SWOT Analysis of the Indian fast bowling unit for the tour to West Indies

India’s tour to West Indies is about to begin officially later this month with the first Test scheduled to start on 21st July 2016 and while the batting lineup is going from strength to strength being led by example by the passionate Virat Kohli, it’s the bowling lineup which needs a stamp of approval courtesy some good performances in unfamiliar conditions. Even though the new bunch of young bowlers

Even though the new bunch of young bowlers have gained some amount of credibility and success in the limited overs format, they are yet to be fully exposed to hard earned success in unfamiliar conditions barring a few exceptions such as Mohammad Shami.

It is a known fact that for a longish period of time, Indian bowlers have struggled in overseas conditions, be it in Australia or England where their failures were the most profound in the team’s defeat or rather whitewashes. In such a scenario, it will be interesting to see how the Indian team’s bowlers confront the demons of the past and tackle and contain the West Indies batsmen in their own backyard.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been a favorite of yesteryear skipper MS Dhoni and in more recent times, has added a new degree of pace and bounce to his otherwise swing worthy bowling style. This feature has added to his bowling strengths as the fact that he can practice both out swing and reverse swing with a fair degree of pace behind the ball makes it a good combination for Kumar and for team India.

Kumar likes to set up the batsmen, his most memorable wickets remain the ones where he has set up the batsmen with a slew of out-swingers and then out of the blue, the one coming in, the reverse swing somehow manages to rattle the stumps.

The fact that his last outing in a Test match wasn’t a favorable one would certainly be looming on Kumar’s mind as he looks to further his young Test career.

Also read – 5 Indian players to watch out for on West Indies tour