Among the areas that the Indian team found itself lacking in was the absence of batters who could bowl a bit at the T20 World Cup. Gone are the days when an Indian team was brimming with batters who were more than capable bowlers and could be summoned to bowl in a few overs when needed.
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In a query on why he didn’t bowl during the 2nd T20I against New Zealand, India captain Hardik Pandya said he wants to see how other batters can contribute with the ball going forward.
Batter Deepak Hooda aced the test with flying colours with figures of 4/10 with his offspin as India bowled out New Zealand for 126 while defending 192.
Former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull reckons that more of Indian batters should start contributing with the ball as well citing the example f Hooda.
“I want Shreyas Iyer to be turning his arm over. I want them to be practicing in the nets. Deepak Hooda actually puts some time in, he does practice his bowling. He wants to bowl, he wants to be a part of this side and he wants to be an option,” Doull said on Sunday.
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Doull said Pandya cannot be expected to bowl in every game. “When Hardik can’t bowl, as he is going through the rest of his career, half the games he probably won’t be able to bowl, because that’s just the nature of his body and it’s how tough bowling is, trying to bowl quick is as well,” he said.
“So India need one or two others in that top six that can do the job. Deepak Hooda showed again tonight, yes it wasn’t a massive pressure situation, but you can only do what you have been asked to do, and he did exactly that tonight,” he added.
Doull touched upon India’s problem of not having enough batting allrounders in the past. “That has always been the problem. When Hardik was injured, what do we do next? I mean, Shardul (Thakur) did a great job in the Test series in Australia. These guys around will do. But I am talking about the genuine batters,” he said.
He pointed out why Shreyas Iyer hasn’t been bowling regularly.
“Shreyas Iyer – why is he not using more offspin? Not that there are any shortage of spinners in Indian team to go and learn how to bowl off spin. Why is he not doing it? That is my question around the situation. These young men need to know what their future holds,” Doull said.
For the record, Iyer has bowled just two deliveries in his 48 T20Is for India while in 33 ODIs, he has sent down 31 deliveries.
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