Indian cricket team has a mix of ‘horses-for-courses’ policy among the fast bowlers: Bharat Arun

There was a time in Indian cricket when captains struggled for a third seam bowling option once Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad’s opening spells were over. Now, thanks to the likes of bowling coach Bharat Arun, the Indian cricket team is spoiled for choices when it comes to fast bowling resources.

Indian cricket team has an abundance of fast bowling talent currently

Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma form the core of the Indian cricket team’s fast bowling battery with bowlers of the ilk of Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini to back them up.

The Indian cricket team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun, while speaking to Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda’s Facebook page, talked about the workload management of the Indian cricket team fast bowlers, the team’s ‘horses-for-courses’ policy and the depth of their attack.

“It is a pretty good headache to have. It is a tough call but captain and coaches sit down to pick the right team for the conditions,” bowling coach Bharat Arun told Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview.

“All the bowlers have a very healthy competition. They have a lot of respect for each other also. They learn from each other and happy when each other do well. They are happy for each other’s performance and which helps in their success,” he added.

With all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the mix, skipper Virat Kohli has the luxury of picking and choosing his fast bowlers, based on the Indian cricket team's needs and the conditions on offer.

While the likes of Bumrah, Umesh and Shami have express pace, Bhuvneshwar and Ishant Sharma are excellent exponents of swing and seam bowling, respectively.

“It is mix of ‘horses-for-courses’ policy. We might have made some mistakes with these policies but overall it has held us in good stead. Like in South Africa we played Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first Test because conditions were suitable for seam bowling. In the second Test, the wicket was a lot more docile and we felt Ishant (Sharma) was more suitable for the conditions and we were criticized for the decision. But Bhuvneshwar ended up playing in the last Test which we won,” the 57-year-old coach said.

Asked to elaborate about the workload management of the fast bowlers in the Indian cricket team, Bharat Arun said that they had the GPS tracker to monitor the workload. He added that they looked at the number of sprints to the boundaries, etc.

"On an average, if a bowler bowls 20 overs in a day, he runs nearly 20kms. Recovery and rest is very important for fast bowlers. We ensure that next few days they don’t have lot of tough spells in the nets, do a lot of recovery work, strength training, etc,” Bharat Arun added.

The current Indian cricket team bowling coach also believes in the policy of ‘minimum effort and maximum result’ for success.

“It all depends on the bowler. Shami runs in like a horse, strength of his bowling is his run-up. For every bowler, it is different. Umesh gives maximum effort in his last three strides. We look at every bowler individually, so we can get the best out of them,” the bowling coach said about his training methodology.

On how he handles the different styles of every Indian cricket team bowler, Bharat Arun said that cricketing skill was like handwriting and that each would be different and would have have their own style. He mentioned that his work revolved around getting those styles as close to the basics as possible, meaning that it would then reduces the incidences of injuries.

The coaching staff have played a big role in the progress of Indian cricket team's bowling and Bharat Arun has been a crucial member of that revolution.