Bengaluru : India bowling coach Morne Morkel highlighted the difficulties bowlers face on flat pitches at Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, stating that the conditions become even more challenging when dew comes into play.
He noted that the last two matches were played on much drier surfaces, giving bowlers a “small chance” to execute their plans.
Morkel acknowledged that bowling second on flat pitches with a wet ball puts considerable pressure on the bowling unit, making it difficult to contain aggressive batters and defend totals.
Morkel was speaking to the reporters on the eve of India’s fifth T20I against West Indies in Bengaluru on Friday.
“The first thing we would say is that the wickets have been extremely flat, making it difficult for bowlers to operate. That's the reality of the conditions, and we've spoken about it quite a bit. It becomes particularly tricky when there's a lot of dew around. The last two games we've played were much drier, which gave the bowlers at least a small chance,” he said.
“However, when you're bowling second on these good surfaces, and the ball is wet, the pressure on the bowling unit increases significantly,” he added.
Morkel's remarks come amid a high-scoring T20I series between India and the West Indies, where totals in excess of 200 have proved increasingly difficult to defend.
Reflecting on the second T20I in Ranchi, where the West Indies chased down a 250-run target by reaching 252/4 in just 18.3 overs, Morkel admitted that defending such a total was challenging against an aggressive batting line-up.
He highlighted the difficulties of bowling in the powerplay with fielding restrictions and stressed that India must focus on improving their skills and execution to cope with the high-scoring conditions.
“I was quite nervous even when we had 250 to defend. I knew that we might struggle to execute our plans, especially against an aggressive West Indies batting line-up. Their approach is almost like a clearance sale, everything must go. They play an attacking brand of cricket, and while you might expect that approach to create wicket-taking opportunities, more often than not, the shots still end up going for six,” he added.
“It's particularly difficult to defend a total in the powerplay when only two fielders are allowed outside the circle. Those are the realities we have to deal with. The conditions aren't going to change, so all we can do is keep working on our skills and find ways to improve our execution,” he concluded.
West Indies defeated India by 24 runs in the fourth match of the five-match series, at Hyderabad, to level the series 2-2.
The fifth and final T20I of the series will be played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on October 17 (Saturday).