Why Bumrah, Ashwin and Jadeja’s combined brilliance has made India stronger than ever at home

A country obsessed with batting milestones of its superstar cricketers may have forgotten to acknowledge that by winning the Kanpur Test, the great bowling triumvirate of modern era also completed 1000 Test wickets.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah now collectively have 1000 dismissals and even though Anil Kumble-Harbhajan Singh-Zaheer Khan trio’s combined tally is still 347 wickets ahead, there is little doubt that in terms of impact as a group, their accomplishments isn’t any less.

It is not uncommon for Indian spinners to run through the mightiest of oppositions in home conditions (read heavy spin friendly) inside three days. However, on the Green Park pitch which had almost nothing for the bowlers on the last two days (practically speaking Day 2 of a normal Test match), the combined efforts from their bowlers who picked up 20 wickets in just 121.2 overs was incredible as the strike rate of 36.4 suggests there was no respite for the Bangladeshi batsmen throughout the two innings.

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You can imagine the strength of this bowling attack where captain Rohit Sharma turned to the left-arm spinner Jadeja only as the last option for getting breakthroughs throughout this series. It is to Jadeja’s credit that in Kanpur he managed to shatter the idea of bowler-batsmen match-ups in Test cricket which has been influenced by data driven analysis of the T20 format.

There is a huge difference in terms of Test wickets between Ashwin and Bumrah along with their age gap. Yet the kind of respect that the Gujarat pacer gets from his legendary teammate is revealing. Ashwin recently told this writer that Bumrah is now more like a friend to him. “India has always been the country that is a batsman-dominated country, and it’s never going to change. But I am so glad and happy that we are celebrating Jasprit Bumrah. He is a once-in-a-generation bowler. We should celebrate him even more,” Ashwin told this writer exclusively.

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Throughout this series, one could often notice the intermittent chit-chats between Ashwin and Bumrah. One of course can’t guess what they have been talking about but mostly it ends in laughter. “We Chennai people appreciate bowlers a lot. We gave him a Rajnikanth treatment. He should be treated as a champion. I don’t want to name, but Bumrah is the most valuable Indian cricketer right now,” added Ashwin in a free-wheeling interview where he spoke about his partners in crime in great details.

Ashwin of course is a statesman in this troika and does get irritated by the constant comparison with his contemporary Jadeja. The fact is that the older and wiser Ashwin has such a great perspective on this rivalry that it will remind you the bonhomie of the famous spin quartet or the guru-chela relationship of Kumble-Harbhajan.

“It’s not Jadeja’s fault that I’m not playing. I don’t have the kind of jealousy where I would wish to keep him out just to play myself. The notion of jealousy is a conditioning we need to overcome,” Ashwin said. In fact, he went further by complementing Jadeja profusely which the 36-year-old despite his massive achievement rarely gets. “Jadeja is the most talented cricketer I’ve seen; everything about him is natural," said Ashwin in complete admiration.

The kind of camaraderie between the three bowlers is so apparent in this lethal combination that it makes a captain’s job easier and the dressing room a wonderful place. “I am very, very happy for you, and your contribution to Indian cricket has been amazing. You can continue taking a lot of wickets and sharing your mastermind with me so that I can also take a few wickets and become a great legend like you," were Jadeja’s words when he congratulated Ashwin on his 100th Test and entry to the elite club of 500 Test wickets recently.

Shanto misses, Jadeja hits 🔥☝️#INDvBAN #JioCinemaSports #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries pic.twitter.com/HszJoiZrsy

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) October 1, 2024

There is old saying in cricket that fast bowlers hunt in pairs. Same can be said about spinners, especially if matches are happening in the subcontinent. However, when it comes to the great threesomes in Test cricket, more often than not it is about three great fast bowlers. India’s famous spin quartet (Bishan Singh Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivasraghavan Venkataraghavan) being an outlier.

Rarely do you have a blend of two illustrious pacers and one prodigious spinner like Australia’s Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee/Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne or England’s James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. And when it comes to two spinners and one pacer combination, only India can claim to have such a unique legacy.

It started with the Kumble-Harbhajan-Zaheer, and now this Ashwin-Jadeja-Bumrah troika! Arguably, this is as good as any all-conditions-reliable assortment which can be a luxury for any captain. “Each one of those bowlers that bowled along with me, alongside me, have the ability to hold on to a game, bowl with discipline and yet produce wicket-taking balls,” explained Ashwin in post-victory press conference in Kanpur.

One of the cliches in Test cricket is that no matter how good a batting line-up is, ultimately it is the ability of the bowlers to take 20 wickets in a shorter time and by conceding lesser runs than their opponents which differentiates the winner from the loser. Despite losing the first Test against England earlier this year, the hosts managed to win the next four games and thus the series, spectacularly puncturing the much-hyped ‘Bazball’.

It is this immense belief in his awesome bowling attack that Rohit and the selectors could think of giving Bumrah a break in Ranchi despite it being the fourth Test with the series still on the line. As much as the world is celebrating this audaciously breathtaking display of dazzling stroke play by Indian batters in Kanpur, the team knows that where this confidence comes from.

Read | India's victory over Bangladesh in Kanpur justifies existence of ICC's World Test Championship

“When Rohit says that you make 400 (to the batters), try and make a game out of it, it tells you that the captain believes the bowlers will get the job done. I believe in my bowlers. These bowlers have done it day in and day out. And they have the ability to pick 20 wickets,” Ashwin summed up his mates’ importance in the win.

“The bowling attack is quite special. And I really do hope that this legacy of bowling is taken forward,” Ashwin explained beautifully.

Kumble-Harbhajan-Zaheer played 25 Tests together and got 125 wickets while the current trio of Ashwin-Jadeja-Bumrah has played only 10 matches as a unit and have got 132 wickets. Doubtless, India has never been stronger in home conditions as a staggering 18 consecutive series wins, a world record at that, demonstrates. The modern trinity has also been the only combination that was part of the back-to-back Test series win in Australia.

If they can manage to play for at least one more year, who knows they might have another series win in Australia, a World Test Championship trophy and possibly a Test series win in England after 18 years! And if that does happen, no one can deny this group from being hailed as one of the greatest of all time attacks.