World News – AU – India, close to bowling options in ODIs, likely to fight – Sentinelassam

NEW DELHI: India has its back to the wall if even some of its bowlers fail to click during the ODI with three game series that starts in Sydney on Friday. The tourists led by Virat Kohli have a severe shortage of opportunities in batsmen who can bowl or bowlers who can hit, with only Ravindra Jadeja being a real all-rounder.

Hardik Pandya, who is on tour, cannot bowl as he has not yet reached bowler fitness and would most likely just play as a batsman as he did in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for champions Mumbai Indians. Even when played as an all-rounder, he has had no problems bowling in the difficult conditions of Australia.

India faced similar issues in the three-ODI series in New Zealand this February as it failed to defend the grand twice, including one of 347 in the first game where not a single bowler could click. They just didn’t have a backup bowler to fall back on at this ODI in Hamilton. The same happened at the last ODI on Mount Maunganui, where the batsmen didn’t get to 300 and the bowlers couldn’t contain the kiwi batsmen.

There are eight specialized batsmen in India’s 16-man ODI squad, including wicketkeeper batsmen who cannot bowl. If Hardik is considered a pure batsman, there are nine batters. Of the remaining seven, six are specialized bowlers, with Ravindra Jadeja being the only all-rounder.

In comparison, Australia is spoiled for choice: four in its ODI squad – Marcus Stoinis, Moises Henriques, Cameron Green and Daniel Sams are real all-rounders. They also have bowler Pat Cummins who hits well and can run towards the end. Batsman Glenn Maxwell also regularly throws a few overs off-spin. This means that they can play six to seven batsmen and six to seven bowlers in a given game.

« We really like having an extra bowler in ODIs. In England we had Mitchell Marsh, Stoinis and (Glenn) Maxwell to get an additional 10 overs and we liked that combination which gave us an extra all-rounder, « said Australia coach Justin Langer when speaking to the media on Wednesday morning.

By comparison, India only has Jadeja and as the New Zealand experience has shown, he is likely one of the two regular spinners among the five specialized bowlers as India is unlikely to be playing three spinners.

Indian team management, like in New Zealand, will most likely play KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper batsman, which gives an extra place to a batsman or a bowler. If it’s a batsman, the all-rounder Jadeja will only be one of the five bowlers like in New Zealand. But if an extra bowler comes in, Rahul, the wicketkeeper batsman, must also be one of the five specialized batsmen.

The imbalance is caused by Pandya not being able to bowl and there is no information from the BCCI about his fitness or why he traveled when he did not have enough overs under his belt.

India has struggled to find all-rounders in recent years, especially an all-rounder with speed bowling.

Hardik’s brother Krunal, part of the T20 team in Australia, is a spin bowling all-rounder. However, it only applies to T20 cricket. (IANS)

India National Cricket Team, Australian Men’s Cricket Team, Jasprit Bumrah, One Day International, Ravindra Jadeja, Test Cricket, Kartik Tyagi, Prithvi Shaw, Indian Premier League, Cricket Control Authority in India