Too early to pick India’s fast bowling attack for 2027 ODI World Cup, says WV Raman

New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS) Former India batter WV Raman believes it is too early to settle on India’s fast bowling attack for the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup, saying that injuries have several frontline bowlers out of action regularly and that a year is a long time when it comes to finalising a bowling combination.

Raman’s assessment comes soon after India opened their ODI World Cup build-up with a 2-1 ODI series win over the West Indies, but raised questions about the bowling make-up. While captain Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul had a great time with the bat, the bowling, however, told a different story.

The pitches at all three venues offered little assistance, and both attacks struggled, but India’s bowlers rarely looked like they were breaking through, with Kuldeep Yadav’s effort in the series opener in Thiruvananthapuram being the lone exception.

With Jasprit Bumrah away on Asian Games duty and the likes of Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana injured, other pacers had a chance to step up, but failed to grab it, thus exposing the team’s dependence on its fast bowling spearhead. Debutants Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj were costly, while Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar and Nitish Kumar Reddy didn’t make much impact.

With India set to announce its ODI squad in the coming time, with the five-game series in New Zealand to take place from November 4 to 15 after the T20I series is over on November 1, it remains to be seen who will be the pacers tried out in the run-up to the mega event.

“Well, it’s too early if you are talking about the bowlers because one year is a long time as far as a settled combination is concerned. For a simple reason, we have seen a lot of bowlers not playing regularly due to injuries. The other thing is that this A (red-ball) series is all about providing the players an opportunity to get acclimatised, if at all there is a possibility of any one of them being called up because it’s difficult to go straight out of India and get into a Test series or ODI series in New Zealand.

“But at the moment, if you look at it, you are looking at possibly these being the options for Bumrah quite obviously. If you are talking about ODI, then you will have Prasidh Krishna, and then you have Arshdeep also as one of the options because primarily he is a left-arm seamer.

“Then you have got a lot of other options who have enough time to stake a claim too, like Harshit Rana, of course, if he is fit, and then Hardik Pandya if he is fit. So, there are a lot of question marks as far as fitness is concerned. So, that’s one of the reasons why I think it’s going to be a bit tricky to really fix your mind on who the likely bowlers are going to be one year hence,” Raman told IANS in a select virtual interaction facilitated by Sony Sports Network on Thursday.

Turning to the immediate challenges batters will face, especially with India set to play two Tests in Wellington and Christchurch, Raman felt the Indian batters would need to play late and close to the body to handle the windy, nippy conditions in New Zealand.

“That’s a good question because what happens is when there’s a bit of nip in the air, and when it’s a bit windy, what happens is the ball does not come quickly in the air and holds its line.

“So what happens is technically what they need to do is they’ve got to try and play a bit late because the ball is going to wobble a little bit and also because of the resistance in the air when it’s nippy, it’s going to come a little bit slower in the air than it is the case in India.

“So they got to try and play it a bit late and play it a bit closer too, and that’s why you would not see the batters just hitting through the line as easily as they can do in the subcontinental conditions because the ball is going to do a little bit and that little bit of slight adjustment has to be made.”

With little time to acclimatise before the T20I series starts on October 22, Raman added the bowlers would have to read the bounce and find the right length quickly. “Bowlers need to try and find the right length based on the kind of bounce that a pitch has on offer because generally, we tend to think it is length which matters.

“But the length is dependent on the bounce of the surfaces matches being played on. So, that is something that they got to try and discern very quickly and hit it. That is true as that is almost 70 percent of what bowling is all about: knowing which length to bowl under what conditions.”

Asked whether New Zealand would adopt England’s back-of-a-length approach that troubled India’s top order in the T20I series defeat in July, Raman said the hosts were more likely to pitch it up if the surfaces offered movement.

“As far as the England bowlers bowling back of a length and troubling the Indian batters, now in New Zealand, it could be a different scenario altogether. If, as we expect, the pitches have a little bit of juice and there is a bit of lateral movement, I think the back of the length will be slightly fuller, encouraging the batters to play their shots on the up because our batters are used to playing on surfaces where there is hardly any movement of the surface.

“You do not see much movement in India, and also the atmosphere is such that you do not get to see swing in the air too. So, that could be perhaps a bit of a challenge adapting to the fact that you need to pick the right balls to play your shots. So, the length could be maybe the usual Test match length or a slightly fuller length if the pitches are going to help the seamers.”

Raman also warned against taking New Zealand lightly, adding that the Black Caps have always thrived on teamwork and adapting quickly to conditions on offer. “See, if you look at the way New Zealanders play their cricket, there’s no flair, there’s no flamboyance.

“It’s just that you tend to think they are like good kids attending a classroom, being obedient and going back home. But they produce the results that they’re after, isn’t it? So, they are masters at playing well as a unit, and they play with their own brand of attitude, which is to get your hands dirty, and that’s what has made them the side that they are.

“So, let’s not get carried away by the lack of seemingly big names or great performers in the squad or in the eleven. They always played as a unit. They always relied on their attitude to take them through tough situations,” he concluded.

Watch India tour of New Zealand live and exclusive on Sony Sports Network, Sony LIV & Sony Vizha starting October 22, 2026.

–IANS

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