Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey is confident that the team can bounce back by utilising the second new ball and picking a couple of wickets early on Day 2 after Australia surged ahead on the opening day of the World Test Championships (WTC) final.
"Why not? (Can India bounce back?) I thought the conditions...the pitch got better. We took the second new ball and there was some seam and movement of the pitch after that. Tomorrow morning is very important for us. If we pick up one or two early wickets, we definitely have the opportunity to come back into the contest," Mhambrey told media after Day 1.
The World Test Championship (WTC) final got underway on June 7 (Wednesday) and Team India was pushed on the back foot by the mighty Australian batting attack on just the opening day of the Test match at The Oval, London. Travis Head took a leaf out of 'Bazball' and stroked a counter-attacking century while the 'best Test batter of this generation' Steve Smith rose to the challenge in a crunch ICC knockout game just like he had done several times before.
After Rohit Sharma asked Australia to bat first, Head's unbeaten 146-run knock coupled with Smith's 95 not out propelled the Baggy Greens' total to an imposing 327/3 at the stumps on Day 1. Going into Day 2, India is under tremendous pressure with Australia threatening to take the game away.
Mhambrey also rued a lack of discipline from Indian bowlers as the main reason behind Australia taking command on the opening day of the Test match. After Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj started the proceedings by continuously probing the Aussie batters, the change of bowlers shifted the momentum of the game as Umesh Yadav leaked plenty of runs.
"In terms of the bowling, we could have been a little more disciplined. We started off very well. In the first 12-13 overs, we bowled in the right areas. But maybe after that, we kind of weren't disciplined with our bowling. We conceded a little more than we would have preferred," the Indian bowling coach reflected.
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