‘Indian bowlers are key, but lack aggression’: Prasannna,Bedi
With the four-Test West Indies tour looming, spin legends Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi have warned against India’s biggest strength turning out to be a weak link—the bowling attack.
While off-spin great Prasanna wants the Test attack to be more hostile, his former left-arm teammate says the team should look for a stable bowling combination. ‘‘Get more hostile, more aggressive, that’s my message. Playing in the sub-continent is one thing, and playing in the West Indies is another. We have seen India succeeding in one-dayers lately, but we didn’t finish well in the last two Test series (Pakistan and England). The problem lies in the bowling,’’ says Prasanna, now a senior coach with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.
Despite their one-day success, Prasanna says India’s bowlers aren’t ‘‘potent enough’’ to take 20 wickets in a Test match. ‘‘Unless you are hostile, you are not going to end with 20 wickets in a match. I’m sorry to say, that’s one feature sorely missing from this attack. Pathan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan & Co have to learn this lesson in the West Indies,” says Prasanna.
Bedi, meanwhile, wants experiments in the bowling combination to stop, considering Caribbean conditions. ‘‘With a tour as tough as this one coming up, it’s time the experiments stopped... the team management must look for a stable bowling combination. There has to be a nucleus. I’m not criticising the emphasis on youth and experimentation. But in a tour where the pitches and ambience will be new for most of the players, you can’t afford to experiment the way we are doing now,’’ says Bedi.
Both agree on one other point—that young spinner Piyush Chawla needs to get a longer run in the Test side. ‘‘The selectors have to realise that it’s high time Piyush is played on a consistent basis. If not in the one-day side, he should surely be part of the Test team,” says Prasanna.
With the four-Test West Indies tour looming, spin legends Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi have warned against India’s biggest strength turning out to be a weak link—the bowling attack.
While off-spin great Prasanna wants the Test attack to be more hostile, his former left-arm teammate says the team should look for a stable bowling combination. ‘‘Get more hostile, more aggressive, that’s my message. Playing in the sub-continent is one thing, and playing in the West Indies is another. We have seen India succeeding in one-dayers lately, but we didn’t finish well in the last two Test series (Pakistan and England). The problem lies in the bowling,’’ says Prasanna, now a senior coach with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.
Despite their one-day success, Prasanna says India’s bowlers aren’t ‘‘potent enough’’ to take 20 wickets in a Test match. ‘‘Unless you are hostile, you are not going to end with 20 wickets in a match. I’m sorry to say, that’s one feature sorely missing from this attack. Pathan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan & Co have to learn this lesson in the West Indies,” says Prasanna.
Bedi, meanwhile, wants experiments in the bowling combination to stop, considering Caribbean conditions. ‘‘With a tour as tough as this one coming up, it’s time the experiments stopped... the team management must look for a stable bowling combination. There has to be a nucleus. I’m not criticising the emphasis on youth and experimentation. But in a tour where the pitches and ambience will be new for most of the players, you can’t afford to experiment the way we are doing now,’’ says Bedi.
Both agree on one other point—that young spinner Piyush Chawla needs to get a longer run in the Test side. ‘‘The selectors have to realise that it’s high time Piyush is played on a consistent basis. If not in the one-day side, he should surely be part of the Test team,” says Prasanna.