ICC World Cup 2019 | Playing five specialist bowler gives lot of balance and strength, says Sanjay Bangar
India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar has explained the science behind playing five specialist bowlers in the last two games of the league stages. The exclusion of Kedar Jadhav from the playing XI has raised a lot of eyebrows but India opted for the change after their defeat to England at Edgbaston.
India played the first seven games including a washout against New Zealand with more than five bowling options but made changes to their combination in their last two games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The extra bowling option of Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar bowled a total of 11.2 overs between them in six games between them, which didn’t help their cause a lot. Bangar has explained the reason behind playing just five specialist bowlers against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
"The only answer which I can say is that anyway the sixth bowler wasn't really bowling that many overs. So that is the reason wherein we are opting to play with this combination,” said Bangar, reported Cricbuzz.
Hardik Pandya has bowled his quota of 10 overs more often than not and has done reasonably well as the fifth bowler. He has not only kept things tight but also managed to pick wickets at regular intervals. His teammate Jasprit Bumrah was quick to spot the hard work that Pandya has put behind his bowling.
"Even in the IPL he has worked a lot on his bowling. He's still working, trying to add new things. That's a positive sign for a bowler because he's open to new ideas, open to changes," said Bumrah.
Pandya has been elevated in the batting order quite a number of times to provide impetus to India’s run. India’s five specialist bowler strategy has worked well for them in the last two games. Bangar feels the combination gives the team a lot of balance and strength.
"What we thought was the number of overs that the sixth bowler was eventually bowling, and with we at times pushing Hardik up, so who was better suited at No. 7? Those were the questions that we discussed among us as a team management. And because of that we went with a slightly different combination. But I feel that gives a lot of balance and a lot of strength," Bangar added.
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