Hunt on for a left-arm pacer, says Arun

Pallekele, August 22 

For any bowling attack to become lethal in different conditions, variation is a must. That’s the reason why India bowling coach Bharat Arun is looking for a potent left-arm speedster. Since Zaheer Khan’s departure, India have not found a capable left-arm pacer. While the skilful Ashish Nehra stuck to the shorter formats because of his fragile body, the likes of Jaydev Unadkat, Barinder Sran and Aniket Chaudhary didn’t show enough spark.

“We will be speaking to the coaches of A team in this regard, we need to share as much information as possible to make best use of the bowlers coming through India A,” said Arun. “We have already got wrist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, it will be great for the side if we get at least one good left-arm fast bowler.”

Ashwin in scheme of things

Ravichandran Ashwin has played just 15 ODIs since the 2015 World Cup, giving rise to speculations over his future in the 50-over format. Asked if Ashwin was in their scheme of things for the 2019 World Cup, Arun said: “This question should be asked of the selectors. I think he is an extremely talented bowler. Even in the last ODI he played in West Indies, he got 3/28.”

“He is very skilful. I don’t want to look at what has happened so far but he is definitely part of the ODI team. We would also like to give a lot of opportunities to other bowlers as well. We can then have a long-term plan, and take a call accordingly,” said Arun.

The coach believes the bowling unit has improved tremendously in the last two years. “If you look at the bowling unit as a whole, there has been a tremendous improvement in the last couple of years. But looking at the 2019 World Cup, we will need to have back-up options for every bowler,” he added.

Praise for Pandya 

Arun was full of praise for all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has quickly developed into a reliable pace option for India. “If you look at Hardik, he works up very good speeds and bowls 135-plus consistently. He’s not afraid of trying different things,” the former Tamil Nadu medium-pacer said. —  PTI