocate for the consistency and stability in the Indian pace unit during Bharat Arun’s tenure as bowling coach. But the things have changed almost to 180 degree since he left and a sheer lack has been seen in the longevity of the bowlers, utilization across formats and a consistency of a synchronized unit in all formats. 

Leading wicket-takers for India in Tests from November 14, 2021 Till now

Leading wicket-takers for India in ODIs from November 14, 2021 Till now

Leading wicket-takers for India in T20Is from November 14, 2021 Till now

So, a difference and irregularities in the wicket-taking ratio, utilization of the pacers and workload management is clearly visible after the staff under Ravi Shastri’s coaching and Kohli’s captaincy left. 

This downfall and disturbance can be attributed to the short-sighted, volatile and ‘lack-of-vision’ approach of the coach and management. Besides that, the idea of having a foreign bowling coach in Morne Morkel is also impacting the coordination between the players and the coach. 

Indian pacers failing to take even 10-15 wickets in a game, conceding runs and getting bashed even at the pace-friendly turfs of Australia are the things that makes one miss Bharat Arun as bowling coach and his intent of utilizing his resources. 

Conclusion: Need Bharat Arun again or someone who can replicate his vision

In the current times of crisis with the pace bowling, the decision makers of Indian cricket must need to understand two facts. Firstly, they need to have an Indian bowling coach who can understand the psyche of Indian pacers and convey his intent to them with a crystal clear intent. 

Lastly, it’s high time that management either call Bharat Arun back as bowling coach or rope in someone who can replicate the same vision Arun used to introduce in the Indian pace attack during his tenure.

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