India have multiple injury concerns to deal within their pace department ahead of the five-match Test series against England but Ishant Sharma is confident that the side has the depth to cope with any situation.
Virat Kohli’s men were dealt a huge blow when seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out for the first three Tests after he aggravated a lower back injury in the final ODI at Lord’s. That came after Jasprit Bumrah had fractured his thumb in the preceding T20 series against Ireland, with the Mumbai pacer facing a race against time to get fit for the Test series.
Despite these recent setbacks, Ishant believes India’s pace department will be one of India’s key strengths in the series against England.
“Everybody used to say that India can’t produce fast bowlers. Now we have probably eight to nine good fast bowlers, anytime who can play Test cricket for India. We have a pretty good chance to win a series in England and Australia, because of the kind of attack we have,” the pacer told the Daily Telegraph in an interview.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been ruled out of the first three Tests.
The Delhi-born bowler enjoyed a successful maiden county stint with Sussex this year and is enjoying bowling in English conditions. Ishant’s spell of 7-74 in the second innings at Lord’s had helped India win its only Test in their tour of 2014.
“The weather is so nice (in England), you can bowl long spells, the conditions are helpful. The ball is nice, the wicket is favourable. There’s a lot of difference between bowling in England and India,” the pacer stated.
The first match between England and India gets underway on August 1 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. With Bhuvneshwar ruled out and Bumrah looking unlikely to recover in time for the first Test, India could line up with a pace attack comprising of Ishant, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav.
