The national selectors announced an unchanged squad for the remaining four matches in the ongoing 7-match one-day series against India. The decision to maintain the same squad made sure that Ishant Sharma will be getting more chances to prove himself.
The Indian bowling has been a matter of concern for the team management as they conceded more than 300 runs in all the matches till now. The most under-performing among them is Ishant Sharma. Sharma conceded 30 runs in the 48th over in the third ODI when Australia needed 44 from only 18 balls and eventually let the match slip away from India’s grip. His figures in the previous two matches have not been up to mark either as his economy rate was marked at 8 and 7.77 in those matches.
However Mahendra Singh Dhoni hinted at the post match conference at Mohali that Ishant Sharma will get more chances in spite of his poor performances. He stood beside Sharma and remarked, “One tries to take the right decisions, but it doesn’t work sometimes…Ishant had started well, but everybody is looking at that one over.” Dhoni added, “if bowlers have to be dropped after couple of bad performances, then even some batsman would have to go…You can’t end up changing the entire team…You need to persist with players, give them a long rope. If somebody is struggling, then the team’s there to back him.”
The rest of the matches in the series are scheduled to be held in Ranchi (October 23), Cuttack (October 26), Nagpur (October 30), Bangalore (November 2). If India has to make a comeback and win the series, the bowling surely needs a lot of improvement. Dhoni has got a real tough job in his hand.
Tags: India vs Australia Indian Team Ishant Sharma Mahendra Singh Dhoni ODI series
