Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are expected to find a place in the playing XI in India's next match against Bangladesh, as the Men In Blue look to strengthen their batting following a first World Cup defeat against England on Sunday.
India faced a 31-run defeat against England at Edgbaston and are yet to book a place in the last four of the showpiece event. India now need to defeat Bangladesh to reach the semi-finals and batting coach Sanjay Bangar said that the team must add some players to add power to its batting.
A slow run-rate was blamed for Sunday’s loss, despite Rohit Sharma scoring his third century of the tournament with a fine 102, and Bangar believes a lack of depth lower down the order forced his batsmen to take fewer risks.
“If you don’t have major contributions from the middle order then someone like Bhuvneshwar Kumar lower down becomes really important. Anyone who is handy at number eight, and it could be Jadeja, gives you some freedom. It takes the pressure off those batting at six and seven so that they can start going at the bowling a little earlier. From that point of view, it is a tactic we are thinking about. There will be a point in the tournament where we have to assess every combination," Bangar was quoted as saying by ICC.
“I think after the England game, the management team will be more open to various combinations. We are open to all combinations. Three seamers can play, with Hardik [Pandya] as the fourth seamer, or we can look at Ravindra Jadeja coming in. We are thinking about all of these things," he added.
Bangladesh must defeat India to remain in the race for a spot in semi-finals and they must have watched their match against England closely in order to understand the weaknesses of Men In Blue.
Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav conceded 97 runs from the first ten overs between them against England and Bangar said that the two spinners are good enough to bounce back.
“Playing on the same track, we know the wicket and dimensions well. We will also learn from a bowling perspective, because in the last six or seven overs against England we gave away a lot of runs," he added.
“That was an area where the game slipped away from us a bit so we will look at that and learn for the next game. Every game will be crucial and we need to learn things for the next game. It was one of their [spinners] off-days but they have been doing really well for us. We need to continue to back them in the next games. They will have a crucial role to play," Bangar noted.
