Where are our pacers going wrong on Kiwi shores? The likes of Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma have failed miserably (lack of experience and inept bowling) and thus which Team India have lost back to back ODI series overseas.
Where are our pacers going wrong on Kiwi shores? The likes of Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma have failed miserably (lack of experience and inept bowling) and thus which Team India have lost back to back ODI series overseas. With the ICC 2015 World Cup in the frame, the selectors are on the right track of breeding young talent but is that risk worth taking for?
As Rahul Dravid points out that MS Dhoni does not have a ‘go-to’ bowler at the moment. In an interview with The Times of India, Rahul said that, “If he looks around the field, and if he isn’t sure who he can go to, his ‘banker’ so to speak, it does become difficult. They are skilled and talented, but they haven’t been able to execute those skills under pressure, as much as the team management would have wanted.”
So true are his words. India just lacks a ‘fit and firing’ Zaheer Khan-like figure. ‘Zak’ then, would come firing in with all the ammo in his artillary and grab some crucial wickets in the end. If MS Dhoni decides to recall the pacer in the ODI team too, a brave one, might benefit some of the youngsters like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Aaron.
Besides the pace bowling attack, the spinners have also been lacking that killer edge in the overseas games. Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been India’s best spinner of late, has struggled to pick up wickets in New Zealand and still manages to make the cut into the ODI playing eleven. If many ex-players and pundtis are calling for his head (rightly so), Ashwin needs to realise how to bowl on alien conditions. He may need so when India tour next year for the 2015 World Cup here. Ravindra Jadeja who has been ‘ok’, too has been on a wicket drought.
If the batting was ‘bad’ in the series, bowling too has been below par. 2 consecutive series loss in ODIs and India are still ranked second in the ICC ODI rankings. With such a performance, India won’t even make the Super Eight stage of the World Cup next year.
Unless and untill there are drastic changes brought into the team, Team India might need a ‘superhuman’ effort to bail themselves out of this rut.
