'Mohammed Shami is the only one I can think of': Wasim Jaffer on how India can improve 'grey area' before T20 World Cup

India go into the T20 World Cup with question marks hanging on their bowling lineup.

The latter stage of India's series ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup has been a story of contrasts. While their batting, helmed by the extraordinary form of Suryakumar Yadav and the return of Virat Kohli, has been consistent, their bowling performances have dwindled. This stands in contrast to what had been the case for much of the year when India were perceived to have a problem of plenty in their bowling lineup.

Death bowling in particular, and defending targets in general, has often been India's undoing since the Asia Cup

Death bowling in particular, and defending targets in general, has often been India's undoing since the Asia Cup, with the team often guilty of giving away over 50 runs in the last four overs since their victory against Pakistan in the tournament opener. This has led to oppositions making big scores against them and even chasing down big totals. India had lost their first T20I against Australia last month despite scoring 208/6 batting first. Australia won the match by four wickets and even had four balls to spare, with a whopping 63 runs being scored after the 15th over.

More recently, India managed to win the second T20I against South Africa by just 16 runs despite making 237/3 batting first, with the Proteas smashing 78 runs in the last five overs. Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and even the otherwise reliable Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been guilty of conceding runs at this stage but former India opener Wasim Jaffer says that India should not be making too many big changes so close to the T20 World Cup.

“The death bowling (is a concern). Harshal (Patel) is struggling again. Arshdeep (Singh) had an off day, bowling 2-3 no balls and going for over 60. But I don’t think India has any other option. They’ve got to stick with them and just back them. So close to the tournament (T20 World Cup), you don’t want to chop and change.

“I thought India bowled really well in the powerplay. Deepak Chahar was a standout. That 16th (17th) over that he bowled would have given him a lot of confidence that he can bowl in the death. He showed good variations.”

Mohammed Shami, who has not played a T20I since the last T20 World Cup, had been drafted into the squad for the South Africa and Australia series but could not play after testing positive for Covid-19. He is also among the standby players for the T20 World Cup and Jaffer said that Shami is the only player who he thinks can improve India's bowling in the death. “Probably Shami is the only one they can think of (with the T20 World Cup in mind). But India need to do better in that department (death overs). If at all anything is a gray area for India, it’s the death bowling, which is struggling,” he said.