'All three Indian seamers are not really outswing bowlers' - Sanjay Manjrekar

The Indian cricket team suffered a humbling ten-wicket shellacking at the hands of New Zealand in the first Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington one of the many disappointing takeaways from the defeat was the lack of incisiveness from the Indian pace attack- especially Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

The Indian pace attack has emerged to be one of the best in contemporary cricket. The trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah have bamboozled batting units across all conditions in the two years and so when India was bowled out for 165 in the first innings, all eyes were on the trio to emulated the feats of their counterparts in Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Kyle Jamieson.

But, barring Ishant, who was disciplined as well as incisive, Bumrah and Shami failed to get their radar right on a consistent basis as the hosts recovered from 7-225 to take their lead to an eventual match-winning 181.

India will lock horns with New Zealand in second Test from February 29

The Indians failed to get enough movement and deviation off the surface like Trent Boult and Tim Southee, with the new ball. But, the former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar isn’t much surprised by the lack of deviation generated by Indian trio, as, according to him, they are not out-and-out swing bowlers.

Manjrekar took to Twitter where he said: “Why could NZ seamers get the ball to swing and deviate more than Indian seamers? Because of this surface wrist at an angle to swing the ball was needed. All three Indian seamers, though top class, are not really out & outswing bowlers. #INDvNZ.”

Why could NZ seamers get the ball to swing and deviate more than Indian seamers? Because on this surface wrist at an angle to swing the ball was needed. All three Indian seamers, though top class, are not really out & out swing bowlers.#INDvNZ

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 24, 2020

Earlier, skipper Virat Kohli had said that he is not perturbed by the underwhelming performances of the pace-unit as according to him one bad day in the office doesn’t mean the end of the world.

“For some people, it might be the end of the world, but it’s not. For us, it’s a game of cricket that we lost and we move on and keep our heads high,” Kohli said as quoted by India Today.

“We understand that we need to play well to win, also at home. There’s no cakewalk at the international level as teams will come and beat you. You accept it and that defines our character as aside,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Indian pacers will be itching to prove that Wellington was just an aberration when they take the field in the second Test on February 29.

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