Onus on bowlers: Shastri

Putting the onus on Indian bowlers to stop Australia’s winning juggernaut in the five-match ODI series, Team Director Ravi Shastri said the MS Dhoni-led side can certainly arrest the slide if the inexperienced bowling line-up learns from its mistakes.

Having already lost the series after three successive defeats, the visitors will be playing for pride when they take field at the Manuka Oval in the fourth ODI here on Wednesday.

“If they learn from their mistakes they will stop it, yes,” Shastri told reporters when asked if the bowling attack is good enough to prevent a whitewash.

Shastri though was critical of the inconsistent bowling attack in the last three games. “They will be disappointed, there is no doubt about that because to win a game one or two bowlers can’t do the job. You need to bowl as a unit. The reason why we did well at the World Cup last year was we had all the five bowlers firing.

“So when that happens then you have a chance of beating the best side in the world. But there are no excuses for bowling wides, so obviously they will be disappointed and they have to put their best foot forward,” said Shastri.

“To apply finishing touch in close games, we need to bowl better and be consistent as a bowling unit. MS Dhoni mentioned in the press conference that there were too many easy boundaries. It’s not that the batsman has to earn it but they are given like freebies. That should be eliminated. Even if you cut that by 60-70 percent, it will become an even tighter game,” he added.

If India were outplayed in the first two games, then the visitors did give Australia a hard time in the third match, which they lost by three wickets. Shastri defended his boys’ performance.

“There is absolutely no shame in the way they have played despite recent results. Because I know there is only one way to go after this tour of Australia and that’s going up. I know what happened 12 months ago after the Test series and I know where we stand today as far as the Test team is concerned,” said the former India all-rounder.

“After this series, I am sure the bowlers will learn and we can go places. So disappointed yes because lets be fair we could have pulled one back especially in Melbourne. But it didn’t happen and Australia played well,” he added.

Shastri stressed on the need to build bench strength and also suggested that BCCI should look into sending an extra squad member on far-away tours. “We need bench stre­ng­th because this is one of the to­ughest tours. And I have been to Australia many times. In the last few days we have been through three time zones. And it’s not often you go through that.”