If Virat Kohli and Co. sit back and look at their performance in New Zealand, they would come to the conclusion that the bowling unit fought hard but the batters were not at their best which had handed them defeat after defeat in the two-match Test series. Well, former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar suggested the names of two bowlers who would have been more threatening in New Zealand conditions.
Taking to Twitter, the cricketer-turned-commentator, Majrekar, said that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar would be more fruitful considering bouncy pitches of New Zealand.
Notably, both the players are out of the action due to injuries.
Bhuvneshwar, who went under surgery, to overcome his sports hernia injury while Deepak Chahar is under rehabilitation period after he suffered from a lower-back stress fracture.
Sanjay Manjrekar opens up on bowling style:
Bhuvi and Chahar’s bowling styles were more suited to the conditions we had for the Tests. Look at DeGrandhomme’s effectiveness as bowler. ? https://t.co/caOsoyRxBN
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) March 2, 2020
Both Bhuvneshwar and Chahar are outswing bowlers who can bring out the best from a pitch. The duo is expected to soon join the Indian team.
India’s bowler in New Zealand pitches:
Looking at India’s bowler’s performance in New Zealand, The tall and veteran pacer Ishant Sharma was the only one in the first Test match to create problems for Kiwis batters. While Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah had to struggle, to find the perfect line lengths and good areas to bowl at. They both picked two wickets while Ishant snared five wickets. Besides, senior-most off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked three wickets.
Unfortunately, Ishant was ruled out of the second Test match as he suffered from an ankle injury so Umesh Yadav was included in the playing XI. Yadav was not as effective as the tall pacer. He picked up only two wickets.
On the other hand, Bumrah regained his form slowly and steadily but till then it was too late. Whereas Shami surfaced with a shoulder injury ahead of Kiwi’s second innings.
However, New Zealand’s bowling attack was stronger than the visitors.
With the likes of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and then Neil Wagner, the Kiwis were brilliant to push the Indian batsmen into troubled waters.