Indian batters have forgotten to face short balls: Sunil Gavaskar

The Indian batsmen have fallen prey to short deliveries on a number of instances over the last few years. Bowlers have figured out their weaknesses and have used the weapon effectively. India are currently playing the three-match T20I series and bowlers like the young Oshane Thomas has tested the Indian batsmen out by hitting the short of a length on a number of instances.

He clocked over 140 kmph on a consistent basis and the home team’s batters were seen in discomfort. He got rid of both the openers- Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma- in quick succession to push India on the backfoot in the first match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In the meantime, Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian batsman, mentioned the Indian batsmen have forgotten to play short balls.

“The Indian batsmen’s discomfort when facing short balls at pace was seen as they, like most batsmen in the world, have forgotten the backfoot play ever since the bouncers have been restricted to one per over and helmets have come into play.

Still, since a bowler can only bowl four overs in a T20 game and the Windies didn’t have another quickie to support Thomas, the lower order batsmen were able to take India home,” Gavaskar wrote in his exclusive column for The Times of India (TOI).

Thomas made good use of his height

Thomas, after his international debut in the ODI series, finished with figures of 4-0-21-2 in the first match. He bowled with venom and hostility, so much so that it reminded Gavaskar about the earlier Windies pace attack, which included the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh and many others.

“Oshane Thomas brought back memories of the great fast bowling attack of the Windies with his pace and bounce to trouble the Indian batsmen and Carlos Brathwaite, the Windies skipper, made good use of his height and bowled just the length which forced the Indian batsmen to be on the back foot,” he added.

The second T20I is scheduled to be played today in Lucknow. The last match will take place on Sunday, November 11 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

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