The day India's bowlers rose in unison

By Sidharth Monga, July 14: It has taken its time, but the wait has been worth it. India has been in a bowling transition for a while.

They have won Tests on individual contributions - think Jasprit Bumrah in Perth, or Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep sharing 16 wickets in Birmingham - but this kind of awesome, irresistible, all-consuming wave after wave of attack has eluded them in recent times.

Perhaps the last one was in Rajkot in February 2024 when R Ashwin flew home mid-Test to be by his unwell mother's side, and the others rose to the occasion, on a flat pitch, to bowl England out for 319.

This, though, was something else. This was a day when the plans made before play, the captain's moves on the field, and the bowlers' execution all came together to crowd England, where they didn't have any breathing space. Even when they put together partnerships, a collapse always looked around the corner.

Six bowlers bowled and five of them got at least one wicket. Ravindra Jadeja, the only one without, went at 2.50 per over in his eight overs. The last time India used six bowlers in an innings with each of them either taking a wicket or going for under three an over was way back in 2009 against Sri Lanka in Kanpur.

And India needed all six because they have had ordinary luck all series to go with ill-timed unforced batting errors. In this Test alone, it took them 147 false shots to get the ten England wickets in the first innings, but they lost theirs in just 77. On the fourth morning alone, Bumrah produced ten false shots in five overs, drawing uneven bounce from a good length.

It brought back memories of his first spells in both innings at Headingley, where not much followed.

Here, not only did Siraj enjoy a turn in his luck and got a non-traditional wicket with a pull to mid-on, but he and Shubman Gill also got a DRS review right moments after getting one wrong. The luck turned again as he drew nine false shots from Joe Root in 23 balls in a testing spell after lunch, but without success.

The thing with cricket is, you will have days or series when the luck is not running with you. The only solution is to keep coming back hard and with discipline. This is where India's back-up bowlers - and plans - came in.

After Bumrah and Siraj's intensity in the morning, India went to Nitish Kumar Reddy before Akash Deep because they wanted to play on a Zak Crawley anomaly. Against pace with the new ball - up to 30 overs old - he averages 44 against faster balls (135kph plus) and 26 against balls bowled slower.

Having tried to get him out traditionally and failed against his supreme luck - Crawley had an abysmal control rate of 62% - India got him out with military medium pace for the second time this week. Reddy kept up his end of the bargain, staying on a length after pinning him to the crease with the keeper up.

The next challenge was the older, softer ball, which has been troubling both sides this series. In that wicketless one hour after lunch, the ball reached 37 overs, well past when it gets soft and becomes easy to bat against.

This was likely not on purpose, but Washington Sundar and Jadeja started bowling from ends where the slope hindered their natural turn. Jadeja bowled no loose balls, and Washington, who has drifted the ball two times more than any other spinner this series, kept doing the batters in on the wrong edge.

All four of Washington's victims were bowled, beaten by balls that didn't turn as much as expected. At least two of those batters were also playing too far inside the line because of the drift.

With a mix of drift, now-dry pitch and the slope, India had found the final missing puzzle. This was now spell after spell of testing bowling. Gill put a fielder out to block Harry Brook's ramp, and he was bowled immediately, sweeping a fast bowler, Akash Deep. Gill put a short fine and sent the fine leg to deep square for the hard Ben Stokes sweep, and immediately he was out bowled, slog-sweeping to Washington.

A lot of Test bowling is about attacking the stumps without offering half-volleys. It takes bowling units time to find the ideal areas from which they can do that.

In their first bowling innings, India attacked the stumps only about 11% of the time, but doubled it to about 22% in the second. Bumrah, four of whose five first-innings victims were bowled, came back to take two more with absolute seeds: a yorker and then one that seamed in to hit the top of off. In all, India had 12 bowled dismissals in this Test. The last time a team had 12 or more bowleds was 70 years ago.

If you believe in signs, there has been every sign that India will have to win this series the hard way. The bowling unit showed they were prepared for the hard way, and what a sight it was to watch them do it.

And yet, India proceeded to lose four wickets to 21 false shots, precipitated by Karun Nair apparently failing to pick the ball and shouldering arms to a straight delivery, the kind of error in judgment you rarely see with Test batters. Even Gill, who has looked unhurried all series, was late on really full balls from the same bowler, Brydon Carse, bowling from the same end.

If this is something England picked on and played on - Carse bowled 61% balls fuller than the six-metre mark in that spell - it is great situational awareness and feel for the game. Whatever it is, now it is for India's batters to do it the hard way. (ESPNCRICINFO)