Kolkata: If you had to pick three specialist fast bowlers in India's eleven, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj should be at the top of that very brief list.

Very rarely do they bowl together though, and a lot of it is done by mandate. Go back to the last ODI World Cup, the leadup to it specifically, where India had made it abundantly clear that they won't pick all their best bowlers at the same time. Two fast bowlers, two allrounders (Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja) and a specialist spinner (mostly Kuldeep Yadav) was how they usually went about their business.

So successful was that formula that Shami's absence wasn't felt at all in the beginning, till Pandya was ruled out due to injury. Shami then ended as the tournament's highest wicket-taker with 24 scalps. None of that was unexpected, by the way. Pretty much after the 2015 World Cup, India realised that Shami is a no-go for round-the-year cricket. Similar terms and conditions applied to Bumrah's career even before it took off at international level. So, instead of being faced with the prospect of not having both Bumrah and Shami for an important tournament, India started planning their workloads in a way they always had one of them.

Which is something you could guess from the way the career curves of Bumrah and Shami are entwined around ICC events. Bumrah missed the 2022 T20 World Cup, Shami missed the T20 World Cup in 2016 and 2024, apart from the 2017 Champions Trophy. But both featured in the 2019 and 2023 ODI World Cups. So, while there's no evidence to proclaim that Bumrah and Shami together would have been a winning tango, there's also little doubt that not having Bumrah could be a body blow.

Forgoing a win percentage of 60 every time Bumrah has bowled for India in ODIs in the last five years can be a heavy punt. An average of 18 runs per wicket in those wins, backed by a strike rate of 27.3 balls, underpins Bumrah's genius. And since this is white-ball cricket, nothing really can compensate for that yorker or those back-of-a-length slower balls which so effectively lures batters into early shots.

Not all is lost though, especially when you look up Shami's numbers. Unbelievable as it may sound, they are better than Bumrah in India's ODI wins since 2020. An average of 15.44 and a phenomenal strike rate of 17.1 aggregated in 19 wins - 18 of which came in India - appropriately reflects what Shami does well on abrasive subcontinent surfaces. The primary reason for Shami's unparalleled success is the natural back of length that batters can neither attack nor defend, creating a fourth-stump boobytrap that eventually sets up comprehensive dismissals.

Also the upright seam position, which Wasim Akram effusively praised during the 2023 World Cup. "Shami's ball hits the deck on the straight seam. He does not bowl with a wobbly seam. His seam kisses the pitch. He does not bang it in," Akram had explained. "From back of length he gets the ball to go in and away. He doesn't swing the ball as much as Bumrah, but he gets it to seam." Consistent pace in the 140kph range is the key here, as is the ability to resort to a shorter length in case Shami finds consistent bounce in the pitch. Which is why so few batters go on the front foot to him even in the middle overs.

Still some time away, the Champions Trophy is no World Cup. The league stage isn't winding, the travel isn't as tiring, but the shorter duration also effectively rules out anyone who can't pass the final squad selection fitness test. Bumrah anyway has stretched himself in Australia. And with India scheduled to tour England in the summer, there is very little chance of Bumrah making the Champions Trophy cut and thereby risking seven months of non-stop cricket (IPL begins barely a week after the Champions Trophy).

Which could make India's case look a little precarious given that Shami hasn't played international cricket since November 19, 2023. He has played some cricket for Bengal, but that can never be expected to rig him entirely for the grind of a Champions Trophy. Hence the staggered comeback, the first stage of which should see him bowl in the home T20I series against England. Shami has never featured in ODIs in the UAE but bowlers of his kind know what lengths to bowl on which pitch. All he needs is a little real time conditioning, and a timely one considering the circumstances.