As India gears up for crucial upcoming matches, the spotlight is firmly on the bowling department amid injury concerns surrounding Jasprit Bumrah.
In the event lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah misses out with an injury, the middle overs will become critical from India's point of view with spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy probably operating during that phase.
"In the absence of Bumrah, the bowling will have to depend on other aspects, maybe a Kuldeep Yadav doing a lot of damage in the middle overs. Or for that matter, I also see that Varun Chakravarty has been included."
"So, in case Bumrah is unavailable, then they may want to push the teams back through the middle overs so that in the last 10 overs, they may not have to face situations wherein the team would generally be dependent on Bumrah sort of a situation."
"Jasprit Bumrah's absence cannot be filled by any bowler at the moment."
'Siraj omission surprising'
Bangar said he was a bit surprised to see pacer Mohammed Siraj not figuring in the ODI setup considering Bumrah has an injury scare.
"It is always a little bit risky to categorize players that they can only be very effective in a particular phase. So, yes, to answer your question, I am a little bit surprised as to how Siraj was part of the winning team as well because some of the games he did really well in the middle overs as well."
"The game against Pakistan in Ahmedabad comes to my mind wherein he came and he broke the partnership. So, I feel that he has been India's prime bowler. Even if you remember the Asia Cup, he took a fifer for just close to nothing against Sri Lanka in the finals."
"I think a quality player is a quality player irrespective of the phase."
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