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Seaming niggle for India ahead of World Cup

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as well as some former cricketers believe that Indian pace attack needs to gather momentum once the tournament gets underway.

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India’s 38-run win over Australia in their first warm-up match in Bangalore may have looked convincing in the end, but the team still needs to pull up their socks in some departments, especially, their pace attack.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as well as some former cricketers believe that Indian pace attack needs to gather momentum once the tournament gets underway.

With Zaheer Khan rested for the first match, the pace attack looked flat against Aussie batting. Except S Sreesanth the other two pacers went for runs, which even forced Dhoni to speak out regarding the pace attack in the post-match conference.

“The spinners did a real good job for us and if we improve on the fast bowling department and if that also contributes, it will be great for us,” said Dhoni.

Former Indian all-rounder and member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, Roger Binny also felt that something was lacking as far as the pace attack was concerned. “I think Sreesanth bowled superbly, but the other two were not up to the mark. Maybe because the pitch had eased out and the Australians were batting aggressively, especially (Shane) Watson,” said Binny. “However, it’s just a warm-up game and I am sure by the time the actual tournament begins, things will be in place,” he added.

Binny maintained that once Zaheer is back in the side, the pace attack will look completely different. “I think Zaheer will make the difference. Once you have a champion bowler leading the bowling attack, it automatically pumps up the rest of the guys who will be following him,” he said.

Another cricketing great Gundappa Viswanath had similar feelings regarding Team India’s performance. “The pace bowling could have been slightly better. It’s important that the pacers get early breakthrough to put the pressure on the batting side. But again one needs to remember that Zaheer was not playing in the match,”  he said.

Another cause of concern was the middle-order collapse. But Dhoni defended his boys. “Of course, it is bit of a headache but we know the kind of talent we have got. We just need to get off to a good start and the middle-order needs to contribute,” he said.

“For the warm-up games it was mentally difficult to prepare yourself because if you play 35-odd ODIs in a year and 10 Test matches and 45 days of IPL and Champions League then all of a sudden when you hear that you have a warm-up game and 15 players are playing in that game, it is a very difficult scenario to mentally prepare yourself for the game, which really reflected on the field,” he added.

“I think that the batsmen should have applied themselves at the centre. It’s very important that the middle-order clicks,” said Viswanath.

But the find of the match was undoubtedly Piyush Chawla who came back in to form just before the start of the World Cup. “It will be a World Cup, which will be dominated by the spinners and the way Chawla bowled on Sunday was simply superb. Now we have an offie-leggie duo, both in good form and that’s great news for the Indian fans,” said Binny.

While Dhoni was happy with his spinners, he admitted that with all of the three- Harbhajan, Piyush Chawla and R Ashwin, in great form it could well turn out to be a headache for him once the tournament begins. “Again, the selection of the second or a third spinner is a headache, but a good one to have because more the options, the better it is for the team.”

While people are talking about some grey areas in the team almost everyone agrees that once Tendulkar and Zaheer are back in the side, it will look like the
champion squad.

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