India head coach Gautam Gambhir emphasised the importance of bowlers and the need to end the batter's "obsessed" mindset ahead of the opening Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. Over the past decade, a shift has slowly unfolded in the longest format of cricket, where batters spending an excessive amount of time have slowly been replaced by the bowlers' prowess. However, the recent Test match between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur proved to be a reminder that the way red-ball cricket is played has changed.
Despite losing more than two days of play to rain and a wet outfield, India adopted an approach that has hardly been witnessed in a Test match by going all guns blazing from the first over The bowlers rattled Bangladesh by scything 20 wickets to seal a historic victory for India. Ahead of the opening Test against the Kiwis, Gambhir pinpointed that the era has changed.
For Gambhir, even if the batters score handsomely and put runs on the board, victory isn't guaranteed. But if the bowling unit picks 20 wickets, the victory is more or less guaranteed for that team.
"That era is past. This is the era of bowlers. Batters only set up matches. This batsman-obsessed attitude of ours needs to end. If a batter even scores 1,000 runs, it doesn't guarantee victory. But if a bowler takes 20 wickets, then there is a 99 per cent guarantee that we will win the Test match," Gambhir said in a press conference on Monday.
"So if it is a Test match or any other format, bowlers win you matches and tournaments. In this era, we will talk more about bowlers compared to batters, and I hope this mindset changes," he added.
In the era of 1950s to 1990s, even if batters managed to go on to stay on the crease for more than a day or two, the outcome of the match most likely ended in a draw for the majority. But, the results that have been produced over the years have suggested the changing trend in cricket.
During the recent Test in Multan, Pakistan posted a 550-plus score on the board. But England defied the odds, slammed 823/7, declared their inning, and the bowlers did the rest of the job to seal a victory by an innings and 47 runs.
With India boasting a talented bowling lineup mixed with talent and experience, the battle between the bat and the ball in Bengaluru will certainly be a sight to behold.
India's squad for the three Tests against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
Travelling reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna.