Indian national team bowling coach Bharat Arun feels excited after observing the current pace bowling stocks for the national team.
The long bunch of top pace-bowling attacks has helped the Indian cricket team to evolve as the most powerful pace-bowling team in the present international cricket. Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma are the major members in this list.
While the Indian cricketers hardly face a long gap from cricket in the present days, they need to have a strong bench strength, especially for the pace bowling, to hold their top-class international cricket performances for a long time. The strong pace-bowling bench strength provides a positive fitness level in the pace-bowling line-up and cuts the chances of missing the important pacers during the big tournaments or series.
Talking about the pace bowling strength, the Indian bowling coach said, “When we started off, the onus was on not only creating a pace bowling unit which would be a force to reckon with but we also needed a very good bench strength. To sustain fast bowling over a long period of time, you need to rotate these bowlers because you have to manage their workloads. India plays at least 60 percent more cricket than the rest of the world.
“So workload management becomes very important. For the first time, I guess, we have a very good fast bowling quartet and also the bench strength is very exciting.
“Four fast bowlers playing in the same match was unheard of. I think, in South Africa, for the first time in Indian cricket history, we went into a match without a single spinner. This augurs really well for Indian cricket.”
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The 20-year-old left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed is the new addition in the Indian pace bowling squad, who has recently impressed with his mature bowling performances. Recently, during the ODI match against Windies at Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium), the young left-arm pacer has claimed his best ODI bowling figure of 5-0-13-3.
Just one year ago, the Indian bowling coach wished to add one good left-handed pace bowling attack in the squad as they have no regular left-arm pacers. It seems like Khaleel Ahmed is the perfect addition in that place.
Praising Khaleel Ahmed, Arun said, “Khaleel looks a very exciting prospect. He’s sharp, has the skills to do well at the international level.”
A few months back, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami etc failed to pass the new fitness test system – Yo-Yo test. It took time for them to pass it after giving re-test. Arun said it is not a very tough test but it is a very important part for the national team.
Arun said, “With the kind of schedules we have, it’s (fitness) very-very important part. The mark we have kept for the people to pass is not very tough. Anyone who is in the team, has to definitely pass the fitness test.”
Arun has also remarked the present limited-overs wicketkeeper-batsman and the former captain MS Dhoni as a legend of Indian cricket team. While Dhoni is currently struggling with the bat, Arun believes he will back in-form soon.
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Arun spoke about Dhoni, “I think he’s one of the legends of Indian cricket and his striking ability is there for everyone to see. He’s done many a times before. He’s extremely experienced and I’m sure, given the opportunities, he will come really good.”
