ICC Champions Trophy 2017: India have five match-winning bowlers, says Virat Kohli

What’s the story?

Following the lead-up to India’s all-Asian clash with Sri Lanka tomorrow (June 8), Virat Kohli couldn’t stop raving about the improved and impressive bowling unit that India has built up over the last couple of years.

“It feels extremely good to have not just 1-2 but 4-5 bowlers who can turn the game on its head with their skill. We as batsmen get a lot of confidence because of this. It gives us the assurance that bowlers will do their job and if we do well as batsmen, the match can certainly tilt in our favour,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of such a bowling attack in Test cricket and also went on to explain that it is possible to turn things around with the bat in limited overs cricket single-handedly.

In case you didn’t know...

The Indian bowlers had a great day in the field in the warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh as well as their high-intensity Group B clash against Pakistan. Their figures read:

Umesh Yadav: 3 for 30 in 7.4 oversBhuvneshwar Kumar: 1 for 23 in 5 oversHardik Pandya: 2 for 43 in 8 oversRavindra Jadeja: 2 for 43 in 8 oversJasprit Bumrah: 0 for 23 in 5 overs

The details

When asked about how it feels now that other teams have actually started to fear Indian bowlers, Kohli looked proud.

Praising his bowling unit, Kohli stated that the graphs of all these bowlers are going to go in just one direction: upwards. He further added that India’s position with respect to bowling is really good right now and according to his understanding of the game, it will only get stronger.

What’s next?

India’s match tomorrow will be crucial in determining the standings of their group. A win tomorrow will guarantee them a place in the last 4, and a loss will make their last group game against South Africa on June 12, a must-win encounter.

Author’s Take

The Indian skipper’s analysis of his bowlers’ skills is right on the money as the Indian bowlers have done nothing but impress in their outings in the Champions Trophy so far. The bowlers are in such good form right now that big names like Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammad Shami have struggled to make it to the playing XI.