World Cup 2019: Ready for flat tracks in England, says Jasprit Bumrah

India pace ace Jasprit Bumrah during a practice session in Southampton yesterday. pics/ap/pti, afp

Southampton: Such has been Team India's strength that there is hardly any scope to exploit their weakness. Batsmen are in fine form and the bowling has been top-class in whatever conditions they have had to face up to.

With the weather playing its role, understanding the conditions and adapting quickly has been the hallmark of the Indian bowling attack.

Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah provided a peek into how he has made the adjustments. "In white-ball cricket, the most flattest and toughest of wickets to bowl in are in England. There is no help usually. You feel the ball will swing but it doesn't, so at that time you have to rely most on your accuracy and clarity.

"We know these are very flat wickets and how to go about [bowling on them]. If there is some help, automatically you tend to make the necessary adjustments. But we are preparing for the worst situation [very flat tracks]," Bumrah said ahead of India's clash with Afghanistan on Saturday.

The Indian bowling has been tested in the tournament and it has come out with flying colours. When conditions were helpful against South Africa in the opening match here at the Ageas Bowl, the Indian bowlers restricted SA to 227. When the pitch was flat at The Oval, they restricted Australia to 319 to help India win by 36 runs. Against Pakistan, the Indian bowlers hit the right areas to make them earn every run even as the game witnessed a couple of rain
interruptions.

"It was a stop-start situation against Pakistan, good start against SA, good game against Australia. As a bowling unit we did well against Pakistan despite the conditions. The ball was getting wet, so it was difficult for bowlers to adjust getting in and out of the field. We didn't take wickets early but we kept the run-rate under check. So when the spinners came on, they [Pakistan] had to take some chances. The wickets fell because the run-rate kept going up. We were just focusing on the overs and getting on with it," said Bumrah.

Mohammad Shami is set to play against Afghanistan after Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled out with a hamstring injury against Pakistan. Bumrah is not too concerned about having a new-ball partner in Shami. "Personally, for me, it doesn't make any difference. We are just focusing on our processes. When I was bowling with Bhuvi, we were focusing on our strengths," said the No. 1 ranked ODI pacer.

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