India have pressed a bit of that panic button already by flying Stuart Binny to Sri Lanka for the rest of the Test series.
After their abysmal show, where India failed to chase down a modest fourth innings target of 176, the selectors have decided that five-bowler theory might not be the greatest of ideas after all, with all-rounder Binny now joining up with the rest of the squad in Colombo.
"All-rounder Stuart Binny will join the Indian cricket team before the second match [which begins on 20 August] of the three-match Test series in Sri Lanka," the BCCI said in a statement.
While the five-bowler theory can be questioned to some extent, what really hurt India in that first Test, from a bowling point of view, is that Virat Kohli was basically left with four potent bowlers.
Harbhajan Singh was as ineffective as they come in the Galle Test match, finishing with match figures of 25-0-90-1.
While he was economical in the first innings the veteran leaked too many runs in the second – that could be said of most of the bowlers as Dinesh Chandimal took charge – while picking up that solitary wicket, of Jehan Mubarak.
A lot of bowlers go wicketless in Test matches, but it is about how effective you can be: Are you troubling the batsmen? Are the batsmen a little tentative while playing you? Does it even remotely look like you can get a breakthrough?
Unfortunately for Harbhajan, the answer to all those questions was an emphatic no. The Sri Lanka batsmen were always comfortable and rarely looked threatened while playing the off-spinner, who seems to have forgotten what it is to turn the ball.
On a pitch that was offering plenty of turn, apart from a few odd deliveries, Harbhajan, who wasn't too impressive in that one-off Test against Bangladesh either, barely spun the ball, and that, for an off-spinner, is just not good enough.
After a mundane first innings performance – he gave away 17 runs in his 8 overs, without picking up a wicket -- the second innings was Harbhajan's opportunity to come to the fore, especially with R Ashwin not being as effective.
However, while Rangana Herath, another veteran who had a thing or two to prove after a forgettable first innings performance, showed he still has that venom and ability to pick up wickets, Harbhajan's failing were clear as day – the offie is not a Test match spinner anymore; he can do a job in limited-overs cricket, but in Test matches he is as ineffective as they come.
India played with three spinners in the first Test match, knowing Galle would be the kind of wicket that aids the slow bowlers, and if they plan to do that again in Colombo, Kohli, no doubt, would like another option.
Unfortunately, there is no other option – so it is either play Harbhajan again and pray he finds his mojo, or go with an extra pace option, be that in the shape of Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav or the all-rounder Binny.
The fact that Binny has been called up suggests India will go with the all-rounder for the second Test match, to mainly boost their batting lineup after that spectacular collapse which handed Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in this three-Test series.
