The Indian cricket team has been ravaged by injuries in the ongoing four-Test series against Australia. The unfortunate thing for India is that their bowlers have borne the brunt of the injuries. Before the start of the series, Ishant Sharma, India's most experienced pacer with 97 Tests was sidelined due to injury. As the tour progressed, India's bowlers continued to suffer injuries. Mohammed Shami's arm was fractured by a short ball from Pat Cummins in Adelaide while Umesh Yadav's tour ended with a calf strain in Melbourne. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin were both sidelined from the Brisbane test due to back and side strain injuries in the Sydney Test. This meant that India had to field a totally new bowling unit.
For the Brisbane Test, the bowlers in the Indian cricket team were Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar. With T Natarajan and Washington Sundar making their debuts, the combined bowling experience of Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini is just seven Tests. To make matters worse for India, Navdeep Saini has also been injured as he apparently tweaked his hamstring. Mohammed Siraj is playing his third Test while Shardul Thakur is playing his first Test since 2018. Navdeep Saini debuted in Sydney and thus, Mohammed Siraj is the leader of the attack after just three Tests.
Australia's huge experience factor
The absence of Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin has robbed India of an experience of 250-odd Tests. But, there is no such concern in the Australia cricket team bowling camp. Nathan Lyon has become the 13th Australian to play 100 Tests for his country while the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc have played 55,34 and 61 Tests respectively. Thus, the combined total of the Australia Test bowling team is 250 Tests while that of India is seven, 45 times less
Only Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have played all Tests in the series and it is an indication that injuries and poor form have hurt India at crucial intervals. It is by sheer will power and determination that the four-Test series is level 1-1. If Australia cannot win the series with all these factors, then it will be considered a big win for India as they managed to survive despite the odds.
