Bharat Arun says strong pool of bowlers key to Indian cricket team’s consistency.
The Indian team, known as one of the batting powerhouses in world cricket, has their bowlers to thank for much of their success this past year.
Bharat Arun, India cricket team’s bowling coach, believes the side’s biggest challenge will be to upkeep their bowling potential in order to maintain their blistering form across formats.
This Indian team is blessed with bowlers who are so versatile. The biggest challenge would be to make them perform time and again to maintain the level of consistency. For that I need to create a pool of players, all of whom can come in anytime and do their job,” Bharat Arun was quoted as saying to India Today.
The former Indian Test cricketer lavished praise on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for their brilliant death bowling performances, which helped India thrash Sri Lanka (5-0) and Australia (4-1).
“It’s quite a privilege to have bowlers who are so versatile, especially Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar. They are extremely skillful when it comes to death bowling; they have variety and know when to use their skills perfectly to do well in death overs.
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“My job as a coach is to give them the right feedback so that they understand themselves better. To speak about their strengths so that they are able to use their skills effectively. And that’s exactly what these two have done,” Arun added.
‘Management wants to try Kuldeep, Chahal’
On Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being left out of the limited-overs setup, Bharat Arun stated that the management is keen on giving Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal an opportunity to prove themselves before finalizing their bowling lineup for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
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“Ashwin and Jadeja have been exceptional spinners, they have done a great job with both the white and red ball. They would definitely be a part of the old setup but it is the team management’s view of giving everyone a fair run and it’s only fair that we give Kuldeep and Chahal a fair run before we decide what kind of combinations we would like for the 2019 World Cup.”
Arun also went on to point out that Kuldeep’s biggest challenge will be evolve as bowler, especially when he gets hit for maximums.
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“Kuldeep is someone who is extremely talented but each team has enough videos with them to study every bowler and understand the bowlers better. So I think the challenge for every bowler is to evolve and to have variations that are difficult for batsmen to pick. What we discuss with Kuldeep is when you do get hit, there are lots of lessons to be learnt. Also, understand the batsmen better and at the end, constantly evolvoing is the key for Kuldeep,” said Arun.
Arun also lauded Hardik Pandya and said the all-rounder will be key to India’s chances overseas.
“Pandya is an extremely talented all-rounder and from Hardik’s point of view, he is a very quick learner. What we are really working on with Hardik is if he can really bring in those 10 overs in ODIs. He’s working a lot on his skills and he’s not afraid to try, probably one of the most fearless cricketers you can have in the side and it makes our job easier.
“He is someone who constantly wants to improve and he is maturing fast. He is really happy to take up challenges and the biggest challenge he will have in terms of his bowling is to able to bowl his quota of 10 overs in ODIs,” said the 54-year-old Arun.