Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik questioned India’s bowling performance after the three-match ODI series against the West Indies, which the hosts won by 2-1. India conceded 405 runs in the second game at Guwahati and then could not defend despite putting 351 runs on the board at New Chandigarh on Saturday.
Debutant Anshul Kamboj conceded 82 runs in nine overs he bowled in the third ODI whereas Auqib Nabi Dar was taken for 84 runs in 8.5 overs he bowled on his debut in the second game.
Furthermore, Nitish Kumar Reddy scored nine runs in the third ODI against the Windies, whereas he took one wicket in two innings. Karthik said head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill won’t be happy with Reddy’s performance.
“Overall, I don’t think bowling was really up to the mark. Obviously, to give more than 1000 runs in a three-match series basically means that your bowlers have not been as good as they should be. Kuldeep Yadav has been among the wickets but economically not that great. The pacers have been rotated. Nitish Kumar Reddy has not given what Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill will be looking for. There are more questions than answers with the bowling unit. That is something that they will be aware of, but the fact is that it’s such flat pitches, I don’t want to judge them with a very harsh lens because both teams went for a lot of runs,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, former Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane said India would be concerned with their bowling after the series against the Windies.
“This is an inexperienced bowling attack, we all know that. But the Indian team will be a little concerned, for sure. We saw what happened without Bumrah. We wish that Bumrah is fit and fine till the World Cup and that nothing happens to him, but in cricket anything can happen. What are our options after him? The Indian team will be thinking about how they can give the bowlers confidence. There will be doubts created,” Ajinkya Rahane said.
India will next take on the West Indies in a five-match T20I series, starting Tuesday.
