Clean bowled

The Rajkot win will go down in history as a high-scoring thriller. But beneath all those 825 runs lies the harsh reality that India barely managed to defend 414. The performance of the bowlers — till the 49th over — was nothing but pathetic. Sanity prevailed when Zaheer Khan (49th) and Ashish Nehra (50th) held their nerves and India snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

You have to give it to the Indian batsmen for having amassed all those runs. Fine, the wicket was a belter but 414 runs don’t just come your way. You need to score them.
However, India’s bowlers better introspect. Why were they so ineffective despite a mountain of runs to defend? Was it because of the pitch — which supported the batsmen to the T — or were our bowlers not up to the mark? Even the atrocious fielding of the so-called young side needs to be blamed. After all, Sri Lanka nearly pulled it off even as India dished out freebies on a platter.

While the Indian batsmen are having the time of their .lives with the willow, the bowlers are going through a forgetful phase, at least in the ODIs. The bowling attack, which is otherwise hampered by injuries, has struggled to be consistent. The onus has been on senior pro Harbhajan Singh who has had to fight it all alone in the middle overs. Bhajji has not quite got the support from the other end. Anil Kumble, are you listening?

In the last series against Australia, the Indian bowlers struggled to take wickets and conceded enough runs that saw the Aussies romp to a 4-2 win. Zaheer Khan was sorely missed and the attack, comprising Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar, looked pedestrian.

Former India seamer Karsan Ghavri feels the fielding let the bowlers down. “We conceded so many runs but our fielders have been doing a pathetic job. They have dropped so many catches. We have a good bowling attack but consistency is the key. In Rajkot, you found a batting track, somewhere else you will get a different track. Our bench strength is quite good. We have Ojha (Pragyan), Mishra (Amit) and other bowlers but we will have to give them exposure and wait for them to become complete bowlers,” he added.

“Harbhajan is a very good bowler and has performed for years. He’s going through a rough patch but I think he will bounce back,” Ghavri added.

Meanwhile former India captain Ajit Wadekar said the bowlers will have to bowl intelligently. “The new rules and the technical aspects favour batsmen in ODIs. Hence the bowlers will have to be more cautious. “In the Rajkot game, the bowlers took it easy because they had enough runs on the board. Thus, they went for wickets and in the process, conceded a lot of runs. Our fielding, too, was not up to the mark. But we have a good attack and the bowlers have the ability to do well,” he added.