India's bowling is the best ever and they proved it at The Oval

Ashwin, Ishant and Shami have 919 wickets between them. But despite none of them featuring in the fourth Test at The Oval, India pulled off an emphatic win on the final day thanks to arguably the best bowling attack ever. Wrapping things up on the final day seems to be the new norm for this bowling attack who achieved a similar feat at Lord’s.

Virat Kohli was criticised (including this writer) for ignoring Ashwin for the fourth time in this series. Dropping the most experienced and most successful pacer Ishant Sharma from the playing XI wasn’t entirely surprising because of his poor form but Shami’s absence due to fitness was seemingly a telling blow since Umesh Yadav has largely been a support cast for many years and Shardul Thakur was yet to prove that he belonged at the Test level as a bowler. Ravindra Jadeja made it to the playing eleven for his relatively superior batting skills to that of Ashwin and yet this attack turned the tables in a staggering manner on the last day of the match. “A different culture can be seen among the Indian pace bowlers with the way they operate and a lot of it would be because of the kind of culture Ravi Shastri has built. Ravi always used to say that he was fascinated by Pakistan’s aggressive approach. And now, I can see how the environment around Indian team has changed a lot. Any new boy, who comes into the team, simply fits in without any hesitation,” former Pakistani captain Ramiz Raja told this writer recently.

Come to think of it, India had not won a Test at the Oval for fifty years and England took a 99 runs lead in the first innings.  Despite all the ebbs and flows of the match, Joe Root’s side looked all set to make the chase when they added 77 runs without loss on the fourth day itself. All the experts reckoned that the first session was going to be crucial and India managed to bag just two wickets. The match tuned upside down with Jadeja getting the first wicket after the lunch session and Jasprit Bumrah bowling such an incisive spell that made his two wickets look as good as any five-wicket haul.

The weakest link among the greatest attacks has always been a fine indicator of the wholesome quality of the bunch. In that sense, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj haven’t managed even 50 wickets together in 13 matches together. Despite 227 Test wickets, Jadeja’s left-arm spin doesn’t arouse the same kind of confidence which Ashwin generates. And, Umesh Yadav’s 154 wickets still don’t make him an automatic choice in the next match even after playing 49 matches for his country. This is not to undermine the capabilities of these bowlers but just to accentuate the fact the kind of embarrassment of riches Kohli has had in the last couple of years as captain of the Indian team which none of his predecessors could even imagine. “It’s absolutely a complete package. The best ever Indian bowling attack,” said former chairman of selector MSK Prasad before the Indian team left for England.

Needless to say, Bumrah has been the superstar of this attack. No matter what the conditions or situations of the match, all opponents are aware that he can strike any time, and more often than not he does. The Gujarat pacer now has the most Test wickets for India in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) wins with 42. His relentlessness from one end makes the job easier for the new comer. “I will give you example of (Javagal) Srinath. He was very difficult to hit so batsmen would try to take chances against me and I used to pick up wickets because of that reason. When Bumrah is bowling, everyone is trying not to attack him but it is building pressure in terms of required run rate and they will try to hit someone else like Shardul. If he is smart enough then lot of chances of getting wickets,” former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad told this writer recently on the importance of Bumrah which simply can’t be captured in mere stats.

India will be playing the last Test match of the series from 10th of September and if they win or draw the Test, they would have done something unprecedented. No team in the history of cricket has won a series each on English and Australian soils in the space of just 8 months and it is essentially due to the exceptional bowling attack at the arsenal of Kohli. “They have got the passion and variety in their (pace) attack. They’re always willing to bowl any spell with the mindset of winning. The accuracy, execution and confidence of their bowlers makes them the best attack,” says Ramiz .

Despite a fragile and struggling middle order in batting, India still has managed to dominate the series so far. Twice in this series, England have had the better of the conditions thanks to winning the toss, and yet India have overcome that disadvantage and won convincingly in unlikeliest of situations. And unsurprisingly on each occasion, it has been accomplished due to the mighty efforts of a versatile attack which can hold its head regardless of the conditions.