New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) India’s all-round options and the complementary fast-bowling partnership of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh have the team well-positioned ahead of their Men’s T20 World Cup title defence, said former bowling coach Paras Mhambrey.

India’s all-rounder department is full of enviable depth via Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Shivam Dube, providing different skill sets across batting and bowling. The trio have made significant contributions since the 2024 triumph, giving the defending champions crucial balance in their playing eleven.

Pandya has featured in 29 T20Is post the 2024 World Cup, scoring 579 runs at a strike rate of 155 with three fifties while taking 21 wickets at a strike rate of 21.1. Axar has played 27 matches in the same period, making 233 runs at a strike rate of 121 and claiming 28 wickets at a strike rate of 15.1.

“Good to see Hardik and Axar delivering with both the bat and the ball. So your two departments are looked into – you have a seaming option as well as a quality spin option. Both are quality players, and two departments are covered with a lefty and right-hand bat combination.

“Then Axar has become a floater right now. He’s equally adept at playing up the order or lower down the order, and he’s done well for us. So that’s really good to see. Bowling-wise, both are ticking the right boxes, and happy to see the way Hardik is shaping up.

“Hardik is important, and fingers crossed, everything has been taken care of for sure, because I’m sure with the work ethic that he has, he really must have done well and must have worked hard on his fitness and his bowling. So I’m sure that the results you can see will be helpful for him,” Mhambrey told IANS in an exclusive conversation on Friday.

Dube, meanwhile, has emerged as a powerful six-hitting option, scoring 347 runs in 26 matches at a strike rate of 175, including two half-centuries. He has also chipped in with 18 wickets, while maintaining a strike rate of 13.2 as a seamer, especially with his bowling returns being handy in the last few months.

“For Dube, he’s turned out to be a guy with a golden arm. He bowls the least in the tournament games and kind of gives you the breakthroughs that you don’t expect. So in that sense, it’s very nice, and I’m happy to see that. In case sometimes you have other options as well. But it’s good to see that in case either of the bowlers… you want all of the bowlers to bowl 4 overs, and you expect them to bowl their overs.

“It may not happen all the time, but in case there are a couple of overs here and there or two overs that you need to look for, I think with Dube, the way he’s gone about it, he gives you the confidence that you are going to get a couple of overs from him every game. So that’s good, and it’s good to have that kind of option available as well in spin, like Abhishek can do that,” added Mhambrey, who was India’s bowling coach in their 2024 T20 World Cup win.

The fast bowling department is also well taken care of, thanks to the well-balanced and highly effective Jasprit Bumrah–Arshdeep Singh pairing. After the 2024 World Cup win, where he was the Player of the Tournament, Bumrah has taken 18 wickets in 15 innings at an economy of 7.7 and a strike rate of 18.7.

Arshdeep, meanwhile, has been prolific with 39 wickets in 23 innings, striking every 12.8 balls despite an economy of 8.9, and is coming off picking his second five-wicket haul in T20Is against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram.

“I feel they are the Laurel and Hardy combination right now. It’s just the fact that they are so famous. They are the combination in terms of complementing each other so well. One is a right-hander, and one is a left-armer. Both bowls are in different phases and are equally adapted to bowls in different phases.

“You don’t have to bank on only looking at Bumrah to bowl in the powerplay, as you can then mix it up. The way Arshdeep goes, he is going to give you a couple of overs in the powerplay, if not more. So you can then play around with Bumrah’s overs in between.

“So it’s just the way they are complementing each other – both are adapted to this format so well. I think the pressure that they handle in every game, practically, they are delivering. So currently both are on top of the game right now, and it’s such a great thing to see, and it’s so helpful from the team perspective,” added Mhambrey, who currently works as the Mumbai Indians bowling coach in the IPL.

Despite concerns about managing the workload of key players like Bumrah and Pandya, Mhambrey felt both are expected to play every World Cup match. “From here onwards, you will see him playing all the games. I think we have been very smart in terms of how we use it, and that’s what we have done in the past, because he is such a valuable asset for the team.

“You cannot afford not to have him in any of the games. Same with Hardik, and I don’t see anything like that right now. It’s just like the last game; Hardik bowled, and he was batting. I think that’s the right basis, and I don’t see anything right now from here onwards, like any one of them taking a break. You want to have momentum going into a tournament, and I am sure you will see them playing,” he concluded.

–IANS

nr/bc