'Hardik Pandya is either a good bowler or can become very ordinary' - Aakash Chopra on India's bowling issues ahead of semi-final vs England

Aakash Chopra urged the Indian team management and captain Suryakumar Yadav to use Hardik Pandya tactically with the ball. According to the former India opener, Hardik can be found wanting while bowling at the back end of the innings. However, Chopra stated that the Indian bowling attack isn't weak by any means.

The Indian bowlers conceded 195 runs against the West Indies in the last game. Now, they will come up against England in the semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, March 5. Chopra was recently asked whether India have the bowling attack to come up trumps against England's formidable batting line-up, considering Hardik bowls a solitary length, Arshdeep Singh looks jittery in the death overs, Varun Chakaravarthy has blown hot and cold, while Axar Patel hasn't been utilised optimally.

"The bowling is decent. Is it our stronger suit? It's not at this point in time. However, I won't call it weak if some team has a bank of eight overs. I know Varun Chakaravarthy has been slightly weak, but he is still a very, very good bowler. Bumrah's four overs and his four overs, and if we remove Arshdeep Singh's one over, where he conceded 24 runs, Arshdeep has also done very, very well," Chopra responded in a video on his YouTube channel.

"He is a wicket-taker with the new ball, and, with the old ball, he has executed the yorkers by coming around the stumps. Hardik Pandya needs to be used properly. Hardik Pandya is either a good bowler or can become very ordinary if you bowl all his overs after the powerplay and you keep his two or three overs after the 10th over. Axar Patel is also a very reasonable bowler. So I don't think our bowling is very weak," he added.

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In seven matches, Hardik has picked up six wickets at an average of 36.17 and an economy rate of 8.68. He has a strike rate of 25 with the ball.