ICC Champions Trophy: Performance analysis of the Indian squad

Bowlers – Spinners and Seamers

Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead the Indian fast bowling attack

All the bowlers have been in some form for India coming into this tournament which is a welcome sight. Jadeja and Ashwin have been very good in restricting the batsmen and with Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing coupled with Shami’s pace and Bumrah’s accuracy, the Indian bowling attack looks more potent than ever.

Ravindra Jadeja

The ODI series against England is the only series Jadeja has been part of in the last 12 months. In the 3 matches, he did not do much with the bat, probably because he was not required to. He took 4 wickets at an average of 39 and with an economy of 5.23. He should play in all the matches.

Record in England

Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy Rate	5w
12	23	20.86	4.80	1

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin goes into yet another foreign tour trying to prove that he is as effective as in India. His performance in the last last 3 ODIs against England was below par where he took only three wickets and went for almost 7 runs an over.

Record in England

Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy Rate	5w
14	21	24.0	4.67	0

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing bowling will be key

Bhuvneshwar has been in and out of the Indian ODI team for quite some time now. He had a tremendous IPL season winning the purple cap with 26 wickets from 14 matches at 7 runs per over. He has only played 2 ODIs for India in last 12 months managing to take a wicket.

His record in England, as he figures below suggest, is very impressive and he should be a certainty in opening the bowling attack for India.

Record in England

Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy Rate	5w
9	11	24.63	4.10	0

Mohammed Shami

Shami’s international career has been dogged by injuries. The Uttar Pradesh pacer last played a competitive ODI against Australia in the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup. He was selected in the World T20 squad in 2016, but could not break into playing eleven having been out of international cricket for more than a year.

Shami has played in 10 Tests in last 12 months picking up 29 wickets – 18 of which came on the unresponsive tracks in India. Everyone thought he would play a full IPL season, but eventually ended up playing in 8 matches for his Delhi franchise and took 5 wickets.

If he doesn’t break down he should get a chance in the playing eleven. With Umesh Yadav in excellent form, it will be a toss-up between the two. So if Shami gets a chance, he needs to perform well.

Record in England

Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy Rate	5w
4	8	19.00	4.67	0

Umesh Yadav

Yadav might not feature if Shami remains fit

Umesh was the unsung hero of India’s mammoth Test season. His bowling in all the 12 of the 13 Tests he played in was an absolute revelation. Having said that, he is always guilty of leaking runs and being wayward in the ODIs.

The 29-year-old from Nagpur has played in 6 ODIs in the last 12 months, taking 9 wickets at an average of 33.22 with a slightly high economy rate of 6.22. His performance in the IPL was a bit better as he picked up taking 17 wickets in 14 matches at 8.45 runs per over.

In all probability, Shami will get the nod over Umesh if fit.

Record in England

Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy Rate	5w
6	5	48.80	5.85	0

Jasprit Bumrah

Bumrah has been the biggest rising star of Indian bowling. Being tutored by Malinga at Mumbai Indians, the death-overs specialist outshone his guru in the recently concluded IPL season.

The Gujarat speedster has been part of 10 ODIs in the last 12 months. He has taken 20 wickets at an excellent average of 21.85 and with a frugal economy rate of 4.9. He was terrific in the IPL with his slow yorkers and bowling at death in general.

He finished the season pocketing 20 wickets - overall third in the list of highest wicket-takers. Needless to say, he will be the lynchpin of Indian bowling attack.

Author’s Playing XI

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.