Absence makes the heart grow fonder for Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar

As David Warner launched in to the Indian bowling attack on the first morning of the Adelaide Test, one couldn’t avoid the nagging little voice in the back of one’s mind: What if Bhuvneshwar Kumar was there? Would he have fared better than these Varun Aaron and Mohammad Shami, who were spraying the ball all over? Would he have had more control and a tighter lid on the proceedings? Based on their careers so far, the answer to all those questions would have to be a positive, resounding “Yes”. Unfortunately for India, and Bhuvneshwar, he missed the Adelaide Test, and will miss the one in Brisbane as well, due to an ankle injury. His conspicuous absence made the heart grow that much fonder. [caption id=“attachment_1852829” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bhuvneshwar Kumar. AFP[/caption] At the conclusion of the first Test, Virat Kohli, the stand-in captain for the recovering MS Dhoni, put on a brave face and said the idea of including the still debutant Karn Sharma in place of the more experienced R Ashwin was his. Fair enough, but legspin is a seductress. The promises of the ball sharply breaking away from the right handers and the images of Shane Warne bamboozling batsmen all over the world, has clouded the judgment of captains for quite a while now. A legspinner is an attacking bowler, as much in the mold of a fast tear away. They will give away runs, throw up a few full tosses but are genuine wicket takers. It is an asset to have a legspinner in the playing XI. However, when the bowling line up already has two profligate seamers in Aaron and Shami, it is not prudent to include a legspinner who by definition cannot limit the scoring – Warne excluded. Considering Kumar wasn’t available and Ishant Sharma was the lone frontline bowler to show semblance of control, India were up the creek without a paddle. And it showed. India were comfortably outplayed by Australia over the first four days of the Test. Once again, we were left to wonder, what if? What if Ashwin had been chosen over Karn Sharma? Would he have bowled better on the Adelaide surface where Nathan Lyon took 12 wickets? Would he have bowled better against the rampaging Warner with the ball turning away from him? It took a declaration from Michael Clarke on the morning of day five to give India even a sniff of a chance. Kumar and Ashwin’s absences were again seriously felt during the final session of play. With Kohli in imperious touch and supreme form, even as wickets were tumbling around him with the target in sight, the need of the hour was for one of the lower-order batsman hang around with him, absorb the pressure and turn the strike over. Instead, India sent out a parade of walking wickets in Karn, Aaron and Shami. The fabled three pigs would have been sturdier at the wicket than the Indian tail. Kumar was India’s player of the series in their recent tour to England where he stood out thanks to contributions with ball and bat. His approach while at the wicket was technically sound and simple. Ashwin, after warming the bench for the first three Tests in England, was finally included and immediately contributed with the bat even as the more accomplished batsmen in the line-up were finding it hard to cope with the swing of English seamers. Kohli could have used someone like that with only a few dozen runs to get to achieve an improbable, and somewhat undeserved, victory. It wasn’t to be. A masterful 141 went to waste, reminding Indian fans of another classic fifteen years ago played by Sachin Tendulkar at Chennai versus Pakistan, which resulted in defeat with victory very much in sight. India made multiple selection mistakes in their tour to England and never really played their best eleven till it was too late in the series. They can’t afford to repeat that mistake in Australia. The good news is Ashwin is likely to play at the Gabba. The bad news is that Bhuvneshwar still isn’t an option.