It is said that victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin, if you don’t win, there is a lesson to be learned. But the issues of selectors picking only three fast bowlers in the Indian squad for the Asia Cup and the lack of wicket-takers in the middle overs have become more exposed.
Look, it seems obvious that Team India missed Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in the match against Pakistan. The major reason for the Indian team losing the match was not picking up wickets in the middle overs and this thing has been bothering the team for a long now. Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep Singh are doing a good job in the opening overs and bowling at a low economy rate and their work, in the end, is commendable. But if we check out our bowling options for Asia Cup 2022, how many wicket-takers do we have? Let’s go one by one:
First of all Bhuwneshwar Kumar is excellent with the new ball if there is a bit of swing, and economical if the ball isn’t moving. 21 wickets in 15 matches with an economy of 6.77. This is exceptional keeping in mind he bowls in powerplay and death only.
Now, Arshdeep Singh is one of the best young Indian pacers. He hits yorker accurately but he is a death-over type bowler. “Arshdeep Singh is a work in progress. He’s not a finished product.”- Aakash Chopra. Avesh khan, an exciting bowler, bowls with a good pace. Good bowler but he will give you wickets, you are not confident in him.
Now if we talk about spinners, then Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, and Axar Patel, all three are part of the Indian camp of Asia Cup. Yuzi Chahal is a wicket-taker when he bowls those loopies, but he is consistently bowling quick. Axar Patel and Ashwin are much of defensive bowlers in the short format. Ravi Bishnoi is a young Indian talent and a straightforward wicket-taker but lacks experience, and sometimes overstepping is the stumbling block. He made a few chances out of nowhere and got the most important man Babar down.
Yes, it is a concern. Although the Indian bowling unit is decent. But if bowlers do not pick wickets, you are going to lose anyways even if you scored 200+. Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara also added his comments “We can go with different combinations from here as a bowling unit. I feel we need to change our team as this combination isn’t working. Play Axar Patel and bring an extra seamer. Hardik has been bowling well but you can’t call him every time to bowl four over. I think if he is fit, Avesh should come back to the side.”
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