With India's bowling falling to pieces in the one-day series
against England, bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad today said he
was not happy with Munaf Patel's form and felt the fast bowler was not doing
his job with enough intensity.
Prasad also said that he will be giving a proposal to the BCCI that the
selectors should take him into confidence before picking any bowler.
"I'm pretty happy [with his fitness]," said Prasad.
"But I need to know from the bowler and know how he's bowling. I have
been travelling and there needs to be somebody else to make sure that he is
bowling with the same intensity that he was bowling earlier while playing for
the country," he said, putting a question mark on the bowler's commitment.
Munaf, who missed the Test series, because of a back strain,
was included in the team for the one-day series at the expense of S. Sreesanth.
However, he has been struggling with his form and rhythm.
While he wasn't played in the first game at Southampton, he
didn't bowl his full quota in Bristol, where he went for 70 runs off his 8 overs,
or in Birmingham where he bowled just five overs for 37 runs.
As if his unimpressive bowling wasn't enough, his fielding continues to be
a huge embarrassment.
Prasad demanded that the national selectors should also be
taking him into confidence before picking the bowlers for any series.
"Munaf has not played much cricket but what's important
is that the selectors need to talk to me on how a bowler is bowling," he
said.
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