IND vs SL: India Need To Groom More Pacers, Medium Pacers Will Find It Difficult To Win You A Tournament: Salman Butt

Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt said the Indian cricket team needs to look after some genuine pace bowling options who can hold control of the game and rattle the opponents.

Indian bowlers didn’t impress that much in the T20I series against Sri Lanka with bowling in the slog overs becoming a major concern as they conceded 68 runs in the last five overs in the final T20I match on Sunday, just a day after they hit for 80 runs in the same period.

Dasun Shanaka dominates against Harshal Patel

In both instances, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka was the wrecker-in-chief as he remained unbeaten on 47 and 74 in his successive innings. Right-arm medium pacer Harshal Patel gave 12 runs in each of his final two overs as Shanaka launched him for a six and a boundary in the final over of Sri Lanka’s innings.

In the second T20I, Shanaka smashed Harshal Patel for 18 runs, excluding the leg byes boundary on the first ball, in the final over of Sri Lanka’s innings.

Bowlers who can bowl above 140 kmph are more effective: Salman Butt

Butt believes India need to groom more genuine pace bowling options like Umran Malik and Prasidh Krishna and not rely much on medium pacers like Harshal.

“India’s batting is covering up for them till date. India are relying on their batting in T20Is. They need more pace in their bowling attack. No matter how many variations you have as a medium-pacer, you cannot match the impact genuine pace can make on a good T20 wicket,” Butt said on his YouTube channel. 

“Anything below 135 kmph makes absolutely no impact on a batter. On an exceptionally good day, the medium-pacer may cause harm otherwise on good pitches, he is bound to be hit for runs.

“They need to groom more pacers. Like [Jasprit] Bumrah, [Mohammed] Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and there was a pacer in IPL, [Umran] Malik. It will be difficult for medium pacers to win you a tournament. Bowlers who can bowl above 140 kmph are more effective,” he further said. 

India won the T20I series 3-0 after defeating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third T20I match on Sunday at the HPCA Stadium in Himachal Pradesh.

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