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India failed to pick 20 wickets in both Adelaide and Brisbane Tests which ended in a defeat and a draw, respectively.
Cheteshwar Pujara is concerned about India’s bowling potency.
Cheteshwar Pujara has expressed his concern at India’s unsettled bowling combination and ‘not that good’ ability to take 20 wickets ahead of the Boxing Day Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
India picked up all 20 wickets in the first Test in Perth, which ended in a massive win, but failed to do so in Adelaide and Brisbane and oversaw a 10-wicket defeat and a draw, respectively. Pujara said although the ‘weakness’ was obvious, the bigger issue was a lack of solution. He said India can’t drop all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja for a specialist bowler because that would hurt an already shaking batting lineup.
“My biggest question and the reason for a little bit of concern is that the Indian bowling is looking a little weak,” Pujara told Star Sports. “Batting is a little better, like the top five didn’t do well, but the middle order and lower middle order, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish (Reddy), and even tailenders, Bumrah and Akash Deep contributed with the bat. Now, there is a weakness in the bowling, so what will you feed the team? That is the biggest question, because you can’t drop Nitish, you can’t drop Jadeja, so what will be the team combination?”
“[Ravichandran] Ashwin has taken retirement, so two spinners, I don’t think they will play in Melbourne. So, how will you strengthen the bowling? Because the three seamers are very good, but their supporting role, fourth and fifth seamer, Nitesh Kumar is the fourth seamer and Ravindra Jadeja is the fifth bowler. If you add both of them together, the bowling is not that good.”
Reddy is India’s fourth-highest run-scorer in his debut series, with 179 runs at 44.75, despite usually playing as the last recognised batter. Jadeja, meanwhile, was one of the only two Indians to go past the half-century mark amid a big batting collapse at the Gabba. But, tellingly, both players combined to take one wicket in the match.
“We will have to think about that, because if you want to win a Test match, then you have to take 20 wickets, and the ability to take 20 wickets is not that good, the supporting role of the other bowlers is not good, so we will have to improve that as soon as possible, and how that will be, I don’t know, but that is a big question.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
