Bharat Arun, a former Indian bowling coach, offered his assessment of the visitors’ ball handling mistakes in the first Test match against South Africa in Centurion. Arun thought Jasprit Bumrah was impressive, but he didn’t think the speedster had enough encouragement from the other end.
Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur’s uneven length and line offered the Proteas ample of chances to hit boundaries.
Bharat Arun discussed India’s inaccuracies with the ball in an interview with Revsportz.
“There were far too many boundaries scored. Adapting your bowling to different conditions is crucial. If you are in good form, just awareness of the conditions is more than sufficient for you to adapt.”
“I think bowlers at international level should be able to adapt a lot more easily than bowlers who are just starting. With the experience that the Indian team has, I think we should have adapted. Bumrah bowled exceptionally well but the rest of them, I don’t think they supported him much the way they should have.”
Bharat Arun
He further noted:
“At least don’t give away so many runs at that pace. The pace at which they get the runs becomes very important for them to set up Test matches.”
“If you ask me in one word, it is the bowling discipline that counts – understanding and more awareness of the conditions and what are the likely lengths to be bowling in these conditions is the key to any success for a bowling unit.”
Bharat Arun
India surrendered meekly in second innings: Bharat Arun
Bharat Arun cheered for KL Rahul’s hundred runs, he liked the player’s knack to bat hard and secure a combatant score of 245 in the first round. But, he wasn’t happy with how India crumbled in the next round (131), gifting South Africa a win by an inning and 32 runs.
Regarding this, Arun said:
“Well, to see India come back and [KL] Rahul get that century was quite happening. And there was quite a lot of help in the wicket for the bowlers. So we had a very, very positive feeling about the whole thing. And we thought that we could clearly make a Test match out of this.”
Bharat Arun
Bharat Arun added:
“I think winning or losing a Test match is okay. But I think the way we lost the last Test – we surrendered meekly in the second innings – is not a good feeling.”
Bharat Arun
On January 3, in Cape Town, the second and last Test of the series gets underway.