Despite the battering that he took at the death of the 3rd ODI, which turned the game on its head, and allowed the Australian tourists to restore their lead in the 7-match series, Indian fast bowler, Ishant Sharma has retained his place in the squad for the final four games of the series.
The BCCI made the unusual move of tweeting an unchanged squad, which says much about the way that they are approaching this series against the Australians, as they build towards the defence of their World Title in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.
Ishant’s final figures in the third ODI were 1 for 63 from eight overs, though the damage was really done in a single over, which James Faulkner smashed for 30 runs, and which set the tourists on the road to an unlikely victory, when they had looked completely out of the contest.
However, his economy rate in the first two games, had not been particularly impressive, as he went for eight and 7.77 runs per over respectively.
Indian captain MS Dhoni admitted after the last match, that his biggest headache at the moment, was his team’s inability to bowl tight death overs, although this has been a problem for a while now, it isn’t something that has suddenly gone wrong.
The only Indian quick bowler to show any sort of impressive form in the three matches completed so far, in which the Indians have conceded over three hundred on each occasion, is Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has managed to keep his economy rate to under six over the course of the three matches so far, while Ishant and Vinay Kumar have been unimpressive throughout.
India’s other options in the quick bowling department are Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat, who were impressive on the ODI tour to Zimbabwe in August and took plenty of wickets, but have yet to be given a chance against the Australians.