Indian Team is all set to take on Sri Lanka’s Board President XI in the only three-day practice game on Thursday. Despite dark clouds looming large over the R. Premadasa Stadium, venue for the match, Indian team managed to get a much needed hit in the nets. Indian bowling coach Mr. Bharat Arun is looking forward to the game as he feels that the next three days will help Team India to figure out their best possible combination before the start of the first Test in Galle starting on August 12.
Speaking on India’s previous record in Sri Lanka Mr. Arun said, “I don’t look at too much into what has happened in the past. We have worked hard towards this although the conditions are pretty similar to what we have in our country. I think we have the variety in our batting and in our bowling to adapt to these conditions. The challenge will be to do it as fast as we can to get the best results.”
Indian team poses some really exciting fast bowlers and India bowling coach sounded very positive about the potential in the side. “There is great potential in this fast bowling unit. We have a couple of guys who can clock 145-plus on a consistent basis and also the fact that we have Ishant who is pretty experienced. He can extract extra bounce off the wicket and of late, Ishant has been extremely consistent. That’s a very, very encouraging fact. Bhuvi has had a wonderful tour in Zimbabwe where he has rediscovered himself; he is moving the ball pretty well both ways. So we do have the variety in somebody who can move the ball and seam the ball and someone who can extract that extra bounce and a couple of bowlers who can clock 145-plus. That gives us enough variety to battle any conditions,” he added.
There has been a debate about how much preference pace should be given over the discipline in the bowling department. Arun has given his point of view that clearly states that both are equally important and idea is to balance pace with bowling in right areas. But all of this comes with experience. Arun said, “Something that I would definitely not want is sacrificing pace. But yes, it is a wrong concept sometimes that people who bowl fast are generally erratic. As you get more and more efficient in your action and your thought process, I think you can be fast and accurate like many of the other bowlers in the world over have proved and the challenge for these two would be to not compromise on their speed but get a lot more accurate.”
It looked like swing bowler rediscovered his magic during the recent tour of Zimbabwe where he swung the ball both ways in his trademark style. Arun shared what has gone into getting Bhuvneshwar back on the track. “Bhuvi, there was no problems as such but the ball that he could bring it back in, he was having trouble with that. So I guess it was just a question of the release point. He worked pretty hard on that and I guess that made a huge difference, the fact that he could bring the ball back in like he used to earlier. That made him a lot more potent.”
This three-Test series is going to be battle between two relatively young sides trying to make their mark and find their identity after the retirement of few great players in both the sides. Speaking on the first timers travelling to Sri Lanka Arun said, “That was the same scenario when we did go to Australia as well and for most of them, it was the first time that they were playing in Australia. But considering it was their first time, all four Test matches we put up over 400 runs which I think not many teams have done in Australia. Again, it is a question of how we look at it mentally, how quickly we are able to overcome any shortcomings that we may have, and the challenge lies in that. They are pretty experienced now, they have done pretty well over the last one year. I think if they can carry that confidence forward, they should come really good in this series.”
Talking about the conditions former India pacer was not in a hurry to make any conclusions, “I guess it’s very difficult to kind of speculate what we can expect. Unless we get to the conditions and take a look at the conditions, we are not sure. If you look at the series against Pakistan, they were pretty spinner-friendly wickets but unless we get to the venues and get to assess the wickets, we wouldn’t be knowing the conditions too much but all I can say is we are pretty well equipped to deal with any conditions that we may face.”
Indian bowling coach sounded very much by the side of his skipper Virat Kohli on the five bowlers theory. He said, “I guess if you look at any Test team that has dominated world cricket, they have always had five bowlers in it. But I think if you could probably have a batting all-rounder, which would be very, very beneficial for the side. But now we have all our three spinners who can bat well. Ashwin has two hundreds in Tests, so has Harbhajan. And Bhuvi is more than a capable bat. Our lower order needs to live up to this challenge and contribute and I think the five-bowler concept is the best that you can look forward to.”
The long-term ambition of this Indian side will be to become one of top Test sides in the world. But every long journey starts with small beginnings and the upcoming tour will be a step in that direction. “Yes of course, we have a pretty young side and it is also quite experienced. We have done well over the last one year and our goal is to dominate and our goal is to win matches outside the country on a consistent basis and we are going to work pretty hard towards that,” added Arun.
This Indian side will try their best to break the barrier of winning overseas and Sri Lanka could be an ideal option as conditions will be very much similar to India. Although Arun says, “I don’t read too much into these things. I guess it is a question of accepting things as they are and working hard towards achieving what we want to achieve on this tour. I don’t think we think too much about the overseas factor. It’s all about collectively doing well and doing well as a team and it’s a challenge to us and we are going to take it head-on.”
Coming back to the only practice game before the Test series India would like every member of the side to spend some time in the match situation. “It is a wonderful opportunity for all the batsmen and the bowlers to get into match atmosphere, to feel the conditions. There can be no greater preparation than playing a match just prior to the Test match and I think this is wonderful,” Arun concluded.
