(Cricket news) Despite losing the series against South Africa, India are arguably the best Test side in the World. The men in blue have incredible depth in all the departments and never seem to be affected by injuries and absentees. India have always had brilliant batters over the years but the reason for their dominance in recent times is the bowling unit.

In home conditions, spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav and Washington Sundar rarely disappoint. Away from home, seamers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur swing things in India's favour more often than not. The incredible bowling unit is always backed by the captains, be it Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane or more recently KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma.

Perhaps the biggest reason of all is the combination of the team. India, since the infamous 1st Test against Australia at Adelaide have never gone into a game with 7 pure batters and just 4 bowlers. They have always gone for 5 proper bowling options even if that meant that the batting ends at no. 6. Every other team usually backs 4 bowlers and a batting all-rounder at the most with their wicket-keeper batting at number 7.

There are two simple reasons why this works for India. The first reason is the existence of Rishabh Pant. The gloveman could walk into any side in the world as a pure batter. If in the future Pant stopped keeping wickets he still has the batting talent to continue playing for India. The fact that India have a keeper who is good enough to play in the top 6 of any team allows them to play one batter less because usually the keeper is weaker than pure batters.

The other reason is Ravindra Jadeja. Usually, the case with all-rounders is that they do one thing better than the other. Although Jadeja started as a bowling all-rounder, his batting has improved a lot in the past 3 years. At the same time his bowling is showing no signs of decline. The fact that Jadeja can play as a pure batter or a pure bowler is a huge asset to any team. Australia and New Zealand usually play with 4 bowlers and batter who can bowl seam. That is why Cameron Green and Colin de Grandhomme can be considered as 5th bowling options and not proper bowlers.

With India, the issue is that none of the 5 pure batters can bowl well, even part time, except Hanuma Vihari who did it for a while but doesn't anymore. In South Africa, despite Jadeja being injured, India still went with 5 bowlers and trusted the ability of Pant, Ashwin and Shardul Thakur lower down the order. Even though that didn't work, it showed the stubborn tactics of India. Jadeja and Pant could be classed as two of the most important players for India across formats, maybe more so in the longest one.

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