'Don't believe in workload management for bowling. Instead...': Ex-India pacer identifies key Team India weakness
The former India pacer made a major remark over the side's weakness as it continues to prepare for the ODI World Cup at home.
Team India returned to action in the ODIs on Thursday, defeating West Indies by five wickets in the opening match in Barbados. The Indian bowling attack made easy work of the Windies batters, bundling the side out for merely 114 before chasing the target down inside 23 overs. The spinners ruled the roost, with left-arm spin twins Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav picking seven wickets among them. The latter registered brilliant figures of 4/6 in the innings, and was named the player of the match.
But while left-arm spinners performed brilliantly for India, the side continues to endure a dearth in left-arm pacers in their ODI squad. Jaydev Unadkat is a part of the fifty-over squad in the Windies, but didn't play on Thursday as the team management opted to hand a debut cap for Mukesh Kumar. Moreover, the last time Unadkat played in an ODI for India was way back in 2013. In T20Is, Arshdeep Singh continues to be a regular for the side but he hasn't been given a consistent run in the fifty-over format.
Also read: 'The Kul-Cha has done well because...': Kuldeep opens up on relationship with Chahal amid India selection carousel
Furthermore, Arshdeep is clearly not in part of India's ODI plans at the moment, as the bowler has been included in the T20I squad for Asian Games, which take place days before the World Cup. As India continues to face lack of left-arm options, former India left-armer Rudra Pratap Singh – who played a key role in the side's 2007 T20 World Cup triumph – addressed the issue in great detail during an interaction organised by JioCinema.
Singh, who is a part of the expert panel for the West Indies tour, insisted that India need to do away with workload management for bowlers and instead focus on inculcating the existing left-arm pacers in as many domestic, four-day, and international games as possible. The former pacer believes workload management should confined to gyms.
“There's a lot of discussion about it. We cricketers also discuss this among each other. I don't really believe in workload management when it comes to bowling. Instead of bowling, you should have workload management for gym. Bowlers actually bowl less. The more you bowl, the stronger your muscles will be. I don't agree with the notion at all,” Singh said during the interaction.
“We have come from a structure where bowlers used to bowl a hour-and-a-half straight in the nets. That's how you improve your bowling. See, the bowlers have to take a stand and say that they want to bowl. You have to nurture your relationship with the ball. Not playing four-day matches, domestic cricket is a big reason behind the lack of quality pacers, and left-arm pacers in particular.”
Citing the example of Mohammed Siraj, Singh insisted that his career graph should be a model for left-arm pacers as well.
“That's why, left-armers perform in patches, they aren't consistent. Arshdeep performs good in T20s, you can use him in longer formats. Mohsin... they have gone up-and-down. Siraj came, he was expensive at times, but he continued to toil and made his way into the Indian teams across all formats. His graph is going up. The left-arm pacers will have to follow his graph,” said the former pacer.:
