Chennai: It was more by accident than by design that the Indian management got a chance to field a set of fringe bowlers in the ODI series against Afghanistan, and their audition has left the think-tank optimistic about raising an able support line for senior pros.
The fatigue-enforced absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj and Axar Patel after a hectic IPL season meant that India went into the three-match series with Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav and Harsh Dubey.
The troika had their own moments of inconsistencies, expected from debutants, but the promise they offered in the series was too obvious to disregard.
Brar was the most impressive of the lot, bowling with sharp pace and steep bounce to bag seven wickets.
Yadav and Dubey held their own on flat tracks at Dharamsala and Lucknow.
Shubman Gill did not miss the point.
“I think great and encouraging signs for Indian cricket that we can keep grooming fast bowlers who can bowl at that pace consistently.
“I think now we have a good bunch of fast bowlers who can bowl 140-plus, are tall, can hit those areas and can still create opportunities with the old ball when there is nothing much offered from the wicket or from the conditions,” Gill said in the post-match press conference.
The Indian skipper was also impressed by their situational awareness and the ability to adhere to the team strategies.
“I think it’s about assessing the wicket. There are different lengths on different wickets that hit the top of the stump. On a wicket like this (red-soil pitch at Chepauk), maybe you have to be a little bit further.
“When you are playing on a black soil (pitch), you have to be a little bit more towards the length side. So as a bowling unit, the work that we are trying to do is trying to assess as early as possible how consistently you can hit that top of the stump area because that is the most difficult ball to hit,” he said.
Prasidh Krishna offered the most telling specimen for Gill’s observation.
The Karnataka pacer, who naturally bowls the hard lengths, sussed up the conditions well at Chennai, and opted for a fuller and closer to the stumps length.
He was rewarded with four wickets inside the first 10 overs, and three of them were catches at first slip after the Afghan batters fell for the temptation to drive.
At the other end, Brar tormented the Afghans with sharp snorters, and even hit Ibrahim Zadran on the helmet, rattling the batter.
Gill acknowledged the variety Brar brings to this Indian attack.
“Obviously, keep using those bouncers because that gives us the opportunity (to take wickets), it gives us the batter the opportunity to score as well but it gives us the opportunity to take those wickets and keep giving those chances,” he said.
But nothing was more delightful than seeing Prasidh walking away with the Player of the Match award for his fifer.
“We all saw the kind of ability that he has, if he can hit those areas, the kind of opportunities that he can create for us as a bowler and if he can keep doing that, you know, that would be good for us.”
Gill, who leads Prasidh at Gujarat Titans, advised Prasidh to remain “flexible” in his game plans.
“It’s about being flexible, there is not a certain role, he is going to bowl with the new ball as well. So, we are seeing different kinds of combinations and we encourage bowlers to whether they are bowling with the new ball or with the first change, they have to go all out.”
Here Prasidh was summoned to use the new ball upfront, unlike in the IPL 2026 when he generally bowled in the middle overs with an older ball.
“We spoke about giving short spells to bowlers, especially bowlers like Prasidh or Brar, give them 3-4 overs, tell them to bowl their heart out, bowl as fast as they can.”
The performance of Prasidh and Brar too might have come as a shot in the arm for India on the road of the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, where they will need the hit-the-deck kind of bowlers.
“It’s about the combination and the kind of bowlers that we are trying to play. We are trying to create as many opportunities as we can. Playing Brar, someone like a Prasidh, even a Harshit, tall, fast bowlers…they offer a little bit more to us.
“As well as someone like Nitish Reddy, it’s important to give him that many overs in the middle. Even if we know that we have got maybe better bowlers for that condition. But it’s important for us, for players like that, to have some confidence going into the World Cup (2027), said Gill.
