3 solutions for India's death bowling woes

144 runs were scored off the last 10 overs in the 5th ODI as the South African batsmen plundered the Indian bowling to post a mammoth total of 438. Throughout the series, the Indian bowlers at the death have been so abysmal that it has played a decisive role in close matches time and again.Death bowling has been a long time concern for the Indian team now. It's sadly true that India has, over the years, struggled to produce quality fast bowlers. Still, taking into consideration the resources that the team has, let us look at three possible solutions to India's death bowling woes.

#1 Bowl spin at the death

Ravindra Jadeja might be the missing piece in the current India unit

Given the plight of the faster bowlers, spin might just be the only option for India at the death. The Indian spinners troubled the South African batsmen at times but their good work was undone repeatedly by the faster bowlers.

Ravichandran Ashwin seemed to be in exceptional form and it was a big blow when he got injured. Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh have not only troubled batsmen in the series but have also been difficult to score off. India need to go in with both Harbhajan and Ashwin now and keep a few of their overs for the death which might just prove to be effective.

Even if India continue playing three spinners in the sub-continent, Axar Patel might just have to sit out because of a string of indifferent performances. Ravindra Jadeja is back in contention after a series of good domestic performances. Since India need their third spinner also to be able to bat a bit, the likes of Parvez Rasool, Jalaj Saxena and Shreyas Gopal also deserve a look in at some stage.

#2 Bowl more yorkers

As his reliance on pace showed, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has got his basics mixed up

Sometimes, solutions to some extremely difficult problems are so simple that they are overlooked. Easier than it sounds, the Indian bowlers will have to work on getting the yorker right during the slog overs. Fast and directed straight at the block-hole, it can be a delivery which is impossible to hit. Or even the wide yorker which has become such a crucial delivery in limited overs cricket of late.

During the recently concluded series, there was a strange reluctance among the Indian faster bowlers to bowl the yorker. It was astonishing to see the number of good length deliveries that were being dished out even when they were getting clobbered for sixes.

The Indian bowlers will have to work on the execution of the yorker if they want to be more accurate at the death. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was bowling brilliant yorkers at the death in tandem with Praveen Kumar for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last season of the IPL. But during this series, many of the yorkers he tried became full-tosses which might explain the reluctance on his part. Sometimes, it can just be a matter of getting your basics right.

#3 Bring back some pace

Mohammed Shami has been out of action with a surgery ever since the 2015 World Cup

India's fast bowling duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma looked terribly out of pace and one-dimensional at times during the series against South Africa. Sharma can be a canny bowler who bowls good back of the hand slower deliveries which can deceive the batsman at times. But he has turned frightfully predictable as his slower delivery seems to be the only weapon in his artillery.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has a beautiful out-swinger but on flat dustbowls, he is bound to struggle. Moreover, he seems to have lost his accuracy in a bid to work on his pace at the moment. What India needs now is to bring back some pace in the fast bowling department which will give the attack some variety during the slog overs.

Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron have shown that they can trouble batsmen with their pace at times. Though both Sharma and Aaron have been wayward in the past and have hardly been economical, they would bring in the much-needed variety to the attack. Mohammed Shami has been India's brightest prospect but has spent a long time on the sidelines with an injury. Things might brighten up with his pace and accuracy as he hopes to make a comeback before the World T20 championship next year.