Full text: Short break between the IPL and World Cup would have done a lot of good, says Bharat Arun

A day before his last match as India’s bowling coach, Bharat Arun did admit that both toss and bubble fatigue contributed to India’s indifferent performance in the T20 World Cup, where they lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12 stage.

Asked if the absence of a gap between IPL and T20 World Cup became a factor, Arun responded in a clear-cut fashion.

“Being on the road for six months is a huge ask. Players haven’t gone home and I think they had a short break after the last IPL got suspended.

“They have been in a bubble for six months and that takes a huge toll, so specific to your question, maybe a short break between IPL and World Cup could have done a lot of good for these boys,” Arun said on the eve of India’s final group league game against Namibia.

However, he was pretty annoyed that in a tournament of this stature, toss played such a crucial role, as India, while batting first, looked a different outfit compared to the opposition who were helped in shot-making because of the dew-laden surface.

“Toss played a very, very vital role and I believe in these kind of matches, toss shouldn’t be of any consequence,” he said.

“Here toss gives unfair advantage and there is a huge change in batting in the first innings and batting in the second innings. That shouldn’t be the case in short format like this,” he said.

When asked whether leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s absence hurt the team, Arun was not forthcoming.

“I wouldn’t like to dwell too much on that and that is for the selectors to decide. We can only play with the team given,” he replied.

One lifecycle as a coach going to complete as far as your career is concerned. Tell us about your experiences, your learnings, your high points, your low points as the India team bowling coach?

I think it’s been a great journey for me, especially it’s been an outstanding journey that has ups and downs. But I think the team is in a much better position than what it was when we started. And pretty happy about it. The highest point of the career would be the kind of the bowling that we have.

We set about winning a lot of Test matches overseas. That is what we strived hard to achieve as a team. And we went about achieving that.

I think the highest points could be the two back-to-back wins in Australia and also us more or less winning the series in England. Of course there’s one more Test to go. But I think the performance of the team during this English series was outstanding.

Q. The best part about the time you had with the team was the bowling was considered one of the strengths of this team. Like before we had the batting, which was a strength. But coming to this World Cup do you think in the first two games, was it a case of the bowlers not rising to the challenge? Would you say the batsmen should have done better because at the end of the day that could be the reason that India may not qualify for the semifinals?

I’m not trying to give any excuses, but I think this World Cup, the trend has been the team that wins the toss has a big advantage, especially when you’re playing in the Dubai stadium. And so the wicket kind of eases out as when you come on to bowl the second time.

There are no excuses. We should have done better. We should have batted better. And also the first Test, I’m sorry, the first match we had a chance to defend our total. But we looked a little below par.

Q. It took you at least a good four or five years to create a world-class bowling unit. And as you leave, they’re, apart from just Jasprit, mid-20s, also reaching the end of their run. And there should be a transition phase starting. How do you see the next crop of Indian fast bowlers and what time will it take? It took you a lot of time to create this World Cup attack. What time do you think the new setup might take to create an attack as good as this when the transformation happens?

Actually, it took us a little while. It’s a combination of the strength and conditioning, the therapy and the bowling department all coming together in order to create this kind of a bowling unit.

India always can boast of really good fast bowlers, but then with the workload management in place, that ensured that the fast bowlers remain extremely fresh at any given point in time so we could even rotate.

And going forward, I think India’s talent is also exciting with the likes of Mohammed Siraj coming in and Koushik Krishna, and a lot of exciting fast bowling talent in the country.

With workload management in place, which I’m sure is going to go forward, I think we would be a force to reckon with in the near future, too.

Q. Can you just tell us the biggest challenge over the last five years in order to create the pool of bowlers and also balance it out with not comprising on India’s best 11 and such?

To begin with, I think Ravi and Virat got together and they wanted to put up a team that could win in all conditions. And in order to do so, it was important that we had a very balanced attack – everybody knows that we had very, very, one of the best spin attacks in the world.

Also, it was about creating another force that would complement our bowling... that would suit all conditions.

