Former India cricketers VVS Laxman and Sanjay Bangar advised Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah to bowl slightly wider of the crease to the New Zealand batsman in the ongoing WTC 2021 final.
New Zealand is currently in the driver’s seat in the ongoing WTC final. After India was bundled out of 217 runs, many fans and pundits expected Indian pacers to replicate the same performance as the Kiwi pacers did.
However, the Indian pacers struggled to find swing as New Zealand opener Devon Conway and Tom Latham gave their team a solid opening start, scoring 70 runs for the 1st wicket.
Speaking on Star Sports, former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman said that he was surprised that Jasprit Bumrah was unable to change his length which can be effective in English condition saying that
"I was surprised that Bumrah was not able to change the length which is required to be effective in English conditions. You want the batsmen to drive the ball through the covers in these conditions. You want to create that chance by getting that outside edge," VVS Laxman said on Star Sports.
Laxman further suggested Indian bowlers make the New Zealand batsmen play away from their bodies and expose their weakness of not taking a long stride.
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"Also, if you are making them hit the ball away from their body which majority of the New Zealand batsmen can do because they don't take a long strike when playing front-foot drives. That when you create that pad and pad gap," he said.
Talking about the same, former Team India batting coach Sanjay Bangar said that Ishant Sharma had been an inswing bowler for the majority of his career and in the WTC final he was getting closer to the stumps which resulted in less swing.
He further advised the lanky pacer to bowl slightly wider of the crease and it could become a dreadful ball for New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.
"Yeah, I agree with Laxman. Ishant was able to derive the maximum swing and seam. For the majority of his cricketing career, Ishant has always been an inswing bowler. When an inswing bowler tends to go closer to the stumps, then he loses that swing quite a bit.
"So one of the things that Ishant can also try is to get slightly wider of the crease so that his inswing becomes more prominent. Then the one which holds the line could become a dreadful ball and for somebody like Kane Williamson, that could very well be an ideal bowler,” Sanjay Banger said on Star Sports.
Sanjay Banger further advised Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah to bowl slightly wider of the crease.
"If I have to give one piece of advice to Indian bowlers, especially Ishant and Bumrah, is that they have to bowl slightly wider of the crease," he said.
At stumps of Day 3, New Zealand was 101 in Southampton but lost two wickets in the process, courtesy of R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma. With Day 4 getting washed out with rain it would be interesting to see which team has the upper hand in the Day 5 of the WTC final.
(Star Sports inputs)
