Debasis Sen, Johannesburg: Indian cricket team will face South Africa in the fourth ODI tomorrow and if they can manage to beat the Proteas it will be their very first series win on South African soil. Indian cricket team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun knows that very well and according to him there is always a first time and the team is hopeful for the series win.
“It’s huge. If I am right, no other team has come to South Africa and won a one day series. To us, we are on the brink of it, if we do it, it will be really huge. There is always a first time and we hope this is it,” said Arun on the eve of the fourth ODI at Johannesburg.
The Indian bowling line-up is doing really well in the ongoing ODI series and that has pleased Arun a lot.
“Cannot ask for anything better, they have done a tremendous job. Must say I am more than pleased.
My job as coach is to give enough feedback to the bowlers to understand themselves better. If they do understand themselves better they know their strengths and shortcomings, that will help them to go out and perform to the best of their abilities. This is exactly where we started, we said we understood the South African wickets and the lengths that we need to bowl. And my job is restricted to just giving them the right feedback so that they use it to the best.”
The spinners are in sublime form in the ongoing series. According to Arun the spinners were on top at home and the team management was confident that they will come good in South Africa tour and now they are proving them right.
“Spinners in the ODIs were outstanding. They have got lot of talent, lot of abilities; they have troubled the best batsmen in the business back home. And we were extremely confident that they would come here to South Africa and also they would make inroads into their batting,” said Arun.
On being asked about picking two wrist-spinners ahead of veteran duo of Ashwin and Jadeja, Arun added,” At that point of time we wanted to try out all out talent that we had. We had a good pool of bowlers and given the volume of cricket we are playing, we need to keep rotating these bowlers and keep them fresh for every format. These two bowlers showed a lot of promise and we thought that in these conditions wrist spinners would do lot more than finger spinners, and rightly so they have come to the party here.
“We wanted to look at all the existing talent in the pool and then we wanted to decide who we wanted for the ultimate goal of the world cup. It’s not that Ashwin and Jadeja are out of the race, they could still be into the team.”
Tomorrow’s match will be a Pink Day match which has been regarded as ‘Cancer Awareness’ programme in South Africa. Bharat Arun too said that the Indian team does support the cause and the team will play their best cricket and provide the right entertainment for the crowd.
Arun heaped praise on Kuldeep and Chahal for their brilliant show on the Proteas soil.
“They are extremely positive, afraid to flight the ball, not afraid to impart extra spin to gain something, and they are not dependent on the wicket. They get a lot out of the air. They have enough skills in them to beat batsmen in the air and they back their instincts,” concluded Arun.