‘We looked a little below-par’ – Bharat Arun on India’s bowling performance against Pakistan in T20 World Cup

Team India bowling coach Bharat Arun said that the Men in Blue weren’t up to the mark in the bowling department during the match against Pakistan on October 24 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Virat Kohli and Co. got off to a disastrous start after Babar Azam’s men defeated them by 10 wickets in their first Super 12 fixture of the T20 World Cup 2021.

Pakistan skipper Babar and Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten 152-run stand off 17.5 overs made sure that the Indian bowlers weren’t allowed to make even a single breakthrough in the match. Arun was of the opinion that India had every chance of defending the score.

As per the Indian bowling coach, the pitch in Dubai has helped the chasing teams to a large extent in the multi-nation mega event. Arun also accepted that India’s batting flattered to deceive against the Men in Green and couldn’t get a big score.

We should have batted better, says Bharat Arun

“I am not trying to give any excuses but this World Cup, the trend has been that the team which wins the toss has a big advantage especially when you are playing in Dubai. The wicket eases out when you bowl the second time, it is no excuse, we should have done better.

“We should have batted better. In the first game, we had the chance to defend our total but we looked a little below-par,” Arun was quoted as saying in a virtual press conference.

Arun also talked about the workload management of the Indian bowlers going ahead in the future. Recently, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah opined on mental fatigue creeping due to spending loads of times in the bio-secure bubbles. Arun echoed Bumrah’s words to some extent and also reckoned that mental well-being of a cricketer is of prime importance.

“The likes of Mohammed Siraj coming in, Prasidh Krishna, with the workload management in place, we will be a force to be reckoned with. Absolutely, not only the volume of cricket our country is playing, but also being in the bubble and playing is not very easy. They do need sufficient breaks; the mental health is going to be very important,” he added.