So all of us came together and said we need to create – we have enough fast bowlers, but we need to create a lot more discipline in their attack and also to make sure that they remain fresh throughout. That’s the only chance of us winning.

Also, they took a bold step, the team management and the captain took a very bold step of playing five bowlers at any given point in time. I think that was the most positive move that happened.

And that helped us to win two major, three major series abroad. Two were back to back in Australia. And also one we came very close to winning the series. It hangs in balance for just one Test match that remains.

So I think it’s a combined effort of everybody put together. That is really created this force. And I think this legacy will carry on.

Q. You talked about workload management being critical to forming this pool of fast bowlers, going ahead with so much of T20 cricket and One-Day cricket and Test cricket. Do you see the need to have different sets of bowlers for different formats because there’s a lot of work with just Jasprit and Shami right now. To maintain that, do you think India could look at things that way that we need three sets of or two sets of bowlers for different formats?

Absolutely. Not only the volume of cricket that our country’s playing, it is also remaining in the bubble and playing is not – I can guarantee it’s not very easy to be in the bubble and keep playing throughout the year.

They do need sufficient breaks because I think even mental health is going to be very, very important going forward. And this is going to be the norm for us at least for the next one year or two years.

So it is important that we have in our country a very, very good pool of fast bowlers. There is enough talent in our country so we can afford to field different teams for different formats. That way we also understand the different talent that is available. Also, it keeps our bowlers mentally and physically very, very fresh.

Q. Not long ago, a few days ago Virat said the last four years were not necessarily winning trophies and titles but about changing the culture of the team, playing fearless cricket, as you said, playing five bowlers, do you agree with that?

Yes, I think that is being fearless because earlier we went in with only mostly four bowlers and somebody who can also bowl, but right now we are going in with five regular bowlers in any given team that we have.

So I think that is a first fearless step because we believe we said that the batting group needs to step up. We need to take added responsibility if we need to win matches abroad and we need to take 20 wickets all the time.

So that went into us playing this combination of at least five bowlers in every match and to us now with the wicket-keeper being a very good batsman also helps the cause.

Q. Are you missing Chahal in this World Cup campaign as he’s a world-class bowler, have you been missing him?

See, I think that is for the selectors to decide. We can only play with the team that has been given to us. And I wouldn’t like to dwell too much on that.

Q. You just were talking about all the achievements which the Indian team has had this year, especially the wins in Australia, reaching the final of the World Test Championship and obviously the series in England. Given all that, how do you describe the mood now that on a T20 World Cup? We’re on the verge of probably being eliminated or at the mercy of another result, another team’s result. How do you describe the mood in the camp?

Obviously, we are a very good side. We were the tournament favourites when we did start. But it was most unfortunate that we lost the first two games. And that put us in the very precarious situation that we are in today. Obviously, we are expecting to qualify.

We are backing Afghanistan to do well in this tournament. But again, sport is all about ups and downs, and you need to accept and move on. You need to give out your best at any point in time. It was the entire team and they were to do well in the series but that was not so.

I’m not trying to give any excuses, but I think the toss plays a very vital role in a match like this, which I think shouldn’t – the toss shouldn’t be of any consequence.

But here the toss gives a very undue advantage. And that’s the reason why – it’s a huge change between batting in the first innings and batting in the second innings. That shouldn’t be the case in a very short format like this.

Q. Would you say that the IPL was the perfect practise going into the T20 World Cup here? And you talked about workload management. The fast bowlers have been playing for different franchises. I’m not saying you blame but can it be held as a factor?

You mean the IPL?

Q. Workload management, just after the IPL the T20 World Cup happened. Do you see the fast bowlers are – talking especially about fast bowlers?

Again, definitely being on the road for six months is a huge ask. I think the players haven’t gone home ever since they had a short break after the last IPL and they are in a bubble for the last six months. And I think that takes a huge toll.

So very specific to your question, maybe a short break between the IPL and the World Cup would have done a lot of good for these boys.

Transcript courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone.

With PTI inputs