Khaleel has bolstered India’s pace stock: Arun
thiruvananthapuram — India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun on Wednesday said the team’s fastbowling strength has never been more “exciting” with new find Khaleel Ahmed being the latest addition to the stocks.
“We have a very good fast bowling quartet. And also, the bench strength is very exciting,” Arun said ahead of the fifth and final one-dayer against the West Indies here on Thursday.
Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneswar Kumar along with Khaleel make up the pace battery currently in operation against the West Indies. Arun praised Khaleel, calling the 20-year-old a bright prospect.
“Khaleel looks a very exciting prospect. He is sharp and has the skills to do well in international cricket. He is a very exciting prospect,” he told reporters.
Khaleel took 3 for 13 in the fourth ODI in Mumbai to trigger the West Indies’ collapse in pursuit of a mammoth 378 for victory.
Arun, without naming specific players, said the bench strength in Indian fast bowling is making it easier for the team management to rotate bowlers and balance their workload.
“When we started off, the onus was not only on creating a force to reckon with pace bowling unit for the Indian team, also we needed very good bench strength. To sustain fast bowling over a long period of time, you need to rotate these bowlers. The team management had to monitor the workload,” he explained. —