Sydney: Coming down heavily on the Indian bowling attack in Australia, former captain Sunil Gavaskar said on Saturday that it's time "we look for a fresh set of bowlers" in the Test ranks to ensure better showing in overseas conditions.
The attack comprising Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin failed to pick 20 Australian wickets in all the four matches as the visitors conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by going down 2-0. Gavaskar said that it's time for change.
"This was the second that three out of the four bowlers were in Australia and for the second time they were taken to the cleaners as they were in 2011-12. So you really can't keep them going despite the fact that they might bag wickets in a domestic series because overseas in the last three years they have done nothing. So like we have done with the batting, we have to look at a fresh set of bowlers and you will find them in domestic cricket," Gavaskar told a news channel.
"If you see the way the new batting came good. When the last trip was there, you had Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, they still weren't able to do much on that particular trip. Now on this trip you had new batsmen. Apart from Kohli everybody else was playing in Australia for the first time. You showed faith in the new lot, I think you got to show faith and patience in a new lot of bowlers as well," he added.
Even if Shami got a five-wicket haul in the Sydney Test or off-spinner Ashwin, who also bagged four at the SCG, the runs came at a price and Gavaskar said that bowling surely let the team down.
"I think if they had the bowling then it would have been a completely different story. But they did not have the bowling. And even granted the pitches were very good for batting, it just wasn't penetrative enough and it didn't look as if they wanted to take 20 wickets.
"In fact if you have a look at the entire scenario of the four Test matches and if I remember correctly then not once did they dismiss the entire Australian team in any of the innings. That exactly tells you a story in itself, doesn't it," the cricketer-turned-analyst said.
