"Which bowlers are you going to give chances to who can make the pitch immaterial?" - Irfan Pathan on India's improvement areas ahead of the World Cup

Irfan Pathan has picked the Indian bowlers' lack of potency on flat surfaces as an area of improvement ahead of the World Cup later this year.

India bowled out New Zealand for 108, which was also a significant recovery after they had been reduced to 15/5 at one stage, in the second ODI in Raipur on Saturday, January 21.

The Men in Blue allowed Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner to stitch together a 162-run seventh-wicket partnership in the first game which almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Pathan was asked about his thoughts on India's improvement areas ahead of the World Cup, to which he responded:

"Just pay attention to the bowling. It is extremely important that what combination are you going to play, which bowlers are you going to give chances to who can make the pitch immaterial? The biggest problem is that our bowling looks slightly weak in terms of sharpness on flat pitches."

The former Indian all-rounder wants more wicket-taking options in the Indian attack, explaining:

"That's what we have seen, especially in the last two T20 World Cups against Pakistan as well as against England in the semi-finals, our bowling definitely lacked teeth. This is what I personally want to see going forward - have bowlers who have the special skill either in the form of pace or variation."

Mehidy Shanaka Bracewell is the trilogy no one expected.

However, Pathan thinks the Indian team management and the selectors are moving in the right direction. The likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Umran Malik have been added to India's ODI scheme of things lately, although the latter did not get to play in the first two games against the Kiwis.

"Solid, dominating performance, especially from the bowlers" - Irfan Pathan on India's positives from first two ODIs against New Zealand

Mohammad Shami starred with the ball in the second ODI against New Zealand. [P/C: BCCI]

Pathan was also asked about his thoughts on India's performance against New Zealand thus far, to which he replied:

"Solid, dominating performance, especially from the bowlers. If you are going to get a start like that from a bowling point of view, you are always going to be on the winning side, at least the majority of the time. It was great bowling from Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and even the other bowlers backed up really well."

Pathan pointed out that the Kiwi batters were found wanting against the Indian seamers in conditions they are accustomed to, elaborating:

"If you let the new ball talk like that, the way they did, it was always going to be difficult for any team. Even a team like New Zealand, where the conditions are similar as the ball keeps moving, but they also didn't have an answer. So, overall a fantastic performance from India."

STAT: Lowest scores at the fall of 5th Wicket vs India

15/5 NZ Raipur 2023 *
26/5 Eng The Oval 2022
29/5 Pak Colombo 1997
30/5 Zim Harare 2005
#INDvNZ

The Indian seamers' opening bursts blew away the Black Caps' top order. While Mohammad Shami picked up two wickets, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur accounted for a dismissal apiece as the visitors were reduced to 15/5 in the 11th over.