Pune: The current Indian bowling attack has been lethal for a considerable length of time and bowling coach Bharat Arun is happy that his wards have nullified the pitch factor with their amazing skill set and consistency.
Mohammed Shami’s superb second innings (five wickets) effort in the first Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam on a low and slow track which was supposed to aid spinners has been the talk of the town as much as Ravichandran Ashwin’s seven-wicket haul when conditions were more conducive for batting.
“We don’t ask for the kind of wickets that we get. For us to be the No. 1 team in the world, any conditions that come your way, you have to accept it as home conditions,” Bharat Arun, who has done phenomenal job with the bowling unit, told reporters here Tuesday.
The mantra is on developing the skills rather than become a slave of the conditions, said Arun.
“When we go abroad, we hardly look at the wicket. We say that we are going to look at it as home conditions are same for both teams. We are going to work on our bowling rather than looking at the pitch,” the former India seamer pointed out.
While Arun is happy that his pacers have performed even on the flattest of tracks, he finds it difficult to digest when people criticise sub-continental tracks that offer turn.
“When we get seaming tracks abroad, we get to hear that ‘Oh Indians should learn to play on seaming track’. Seaming tracks are considered to be good tracks, but whereas if there is a track that assists spin, you say ‘oh, how can you spin the ball on day 1’. When the ball seams, you accept it but when the ball turns you don’t accept it. This paradox baffles me,” stated the bowling coach.
However, as the top side in world cricket, Bharat Arun said conditions are secondary in their endeavour to remain the best in the business.
“Ideally, a normal wear and tear wicket for Test match is fine but if you want to be the No. 1 team in the world, you can’t be looking at pitches. You got to look at the bowling, adapt your bowling instantaneously for success,” asserted Arun.
Arun then provided Mohammed Shami’s example of how pure skills and technical knowledge can seal it in challenging conditions.
“In the last game, even though the wicket was abrasive, the ball did not reverse that much, what normally happens on Indian wickets. You then adjust your line and length when the ball is not reversing,” pointed out Arun.
“The particular wicket that we played the last game tended to keep a bit low and we realised it has to be more stump line and not outside the off-stump. Shami got four out of his five wickets bowled, so the line changed. Now, the quicker a bowler becomes aware of what is happening, chances of success increase,” said Arun.
PTI