India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has another challenge before him now. He has been named assistant coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore for the forthcoming IPL season.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me, to be a part of the IPL. The RCB plays an entertaining brand of cricket, and hopefully the franchise can win this time around,” Arun told The Hindu here on Wednesday.
He then delved into India’s campaign in the ICC ODI World Cup. “Between the tri-series and the World Cup, we had extensive sessions, and there was a lot of focus on the length the pacemen bowled,” he said.
During the Test series, the Indian pacemen tended to pitch a tad too short, and went for runs. The short-pitched deliveries in the World Cup were invariably well directed.
“Between matches too, there used to be a week’s gap, and we had several centre-wickets sessions where the batsmen were encouraged to give feedback to the bowlers. They would talk to the bowlers about the length that they had to counter, the areas from where they found it difficult to cope with the ball. The players were encouraged to share opinions. This feedback certainly helped,” Arun revealed.
What, then, is the ideal length to bowl in Australia? “It’s generally the back-of-length. But this can be a tricky length since the paceman can pitch it too short. We had to work on this,” Arun said.
“Of course, the length of a bowler also depends on his height and the height of the batsman.”
The former India cricketer said the short-pitched ball was employed judiciously in the World Cup. “As many as 45 per cent of our dismissals were due to short-pitched bowling. There was a plan in place,” he said.
Arun recalled the excellent delivery from Mohit Sharma to Hashim Amla in the India-South Africa duel forcing a fatal miscued pull from the ace batsman. “That delivery was coming on to his face. He did not have a chance to get away from the line. He played the shot in front of his face and was picked up in the deep,” he said.
Before going down to Australia in the semifinals, India had an unbeaten run of seven matches in the premier ODI competition; India bowled all seven sides out.
Sharing his thoughts on different Indian bowlers, Arun said: “Umesh Yadav is fast and can swing the ball. He is a strong lad.” Yadav picked 18 wickets at an economy rate of 4.98 in the World Cup.
On Mohammed Shami, Arun said: “He has one of the best release positions in the game today. He also has the ability to move the ball or reverse it at a sharp pace.” Shami scalped 17 batsmen at 4.81.
Arun said he was impressed with Mohit Sharma. “He evolved in the competition. He is a clever bowler. He has a sharp bouncer, a slower bouncer and a slower ball. He consistently bowled around 140kmph.” Mohit grabbed 13 wickets at 4.98.
Among the spinners, R. Ashwin was the pick. “He was slower through the air, and there was a lot more spin on the ball which meant the batsmen had to counter the drift as well. Ashwin also bowled the classical off-spin line, spinning the ball in from outside off,” said Arun. Ashwin took 13 wickets at 4.28.
Asked about field restrictions, shortening boundaries and heavier bats that have made things difficult for bowlers and bowling coaches in ODIs, Arun said: “It’s hard but it’s the same for everybody.”
