3 solutions for India's death bowling woes
144 runs were scored off the last 10 overs in the 5th ODI as the South African batsmen plundered the Indian bowling to post a mammoth total of 438. Throughout the series, the Indian bowlers at the death have been so abysmal that it has played a decisive role in close matches time and again.Death bowling has been a long time concern for the Indian team now. It's sadly true that India has, over the years, struggled to produce quality fast bowlers. Still, taking into consideration the resources that the team has, let us look at three possible solutions to India's death bowling woes.
#1 Bowl spin at the death
Given the plight of the faster bowlers, spin might just be the only option for India at the death. The Indian spinners troubled the South African batsmen at times but their good work was undone repeatedly by the faster bowlers.
Ravichandran Ashwin seemed to be in exceptional form and it was a big blow when he got injured. Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh have not only troubled batsmen in the series but have also been difficult to score off. India need to go in with both Harbhajan and Ashwin now and keep a few of their overs for the death which might just prove to be effective.
Even if India continue playing three spinners in the sub-continent, Axar Patel might just have to sit out because of a string of indifferent performances. Ravindra Jadeja is back in contention after a series of good domestic performances. Since India need their third spinner also to be able to bat a bit, the likes of Parvez Rasool, Jalaj Saxena and Shreyas Gopal also deserve a look in at some stage.