India have created a pace pool that would allow them to rotate the quicks and sustain the kind of performance they showed in Australia, bowling coach Bharat Arun said on Friday.
India had their entire frontline attack wiped out before the Brisbane decider, but the injury-ravaged tourists still pulled off an epic 2-1 series victory in Australia after a lion-hearted effort by their replacement bowlers.
Playing only his third Test, Mohammed Siraj led their pace attack, which included Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini, who had played one Test each, as well as debutant Thangarasu Natarajan.
Photo: AFP
“We have been planning this over the last three years,” former Test player Arun told a video conference. “If you need India to be sustainably doing well at the international level, you need a pool of bowlers who would be rotated time and again so that they stay fresh.
“Now we are blessed with a great bench strength. So it’s very heartening how these guys have come to the party.”
Pacers Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar missed the tour with injuries, which continued to bedevil India’s bid to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Net bowlers Washington Sundar and Natarajan were handed Test debuts in Brisbane after Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah had their tour cut short by injuries.
Arun said the emergence of the new crop of bowlers augured well, considering the workload ahead, which includes a combined nine Test matches, home and away, against England.
“I think it’s a very healthy trend. It’s an embarrassment of riches,” the 58-year-old said. “Now we have seven fast bowlers willing to play for the country. If we need to give our best performance, it will be extremely handy.”
Sparately, India and England’s first two Tests in Chennai next month are to be played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association said.
The two matches start on Feb. 5 and Feb. 22.
The third and fourth Tests are due to be played in Ahmedabad from Feb. 24 and March 4.
Authorities there have yet to decide whether those matches would also be played behind closed doors.
SRI LANKA, ENGLAND
AFP, GALLE, Sri Lanka
England paceman James Anderson returned his best figures of 6-40 in Asia to help bowl out Sri Lanka for 381 on Day 2 of the second Test yesterday, with the tourists reaching 98-2 at stumps.
Lasith Embuldeniya struck early to remove the openers, while Skipper Joe Root (67 not out) and Jonny Bairstow (24 not out) were batting as England trailed by 283 runs in Galle.
Anderson, 38, denied Niroshan Dickwella a century after sending him back on 92 to claim his 30th five-wicket haul and second in Sri Lanka — his previous best was 5-75 in Galle in 2012.
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