The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Indian line-up lacks balance

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Saturday, Feb 11, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Indian line-up lacks balance

Moin Khan

It would not be a bad idea if the Indians include a specialist bowler or a bowling all-rounder, writes Moin Khan

More than the Pakistanis, the second one-dayer is vital to the Indians and if they again fail to end the win drought, it would become extremely tough for them to recover in the series.

The tourists must be satisfied with their batting resources but their main concern remains their bowling department. Even if the bowlers are given the benefit of doubt keeping in view the conditions in Peshawar, the bottom line is that the Indian bowling attack lacks the bite, penetration, aggression and economy — a combination that is so vital in limited-overs cricket.

I am sure Rahul Dravid must have learnt from the Peshawar experience and would not repeat the mistake of bowling out Irfan Pathan before the halfway stage again in the series. Similarly, to bolster the weak link in the team, it would not be a bad idea if the Indians include a specialist bowler or a bowling all-rounder.

Million-dollar question

However, the million-dollar question is whom that bowling all-rounder would replace? I don't have an answer but I really think the Indian team has become a bit imbalanced after captaincy has changed hands. When Dravid was keeping wickets, the Indians had the luxury of including an additional all-rounder or a specialist bowler.

But that advantage is gone as Mahendra Dhoni is keeping wickets while Dravid is playing as a specialist batsman. And Dhoni has done wonders in whatever cricket he has played.

Sehwag has to fire

No doubt the Indian batting looks set and in form but the tourists must be hoping for Virender Sehwag to fire so that they can revise their strategy of promoting pinch-hitters. Dhoni could get promotion as an opener and there is always a cushion of pushing Pathan up the order to utilise the powerplays but while doing that so effectively, they ran out of heavy artillery for the slog overs. Taking into account the last two one-dayers played in Rawalpindi, I don't think it is going to be a tall scoring game like the one we had in Peshawar. The key here will be sensible batting so that the bowlers have some runs to bowl at. Whether batting first or last, allotted overs need to be consumed. — PTI

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