Back to line-and-length: The Indian Bowling

As the Indian Cricket Team was about to begin their campaign in the World T20, they were the most talked about team. But more than their strength the weak line bowling was written off even before the first game. Indian bowling lacks teeth it will put them down, batsmen would find themselves chasing huge totals. Sub-continent conditions favour batsmen and the opponents will easily take the better of India’s bowling.

But as the tournament began right from the very first ball Indian bowlers have pinned the opponents down. Not only restricted them to low scores but also dominated, picked wicket. Spinners, especially Amit Mishra, have been the pioneer of this turn around. In the three games that they have played and won, all Man of the Match award went to the bowlers. Two went to Mishra and one was grabbed up by Ashwin.

The batsmen have not been able to read them pick their trajectory and flight. They have shown the courage of tossing the ball up and reaped rewards.

Shami and Bhuvi in the limited overs they have got have bowlers well to not loosen up the tightened grip and made sure the run flow was in check thought. All Indian bowlers have performed out of their skin. Jadeja knows his limitations and bowls within himself, beating the batsmen with pace and variation.

No team has been able to get past the Indian spin trio and is the reason, India not for once have got a target above 140 to chase. By virtues of such stupendous performances India is the first team to qualify for the semi finals and have reached the pinnacle of ICC T20 Ranking.

India’s opponent before the knockouts is Australia if India manage a similar performance yet again, there is no stopping for this team lead by MS Dhoni from winning the cup they won in its first year.

The Performances by Indian Bowlers so far:

Let us now have a detailed look in the performances of Indian bowlers

• Bhuvneshwar Kumar: The southpaw has bowled with great consistency, but his figures speaks otherwise. In the 9 overs he bowled, he has conceded 45 runs and accounted for 2 wickets at an economy of 5 rpo.
• Ravichandran Ashwin: Coming back to the sub-continental pitches and his old bowling action, Ashwin managed to keep things tight in the middle over. He has bowled his full quota of 12 overs in the tournament has has conceded 62 runs for a bargain of 3 wickets at an economy of 5.17 rpo.
• Amit Mishra: The bowler who bowled his heart out in each of the matches. He is also the highest wicket-taker of the team in World T20. His figures speak 12-1-66-7 (5.5 rpo). Out of the three matches, he picked up two Man of the Match awards.
• Mohammed Shami: A newcomer to this format, Shami has been a bit expensive but that is permitted when the best bowler of the team has to bowl at death, and is bound to go for a few runs.
• Ravindra Jadeja: His wayward bowling vs West Indies made India chase 131 again but since he takes wickets consistently, we can’t complain about him. He is an integral part of the side