5 reasons why India will miss Ishant Sharma

3. Need to find another workhorse in the fast bowling department

Bowling in Indian is not easy, especially if you are a fast bowler. While conditions predominantly favour the spinners, it can be disheartening at times to bowl long spells without little or no reward, which is precisely why not a lot of fast bowlers succeed in India.

In Ishant, India finally managed to find a fast bowler who not only threatened the batsmen when there was something in the pitch for the fast bowlers. But his biggest advantage was his ability to bowl long spells and keep up the pressure with tight spells. In his 25 home Tests, he only picked up 63 wickets but his economy rate was under 3, his best in any country.

In his absence, India will need to find someone else to fill that void and although spinners will be bowling the majority of the overs, they still need a fast bowler to bowl from one end to create rough area for them to exploit. And while Shami and Umesh have more pace, they aren’t always economical and that is a concern, especially with Bhuvneshwar not having a lot of experience of bowling in Tests in India.