England vs India: Ishant, Shami, Umesh have to fire as a unit for India to win: Madan Lal

Former Indian all-rounder and coach Madan Lal is of the opinion that only a combined effort by India’s fast bowling trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will see the team win the upcoming high-profile five-match Test series against England. He thinks that especially due the absence of two key bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah who are injured the trio has to deliver for them to do well.

It has always been a largely accepted aspect that to win a Test match the team needs to have the bowlers who get them the 20 wickets. One of Kapil’s Devils who made India proud on English soil in the summer of 1983, said that the bowling unit needed to fire consistently throughout the series. The 67-year-old former player highlighted one or two players don’t win a five-match Test series.

Lal’s plan

“You need all the bowlers to fire as a unit. There is no scope of putting the foot off the pedal even for one session. The fast bowlers will also need to ensure that they build enough pressure for the spinners to come in and strangle the English batsmen and spin a web over the hosts,” a CricketNext report quoted him as saying.

Ishant, who has experience of 81 Tests under his belt and played a key role last time India won a Test in England in 2014, should be donning the role of the leader of this attack, Lal said. The lanky pacer had a good stint with Sussex this season and the former all-rounder also counts that experience while articulating his expectation from the lanky pacer.

If the 29-year-old bowler can bring his county experience into his game and focus on the right areas and get the ball seam off the wicket, Ishant will see Virat Kohli a smiling captain, Lal said.

Disappointed with Umesh

On Shami, the former Indian player said that he should keep things like off-field controversies aside when representing the country on the field.

“What is this mental aspect that everyone is talking about? He is an international player and he should be professional enough when he has been picked. If he wasn’t mentally a 100 per cent, he should have made the selectors aware and not made himself available for selection,” Lal, who was known for his fighting spirit during his playing days, said.

He, however, was a tad disappointed with Umesh Yadav’s recent performance, saying the latter’s inconsistency hindered his talent from turning into performances.

Lal said Yadav had a great IPL this year but has been inconsistent with his performance ever since – bowling well on one day but letting it down on the second. The former Delhi player said that though the fast bowlers were important, the spinners also had their roles to play in the series.

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