Kolkata, Aug. 30 -- Less than a month back, India's Test bowling attack appeared to be heading into unfamiliar territory. Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the Sri Lanka tour, and with him went a sizeable chunk of experience and strike power. Mohammed Siraj led the attack, but alongside him India had Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi. Krishna had seven Tests behind him, Brar and Nabi none. It was the sort of selection that can prompt a familiar question in modern cricket: in an age when the quickest route to a career, reputation and financial security runs through T20 cricket, where do you find the Test bowler? Perhaps the more pertinent question is, how do you build him? The evidence from Sri Lanka was reassuring. Krishna's returns across the two Tests suggested that experience, while valuable, is not the only currency required for Test bowling. Quality, preparation and, above all, the willingness to embrace the demands of the longest format can still carry a bowler a long way. Former India fast bowler Varun Aaron, one of the younger coaches right now, believes the fundamental skill remains much the same regardless of the format. "Test or T20, the basics don't change. It's not a coincidence that some of the best Test bowlers are the best T20 bowlers as well," he told HT. Aaron should know. He was watching Praful Hinge while the Vidarbha bowler was operating in red-ball cricket and saw enough to bring him into the Sunrisers Hyderabad setup. On IPL debut, Hinge made an immediate impression, taking three wickets in the opening over. That journey-from red-ball cricket to the T20 environment and back again-perhaps says more about modern fast bowling than the familiar argument that T20 cricket is interfering with the process of Test cricket. The underlying craft isn't entirely different. The complication, however, is the volume. What has become harder is finding the time-and the physical preparation-to move between formats. Describing the challenge before the Galle Test, India bowling coach Morne Morkel pointed out that returning to the rhythms of Test bowling required something more than simply remembering where to pitch the ball. "In these conditions, it's all about your mindset. If you're a fast bowler, if you're going to bowl the shortest spells, the energy you put in the ball and putting it into good areas-you'll always have opportunity. As the Test match will go on, hopefully there will be a little bit of uneven bounce." Then comes the harder part. "It's about how we can stack up overs together with intensity and create that pressure. Because we haven't played a lot of red-ball cricket in the last couple of months, going back into that is going to be a challenge as well." Intensity matters as well. Test bowling is not simply T20 bowling repeated for longer. It's the ability to sustain physical and mental pressure when there may be no immediate reward. For a young fast bowler accustomed to bowling four or ten overs, the biggest adjustment may therefore be psychological as much as technical. Yet the desire to make that adjustment has not disappeared. Like Arshdeep Singh, who has often been described as a white-ball specialist but his ambitions stretch beyond it. After taking 3/53 and 1/40 for North Zone in their 52-run victory over West Zone in Bengaluru to enter the Duleep Trophy semi-finals, he spoke like a bowler rediscovering a part of himself....