IND Vs SA: Bharat Arun Slams Shardul and Krishna For Not Supporting Jasprit Bumrah In Centurion Test

Former Bowling coach of India during Ravi Shashtri’s time as the head coach, Bharat Arun has slammed all of the India bowlers who took part in the shambolic 1st Test loss against South Africa for not lending support to senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah who was the only one that looked in discipline at Centurion.

Rohit Sharma’s side succumbed to an inning and 32-run loss in a tricky surface at Johannesburg which was heavily exploited by the home team. Temba Bavuma before getting ruled out of the match had elected to bowl first and that proved to be the right decision despite people claiming that South Africa should have batted first instead.

Kagiso Rabada spearheaded South Africa’s ruthless bowling attack that made life difficult for all of India’s batters. Neither of the opening batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma gave India the start they required against a side like that to carry some positive momentum early on.

Following batters Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer tried their level best but were unable to make any difference whatsoever. But a batter who made a whole lot of difference was wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul whose Century from number 6 position helped India register at least 245 runs on the board, which at point of time looked far from happening.

“Jasprit Bumrah Fought Alone While Shardul and Krishna Remained Inconsistent”, Bharat Arun Opines

When South Africa came to bat in the 2nd innings, expectations were that the Indian bowling line-up led by Jasprit Bumrah would at least get 3-4 wickets by that session to have a grip over the game, to say the least. However, after the dismissal of Aiden Markram for 5 by Mohammad Siraj, the battle kept on going in South Africa’s favor.

Dean Elgar before scoring his century and reaching the 150 mark, stitched small but effective partnerships with Tony De Zorzi and Keegan Petersen before debutant David Bedingham took over and coupled with Elgar to score boundaries after boundaries.

Bharat Arun criticized the Indian bowling lot for conceding way too many runs from the other end and failing to adapt to the conditions despite being international-level cricketers.

“I think bowlers at international level should be able to adapt a lot more easily than bowlers who are just starting. With the experience that the Indian team has, I think we should have adapted. Bumrah bowled exceptionally well but the rest of them, I don’t think they supported him much the way they should have.” – said Bharat Arun.

“At least don’t give away so many runs at that pace. The pace at which they get the runs becomes very important for them to set up Test matches.” – Bharat Arun added.

Bharat Arun Hails Jasprit Bumrah For His Discipline In the 1st Test

Lastly, Bharat Arun praised Jasprit Bumrah for being able to remain consistent with his line length and believes that Discipline is what matters in the conditions on offer in South Africa. Jasprit Bumrah finished with figures of 4/69 in 27 overs.

“If you ask me in one word, it is the bowling discipline that counts, understanding and more awareness of the conditions and what are the likely lengths to be bowling in these conditions is the key to any success for a bowling unit.” – Bharat Arun concluded.

Meanwhile, the Indian bowling line-up will have an even more stern task in the 2nd Test on a flat deck at Cape Town’s Newlands Cricket Ground. It will be interesting to see India’s bowling combination and surely if the visitors want to equal the series then they will have to prepare a gameplan that supports Jasprit Bumrah instead of forcing him to fight alone.