Former India player turned renowned commentator VVS Laxman has revealed that he has seen a great improvement in the Indian tailenders as they have worked hard in the nets. As per him, their efforts were seen on Day 5 at Lord’s as India won the match convincingly.
Mohammed Shami scored an unbeaten 56 and Jasprit Bumrah remained unbeaten on 34 and added an unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 89 runs which helped them win as well. While speaking about this, Laxman referred to it as impressive.
VVS Laxman stated on ESPN Cricinfo: “Credit to the team management and all the tailenders. Ishant Sharma is more than capable of batting and I have had the experience of having those partnerships with him. Shami is more than capable of batting. You know that he can hit big sixes. I still remember that match against South Africa, where he hit a lot of sixes. Umesh Yadav, who is not part of this playing XI, is a useful batsman. He has got a first-class hundred. Jasprit Bumrah, we have seen from the Australia series, how much value he is giving to his wicket and how much he has improved as far as his batting is concerned. Siraj, being from Hyderabad, I know that he can bat.”
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He continued: “It is about the desire to get better, which is very impressive. I have seen Raghu, the throwdown specialist, working with these bowlers. These bowlers do extra throwdowns do get better. And majority of the times, when Raghu bowls or when he throws in the nets, he targets the rib cage at a very good pace. The more you work and the more meaningful your preparation is, the better you get. First and foremost, the desire of all these bowlers to get better is evident and that is why you are seeing the results.”
However, Team India had struggled with the bat while coming to tailenders over the last few years. But slowly the situation has changed and it was seen in the first Test as well when Bumrah scored 28 in the first innings.
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“This is a massive shift for the Indian batting line-up. We have talked about how the middle-order hasn’t performed to their potential. Also, the contribution from Indian tailenders hasn’t been as good. Nothing succeeds like success. The more success you achieve, the more confidence you build. Now (lower-order players can think), ‘I can contribute useful runs every time I go out to bat’,” VVS Laxman concluded.
