Asia Cup 2022: "If you get hit by Hong Kong, then it won't let you sleep that night" - Reetinder Sodhi slams Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh for poor bowling
Although Team India beat Hong Kong comfortably, pacers Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh had a poor game by their standards. The duo leaked runs and were inconsistent with their line and length throughout the match.
Former Indian cricketer Reetinder Sodhi believes a poor bowling performance against a team like Hong Kong should give bowlers 'nightmares.' The Hong Kong batters plundered Avesh for 53 runs off his four overs, while Arshdeep conceded 44 in his completed quota of overs.
Speaking to India News Sports, Sodhi spoke about how the confidence of young bowlers like Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh will be shattered by such a performance. He said:
"When compared with how we bowled against Pakistan, our pace bowling was extremely under par. Arshdeep was missing the radar and Avesh was expensive.
Sodhi added:
"If you get hit by Hong Kong, then it won't let you sleep that night. The confidence of a bowler takes a hit with such a performance."
Arshdeep looked much better in the match against Pakistan, ending with figures of 2/33 from 3.5 overs. Khan took a bit of a beating against the Men in Green as well, conceding 19 runs from his two overs. However, he picked up the key wicket of Fakhar Zaman.
Avesh Khan has been missing hard lengths for a while: Saba Karim
While Arshdeep Singh can argue that he had a rare off-day, former Indian selector Saba Karim believes the bigger problem is with Avesh Khan. Khan has continued to leak runs consistently ever since India's T20Is against South Africa in June.
Avesh Khan in the death overs for India
1-0-14-0
1-0-19-0
1-0-11-0
1-0-20-0
0.2-0-12-0
1-0-17-0
1-0-21-0
That's a total of 114 runs in 38 balls in the death in his T20I career.
#INDvHK #AsiaCup
The former wicketkeeper feels the youngster needs to find a way to become more consistent by working with bowling coach Paras Mhambrey. On this, Karim stated:
"When you maintain a high standard of bowling and you play against the lesser teams, there is an even bigger need of being ruthless. However both Avesh and Arshdeep were having problems."
He added:
"Avesh in particular seems to be missing his hard lengths for a while and I think Paras (Mhambrey) might need to work separately with him and Avesh needs to find the right length even for his variations."
Following the 40-run win over Hong Kong, India will next play the winner of the clash between Pakistan and Hong Kong, set to take place on September 2.
Will India drop Avesh against Pakistan and play an extra spinner? Let us know in the comments.