On a pitch where Indian batters could only amass 376 runs combined in both innings, South Africa’s Dean Elgar went on to hit 185. The failure in Centurion was down to the bowlers who failed to execute their plans barring Jasprit Bumrah. Ahead of the crucial SA vs IND 2nd Test in Cape Town, former India bowling coach Bharat Arun’s advice for current bowling coach Paras Mhambrey is to sit down with each bowler and identify the problems.
During Bharat Arun’s tenure as the Indian bowling coach, fast bowlers excelled, making them one of the best bowling units even in overseas conditions.
But in Centurion, barring Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to some extent, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna never looked threatening. Instead, they were guilty of conceding boundaries way too often to even have any effect of Bumrah-Siraj creating pressure on Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen and David Bedingham.
Prasidh Krishna conceded 93 in 20 overs in exchange for a solitary wicket while Shardul Thakur gave away 101 runs in 19 overs for just a wicket.
“I think winning or losing a Test match is okay. But I think the way we lost the last Test – we surrendered meekly in the second innings – is not a good feeling,” Bharat Arun told RevSportz in an interview.
Bharat Arun’s message ahead of SA vs IND 2nd Test
Ahead of the SA vs IND Cape Town Test, Bharat Arun said if he was in the dressing room now, he would sit down and talk to each bowlers.
“I would sit down with each and every bowler and go through the lines and lengths they bowled in the first Test. And I would also like to find out what goes on in his mind while he was doing that. And whether what goes in his mind, what he wants to execute and what is executed have matched up. If not, I have to really look at execution, or is it about mindset? It’s your thought process aligning with what you want to do,” Bharat Arun explained.
Where did India go wrong?
Bharat Arun, under whom a bunch of rookie bowlers helped India gun down the Aussies at Brisbane, believes Indian bowlers can definitely bounce back after a poor show in Centurion.
“Either you can go wrong in your execution, or your thought process. I think if you sit down with each and every bowler and discuss whether it’s a question of execution or a question of thought process, you get the right answers. Also show them areas that they have bowled well in the match, the areas that they have troubled the batters. It is about empowering, you believe in empowering the bowlers so that they understand what is it that they have and what is it that they are lacking,” Bharat Arun said ahead of SA vs IND 2nd Test.
He further added that the coaches need to be hard and only constructive criticism will help India bounce back to level the series 1-1.
“All the bowlers that we have are capable of coming back and bowling those very lines to do well. They have done it in the past. I don’t see any reason why they can’t do it again. But it’s about sitting them down and finding out where exactly we are. We’ve got to be hard. I think constructive criticism is the way forward. Once you get those things right, I’m sure this bowling attack that we have has enough in them to win Test match overseas,“ he added.
