Team India has been preparing hard for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia as the players are desperate to forget the ghosts of the last edition where they failed to enter the last four. The preparations are on with the ongoing T20I series against South Africa and recently they also played against Australia and a multi-nation tournament like Asia Cup 2022. However, in recent matches, India’s death bowling woes have been exposed to the cricketing world as they failed to defend targets in the Asia Cup and the trend followed for them in the first T20I against Australia where they posted 208 runs on the scoreboard and still ended up on losing side.
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Interestingly, in all of those matches, the Men in Blue were missing one vital cog in their arsenal – Jasprit Bumrah who was ruled out of the Asia Cup due to a back injury and also missed out on the series opener against Australia. In his absence, India used veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar to bowl the penultimate over which didn’t work out well for them. Recent reports suggest that Bumrah could very well be missing the t20 World Cup also.
In an exclusive conversation with News18 Cricketnext, former England pacer Tim Bresnan talked about the importance of having a gun death bowler like Bumrah in the squad and how it helps the other bowlers around him end up taking wickets.
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Bresnan, who played 23 Tests, 85 ODIs and 34 T20Is for England, said that even without Bumrah, India should have defended the 209-run target against Australia in the series opener, but he thinks the return of the 27-year-old pacer will bring a different dynamics to the Indian bowling line-up,
“I am not sure of a different side, you should be able to defend 209 (India failed to do so against Australia in the 1st T20I). If you have got two bowlers going at 12 runs an over and Bumrah going for 7 will eventually turn the whole equation to about 9 run an over. It will be completely different when Bumrah returns with full flow. He brings a different dynamic and the batsmen have to think about this bloke we not gonna be able to hit six whenever we want. So they have to attack others bowlers a lit bit more which might allow them to take wickets. It’s a different thing from a batsman’s point of view. When you have got a death bowler like Bumrah, you offer him more respect and will take more risks against other bowlers," Bresnan told News18 Cricketnext.
Bresnan also shared his views on the return of Alex Hales to the England T20I set-up. Before getting selected as Jonny Bairstow’s replacement in England T20 WC squad, Hales played his last match for England on March 10, 2019, due to an off-field incident. However, the 33-year-old worked hard in the last three years and scored heavily in the franchise leagues across the world. He recently went past 10,000 runs in T20 cricket.
The former English pacer suggested that the selectors have picked Hales on the basis of his form in franchise leagues and are a good fit to replace a player like Jonny Bairstow.
“They have picked him on the basis of form. He had a really good show at The Hundred, T20 Blast and PSL. He knows the conditions very well. He has improved his game from the last he played for England. I think he’s a good fit and straight swap for Jonny Bairstow. It’s a big disappointment that Jonny is not available because he is probably one of the best in the world," Bresnan added.
The 37-year-old pacer also talked about the appointment of Jos Buttler as Eoin Morgan’s successor as the captain in white-ball cricket. Bresnan feels that Buttler has a deep knowledge of opposition players which will help the English team for preparing the match-ups.
“Joss is infinitely experienced after playing so much T20 cricket around the world and in IPL. He knows a lot of guys he is going to play against. He knows them really well. You need a captain who has a deep knowledge of the other players, especially in the oppositions for the match-ups and bowling changes. Ultimately it comes down to the players that are going to play under him and they have to perform," he added.
However, Buttler didn’t have the ideal start to his captaincy tenure as he lost the T20I and ODI series against India in home conditions and the poor record continued with South Africa T20Is where England lost 1-2 in three-match series.
Bresnan is currently in India and playing the second edition of high-profile Legends League Cricket. The 37-year-old is part of the Bhilwara Kings team as he talked about sharing great camaraderie with former India pacer Sreesanth.
“Probably Sreesanth (on his best of mates in Bhilwara Kings), he is a nice, movie star now, Big Brother star (Big Boss), he is the big talk on campus. He attracts a lot of attention and he should. He is a very down-to-earth guy and very good to speak to," Bresnan said.
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