Ravi Shastri
There is much to enthuse over Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. He swings it big either way without giving anything away. There is a very good line to go along with it. Added in the mix is his temperament which didn’t show nerves in his first match. He ran in hard and was eager for a contest which is a good news.
The bad news is India had no business to waste a start in the manner they did in Bangalore. Wickets fell in a heap which made Pakistan bowling appear twice as good. India were always under the pump from then on, despite Kumar’s pyrotechnics.
It didn’t help India they had a bowling attack without much depth. Ashok Dinda has the propensity to bowl a loose delivery now and then which offsets much of his good work in the over. He needs a bigger mix of variety too. Ishant Sharma was gingerly to begin with but built up a good steam towards the end of his spell. Ravinder Jadeja has very quickly found out that being termed as an allrounder in Ranji Trophy cricket is far different from being termed as one at the International level even if its just T20.
Pakistan also found an interesting way to deal with Yuvraj Singh. The Punjab dasher has the ability to second guess the batsmen while bowling but Pakistanis had his measure in this game. I was amazed at the ability of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik to hit sixes off the backfoot. They were more scoops than lofted shots and yet cleared the fence on more than one occasion.
A reason for it of course is the quality of bats but primarily these two men are blessed with exceptional sense of timing. They were in complete control and despite hiccup in the end, Pakistan were always winning this game in which India’s batting imploded.
For starters, India must bat to potential in Ahmedabad on Friday. They must also think about getting Ravi Ashwin right back into the mix rather than waste time with Jadeja. The last few weeks have been a trail to unearth and present a decent bowling bunch on the park. This quest isn’t going to get any easier if the batsmen don’t step up to the plate.
Pakistan are hungry and possibly the most consistent Twenty20 side of the last five years. India won’t have an easy time in Ahmedabad, or in subsequent one-day matches, if batsmen aren’t able to offer a protective shield to their bowling burdens.
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