India’s call for pacemakers to be swapped during a spinner-dominated Border-Gavaskar trophy has been called into question, but bowling coach Paras Mhambrey insisted on Thursday their decision will benefit the speedsters in the long run. Australia finished the opening day at 255 for 4 and Usman Khawaja scored his 14th Test hundred. While Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj played the first two Tests, it was Umesh Yadav who was awarded a home Test after a long time in Indore at the expense of Shami, who rested from the match. For the fourth and final test, Shami is back in the playing XI while Siraj has been rested, giving an Umesh a rare back-to-back appearance in a home series.
“You have to take a phone call because you also have to look at each bowler’s individual workload,” said Mhambrey when asked if the pacers’ rhythm is affected by this break in playing time.
“I think the way we looked at Shami we had to give him that break and it was a chance for us that someone like Siraj or Umesh also gets a match. Looking forward after this series we have the World Championship (final) and there we have to We also look at it. You sometimes have to rotate bowlers and that is also important for players,” he explains.
Umesh, who was the best Indian bowler on display during the Australian first innings at Indore, conceded a whopping 11 boundaries in his 0/58 in 15 overs at an economic rate of nearly 4 runs per over.
“Ideally you want a bowler to play two or three games in a row, but under the circumstances that can’t happen.
“He (Umesh) looked great in Indore in that spell he bowled and he took three quick wickets and there are days when you don’t get a rhythm when you land.
“Maybe it was that first spell he bowled (to Travis Head), but later on he put the ball in the right areas and was effective for us,” Mhambrey said in defence.
‘We leaked runs in the last 10 overs’
Mhambrey described the Motera track as a batting belter, but expected spinners to get some buying power from the track from day three.
“Looks like a batting course. We expected to see the wicket yesterday, unlike the other three venues we played in,” Mhambrey said.
The former India medium pacer felt bowlers conceded extra runs in the last 10 overs.
“The first session they hit well,” he admitted.
“Initially the leaked points and the second session were good for us, but as the ball got old, scoring points became difficult and the last session became difficult.
“We conceded 56 in the last 10 overs and I thought the game drifted a little bit from us there. If it had been 220 for 4 at the end of the day it would have been good for us. Yes we have gave a little more runs in the last session.” Mhambrey opined that the wicket will remain firm even on the second day.
“No, I think as the game progresses, tomorrow may be the third session, there may be a little twist and you saw a few balls spinning, but nothing compared to what you saw before.
“You may see little spin from day three. There will be little help for spinners.”
Did India get the timing of the second new ball wrong?
India took over the second new ball in the 81st and Mhambrey himself said it was not easy on a slow course to score points on the soft old SG Test.
Shouldn’t India have delayed taking the second new ball? “A new ball came off the bat better and made scoring easier, but Rohit must have thought nothing happened on that wicket, so at least with spinners the new ball will go through well.
“If we had picked up a few wickets we would have talked differently. That’s fine and it will happen.”
Thanks to Usman Khawaja
India’s assistant coach did not forget to praise Khawaja’s hundred.
“I think he played really well. When you look at the way he played, he played wisely and played the role of a shot anchor and knowing how the game was going to progress, he played well.” “We tried what was possible on this course and sometimes you have to give credit to the batsman too,” he concluded.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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