The Indian bowlers have been hunting in a pack in the World Cup 2023. Even though there is no Indian bowler in the top 3 wicket-takers at the time of writing, Team India is on top of the points table with 8 wins in 8 games, and remains the only undefeated team in the tournament.
Such has been the dominance of the Indian bowlers that many hail this five-man Indian bowling attack – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav – as not only India’s strongest-ever ODI bowling attack, but arguably the strongest-ever bowling attack in World Cup history.
Out of 8 matches, only two teams – Bangladesh and Afghanistan – have managed to play all 50 overs against India, and those games came on flat, batting-friendly surfaces and India didn’t play Shami in those games.
In a tournament which has been a high-scoring one and many batting records have been broken, India’s bowling has got everyone excited.
Until the time of writing, that is after match number 41, India have taken the most number of wickets in the tournament – 75 wickets in 8 games at an average of 19.02, which is also the best among all 10 teams in the tournament.
India have three five-wicket hauls – two from Mohammed Shami and one from Ravindra Jadeja – while no other team has even two five-wicket hauls.
Also, the collective economy rate of 4.4 of Indian bowlers is, as expected, the best in the tournament.
In fact, in the top 5 bowlers with best economy rates in World Cup 2023, 4 are Indians.
Best economy rate in World Cup 2023 (minimum 20 overs):
1) Jasprit Bumrah – 3.65
2) Ravindra Jadeja – 3.77
3) Kuldeep Yadav – 4.16
4) Mohammad Nabi – 4.25
5) Mohammed Shami – 4.31
Bumrah has particularly been outstanding with the new ball. Bumrah has maintained an economy of 2.73 in powerplay, miles better than any other fast bowler in any other team. He has bowled 161 dot balls out of the 204 legal balls he’s bowled in the powerplay. Bumrah has bowled the most dot balls in the World Cup 2023. He’s sent down 383 legal balls so far, out of which 268 have been dot balls!
India’s next game is against the Netherlands. India’s major challenge will now be in the semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai.
