After improving the batting in recent times, the Indian team is now caught in the problem of poor bowling. When Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma took charge of the T20I team, the main issue of the Indian team was their conservative batting. The Indian batsmen also took some time to improve in this area but somehow they were successful in performing as per the demand of the team. If India were to look at the positives from the last few matches, batting would be their strongest side.
However, one thing was common in these three matches that Jasprit Bumrah was not present in the playing 11 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar spent 16, 14, and 19 runs respectively in the 19th over of each match. Not that India was making any strategic mistake by giving Bhuvneshwar the 19th over as Bhuvneshwar is the best bowler of the last overs in Bumrah’s absence.
Bhuvneshwar would probably comfortably admit that he was not able to bowl with his plans in Mohali. Hitting the ball over the head of a fielder is one thing but getting hit by Matthew Wade repeatedly in the same direction where there is no fielder is another and it will definitely make Bhuvneshwar sad. This was the first time in International T20 cricket that Bhuvneshwar had conceded more than 50 runs in his four overs. The Indian team will hope that Bhuvneshwar improves his bowling soon.
Harshal Patel, who was returning from injury, spent 49 runs in his four overs. Not only this, he spent 22 runs in the 18th over. Wade reads Herschel’s slow deliveries brilliantly and hits big shots at him. The pitch at Mohali was largely similar to that of the Australian pitches. There was good bounce on the pitch and the ball was never coming to a halt. The effectiveness of slow deliveries on such pitches is always a doubt. If the situation remains the same during the T20 World Cup, then what other options Harshal will have, it will be a matter of thinking.
Rohit said after the match, “I don’t think we bowled well. More than 200 is definitely a good score, and we missed a lot of chances in the field as well. Our batsmen put in a good effort but the bowling was pretty lacking,” Rohit said after the match. You can’t score 200 runs everyday. Hardik [Pandya] batted really well to get us to that score. We need to think a lot about our bowling before the next game.”