Left is the right way for Indian team, feels Kohli
Bringing in a lefthander like Khaleel (Ahmed) who has the ability to swing the ball both ways, gets good bounce is always a luxury. VIRAT KOHLI, India captain
GUWAHATI: It has been long since India produced a quality left-arm fast bowler. At the turn of the millennium they were surrounded by plenty of options — Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh — before gradually the reserves ran dry.
Nothing showed the desperation more than the Test against Bangladesh at Hyderabad last year when they summoned Rajasthan’s Aniket Choudhary to the nets. The decision to have the left-arm seamer around wasn’t just to keep him in the scheme of things but also provide valuable practice to the India batsmen who have traditionally struggled against that variety.
The fears came true when Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Mohammed Amir ran through India’s top-order in the Champions Trophy final to hand Virat Kohli’s men a crushing defeat.
At the Asia Cup, Choudhary’s statemate Khaleel Ahmed made his mark although against weak sides Hong Kong and Afghanistan. The left-armer has bounce and pace but probably needs to sharpen the rough edges which includes his length which wavered sometimes in the tournament in UAE.
On Friday, the pace bowler expressed confidence that he’d be there in contention for the World Cup squad. “India don’t have a left-arm fast bowler. I need to do well in the next few games and if I am picked for the World Cup, this will be a good preparation,” he said.
His skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday named him in the 12 and added that he doesn’t want to leave any base uncovered.
“We don’t want to leave any base uncovered. We thought bringing a left-arm in the mix will give us enough variety in terms of whoever we play against, the kind of opposition we play against. As a team you want as many options as possible, so that you field your best bowling attack against that batting line-up,” said Kohli.
The skipper pointed to the advantage of having variety in the spin department —wrist spinners and finger spinners, adding that while picking the combination, you see the opposition batting whether it has left-handers or right-handers. Same is the case with fast bowlers, he added.
“Bringing in a left-hander like Khaleel who has the ability to swing the ball both ways, gets good bounce and bowls at a decent pace, is always an added luxury to have in a team which definitely makes the job easier for people like Bhuvi and Bumrah who will obviously feed off another variety in the bowling attack. I think it’s a great thing to have a left-arm seamer after so long,” he added. “After Zak (Zaheer Khan) and Ashish Nehra, we haven’t really had a left-arm seamer, so it’s good to see someone who has come up the ranks and provides variety to our bowling attack.”