TimesofIndia. com in Chennai: One of India’s biggest concerns in the lead-up to the 2027 ODI World Cup has been their inability to consistently strike in the middle overs. Between overs 20 and 35, when teams often look to consolidate before launching in the death overs, breakthroughs have come only in patches.The trend has been evident across recent bilateral series. Against Australia, India managed just four wickets in the phase across three matches, while New Zealand exposed the issue further, with India going wicketless in the middle overs in the Rajkot and Indore ODIs, which they eventually lost. South Africa offered a brighter picture as Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna combined for nine wickets across three games.The Afghanistan series continued the mixed returns. India picked up five wickets in the rain-shortened Dharamsala ODI and another five in Lucknow, but managed only one middle-over wicket in Chennai despite dominating the contest.Interestingly, with the team management seeming to lose confidence in left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has been India’s genuine wicket-taker in the middle overs, Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill will need to find a solution.Captain Gill believes the answer lies in India’s tall fast bowlers: Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana, who he thinks are capable of creating opportunities even when conditions offer little assistance.“Honestly, the combination and the kind of bowlers that we are trying to play are part of what we’re building. We want to create as many opportunities as we can,” Gill told reporters after India sealed a 3-0 win over Afghanistan.“In that middle phase, we’ve seen that once the ball gets a little older on a good wicket, with only four fielders outside the circle, batting becomes much easier. That’s why we’re trying to play bowlers like Prasidh and Harshit. They are tall, fast bowlers who offer us something different.“At the same time, it’s important to give someone like Nitish Kumar Reddy enough overs in the middle, even if we know there might be better options for those conditions who can get us wickets. It’s important for players like him to gain confidence going into the World Cup,” added Gill.Gill said India’s young fast bowlers are being trained to adapt quickly to different surfaces by identifying the ideal length as early as possible. On red-soil wickets, he wants them to bowl fuller, while black-soil pitches demand slightly shorter lengths.The emphasis, he said, is on consistently hitting the top-of-off-stump, around the fourth-stump area – the toughest line for batters to score from. India also wants its pacers to use their natural bounce to keep creating wicket-taking opportunities, even if it occasionally results in extra runs.“It’s about assessing the wicket. Different wickets demand different lengths. On a wicket like this, you have to bowl a little fuller, while on a black-soil wicket, you might have to bowl slightly shorter. As a bowling unit, what we’re trying to do is assess the conditions as early as possible and consistently hit that top-of-off-stump, full-stump area because that’s the hardest ball to score off,” he said.“At the same time, we want to keep using the bounce. It gives batters scoring opportunities as well, but it also creates chances for us to take wickets.”Gill looked pretty pleased with the Indian pace quartet’s performance in this series. It was the debut series for the likes of Gurnoor Brar and Prince Yadav, and the captain felt it was an encouraging sign.
“It’s very encouraging. These are great signs for Indian cricket that we can keep producing fast bowlers who consistently bowl at 140-plus,” said Gill, who was adjudged Player of the Series.“We have a good bunch of tall fast bowlers who can hit the right areas and still create opportunities with the old ball, even when there’s not much help from the wicket or the conditions.”Among the tall fast bowlers, Gurnoor Brar was probably the find of the series. The six-foot-five pacer picked up seven wickets in three games, bowled at rapid pace and extracted good bounce from the surface. But Gill feels Brar has a lot to learn going forward and is hopeful that the 26-year-old pacer will only grow in confidence from here.“I think he ticked most of the boxes. There are some things that only come with experience, and hopefully he’ll keep growing as a bowler.“If I have to be really critical, he did concede a few runs and was a little inconsistent at times. But he’s young, playing his first series at the highest level, and he’s bowling quick. He has all the qualities we want in a young, tall fast bowler, and with experience he’s only going to get better,” said Gill.Prasidh Krishna, another tall fast bowler, blew away Afghanistan on a pitch with some pace and bounce in Chennai, producing a sensational bowling display to claim his maiden ODI five-for.“What he brings to the table is that we saw there was good bounce in the wicket early on and the ball was doing a bit,” said Gill while praising his Gujarat Titans teammate.“If he keeps hitting those areas consistently, he can create a lot of opportunities for us as a bowler. If he continues doing that, it’ll be great for the team.”Gill said India are keeping their fast-bowling plans flexible rather than assigning fixed roles. With Jasprit Bumrah expected to return for the England tour, he indicated that Bumrah could take the new ball, while Prasidh Krishna is equally capable of doing so if required.
Should Kuldeep Yadav be trusted with more overs despite recent inconsistency?
“It’s about being flexible. There isn’t one fixed role,” Gill said.The captain added that the management is encouraging bowlers to adapt to different combinations and bowl with maximum intensity.“We’re trying different combinations, and we encourage our bowlers to give everything regardless of whether they’re bowling with the new ball or as first change,” he said.“We’ve spoken about giving bowlers like Prasidh and Gurnoor shorter spells of three or four overs and asking them to bowl their hearts out and bowl as fast as they can.”Whether the experiment ultimately succeeds will only become clear closer to the World Cup, but India’s direction is evident. Instead of relying solely on wrist spin for middle-over breakthroughs, the management is investing in a battery of tall fast bowlers who can extract bounce, hit the deck hard and force mistakes even on placid surfaces. If Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana continue to develop, India could head to the World Cup with a very different blueprint for the middle overs.
