Bowling needs to be
sorted out: Binny

N. Ananthanarayanan

India's three consecutive Test series abroad, starting with the two-game series in Zimbabwe next week, will be a major challenge for their bowlers, former all-rounder Roger Binny said on Tuesday.

"It will be a good test for our bowling. We have the batting, one of the best line-ups in the world. They (bowlers) will have to come good," Binny said.

The Indian team is in Zimbabwe, desperate to claim a first Test series win abroad in eight years. The first game starts in Harare on June 7.

The team goes on to play Test series in Sri Lanka and South Africa immediately after the Zimbabwe tour.

Binny said Indian spinners are impressive on helpful home tracks but struggle abroad. Young off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had taken 32 wickets to rally India to an upset 2-1 home win over Australia in a three-match home Test series earlier this year.

But India's Test series win abroad was in Sri Lanka in 1993 and the last success outside the sub-continent had come 15 years ago, a 2-0 win over England in a three-Test series in 1986.

"The bowling has got to be sorted out in the next three tours," Binny, a member of India's 1983 World Cup winning side and the junior national coach, said.

PACE DOMINATED

India have chosen a pace-dominated squad for Zimbabwe, with five of the seven bowlers being medium-pacers.

Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar and his Test opening partner Anshuman Gaekwad have criticised the selection of five pacemen for a short Test tour.

Gaekwad, who coached the national side before New Zealander John Wright took over late last year, said Indian players should adapt quickly to conditions abroad.

"It's a question of adapting. It boils down to toughness, applying one's mind in challenging conditions," Gaekwad had told Reuters in a recent interview.

Gaekwad said: "Our bowlers tend to get worked up by the extra bounce."

Binny and Gaekwad attributed India's 3-0 Test whitewash in Australia early last year to poor batting and said such displays led to their being labelled poor fighters under pressure.

TOO RELAXED

"But the players realise this now. The feeling is Indian players are too relaxed, give away the game too easily. We need to toughen up a bit," Binny said.

Binny, who guided India to the under-19 World Cup triumph last year, wanted junior and "A" teams to tour abroad more often to prepare upcoming players for the senior squad.

"On a big Test tour to Australia (in 1999-2000), we had at least six newcomers.

"If they had toured there six months in advance with an "A" squad, they'd have settled down for the Test series," he said.

The Indian board set up a National Cricket Academy last year on the lines of the Australian academy to train talented youngsters. "It is not just practising. It is on how to approach the game," he said.

Binny said physical fitness and fielding are given high priority in the academy.

Earlier, all aspects of training used to be packed into a single session but the Australian methods had helped Indian coaches focus on specific areas in each session, he added.

Mail Cricket Editor