CHENNAI: Swing is swing da ... but what do you do on a good batting surface? East Zone’s pace-bowling pair, Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar, showed the South Zone bowlers how to bowl in such conditions under scorching sun on the third day of the Duleep Trophy final here at MA Chidambaram Stadium, on Tuesday.
It took Shami just three deliveries to shape the ball away from right-handed Ricky Bhui and instantly draw attention towards the perfect seam position. When offered a loose delivery down the leg-side, Bhui’s eyes lit up, only for him to get a big edge straight into the hands of Kumar Kushagra. The delivery might have been loose, but the set-up was right.
Across that first burst between Shami and Mukesh, East Zone had given away just 17 runs across seven overs, which included a wicket. “Our plan was simply to keep them playing as much as possible. The more bat they put on the ball, the more chances get created,” Mukesh revealed after day’s play.
It wasn’t just about smart rotations. It was step one of the art of swing, and step two required patience and smartness in scuffing one end of the ball for reverse swing on a good sporting wicket.
“On red soil like this, balls tend to scuff up and lose condition quickly. It comes down to how well you shine it and look after it; that’s crucial for reverse swing. We worked on that, and it gave us movement.”
Fifteen overs later, with the ball scuffed up, Kishan tossed the ball to Mukesh again to prise out Devdutt Padikkal, with the southpaw well set on half-century. The spell was just two overs, but the lines and lengths were testing, in contrast to South Zone, who stuck to their short-ball strategy.
“The harder I pound the deck and hit the seam, the more the ball will kick, regardless of the wicket. The other part is working on the ball — applying sweat repeatedly, polishing it, and preparing it for reverse swing,” the pacer revealed. It was on full display after lunch when the seasoned Shami tailed the ball back into Shaik Rasheed, trapping him right in front of the wicket. Short yet sharp bursts allowed both pacers to put in their full efforts.
“We were discussing how the ball was moving, how it could reverse, and things like that. When I was bowling, he was advising me, and when he came on to bowl after my spell, I shared what I was sensing off the pitch with him. We were keeping that communication going.”
Two overs later, replacing Shami, Mukesh struck big, removing a well-set Devdutt Padikkal with what looked like an innocuous delivery but was more than that. Just a delivery prior, the 32-year-old had bowled the same ball, but it kept low against Tilak Varma. A delivery later, Padikkal mistimed his shot straight into the hands of substitute fielder Denish Das.
“Our plan against Devdutt was to bowl stump-to-stump because if I bowled outside off, we knew he was coming off two centuries in Sri Lanka. On wickets like this, if you offer width to batters, runs will leak. Our plan as fast bowlers was to stay as consistent as possible and bowl dot balls, letting them take the risks,” the pacer revealed.
Every time East were under a bit of pressure due to a partnership building, the solution was right in front of the skipper, be it Kishan or Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: pace-attack. Shami’s reintroduction posed R Smaran with a lot of problems and he perished on the fourth delivery. If not for Sooryavanshi’s simple drop, the pacer would have had a third wicket – a well-deserved one, as he set up Shreyas Gopal with Test match bowling.
11 overs, 17 runs, two wickets
12 overs, 36 runs, two wickets
25 overs, 140 runs, zero wickets
It isn’t hard to guess the three bowlers and their bowling figures. While Shami and Mukesh aced the tough conditions on a sporting wicket at Chepauk, India’s red-ball regular Mohammed Siraj endured a woeful outing.
“There’s hitting the deck and gauging length—working out what length works best on this pitch. I didn't pitch it too full here. If I bowled full, it would invite cover drives and similar shots. So, pulling the length back slightly to back-of-a-length on this red soil—if you hit the deck hard and put effort into it, the ball kicks. We worked a lot on that,” Mukesh opened up on East Zone’s plans after day three.
Despite being 0.8 kmph slower on an average, the wily veteran Shami showed Siraj why he’s still rated as one of the best exponents of seam bowling around in world cricket. And for the South Zone, the plan was wrong the entire way.