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India's bowling not to blame for ODI series loss

Roar Rookie
15th February, 2016
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India taking on Pakistan at the Champions Trophy is a concern. (Photo: AAP)
Roar Rookie
15th February, 2016
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The recently concluded ODI series between India and Australia saw a record-crunching number of runs scored, which saw the bowling and nature of pitches come under the microscope.

The general consensus was that India’s weak, inexperienced bowling let them down.

But while the bowling obviously didn’t rise to the occasion, you cannot see the scorecard in isolation and put the onus squarely on the bowlers.

The Indian team lost the series because of lack of strong middle and lower-order batting, rather than weak bowling options.

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While the lowest score, of 295 runs, indicates the Indian batsmen did their jobs, at every outing they were around 20 runs short.

India played their A-list bowling choices, with the exception of the injured Mohammed Shami, and once again they failed to make an impression on the flat pitches. So they are a work in progress, and you can only show patience and hope they find a way to deliver.

Australia, on the other hand, had probably their third-list bowling options, with their premier bowlers either recently retired, injured or rested. They had a few debutants in their ranks, and did no better than their counterparts, barely managing to go past the Indian top order in the entire series, as well as failing to defend 330 and almost failing to defend 350.

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Australia won the series because the Indian batsmen failed to deliver the knockout punch in the last ten overs. While the Indian top-order was outstanding, they would have been more expressive with a stronger middle and lower-middle order to follow them. Instead the top order knew they had to take it deep, as some players were making their debuts that series, which prevented them from changing gears.

India must improve or experiment with who bats from five to seven. Bowling, they have to make do with what they have.

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