NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma acknowledges bowling in the death overs remains a concern for them but backed Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel to regain their mojo ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia next month.

India went past Aaron Finch’s Australia by six wickets to clinch the three-match T20 series 2-1, and now host South Africa for a white-ball series starting Wednesday.

But even the series victory against the 20-overs world champions could not gloss over India’s struggles to contain the runs in the final overs which also hurt their Asia Cup campaign earlier this month.

Kumar, known for his clever bowling particularly in the final overs, has looked a shadow of himself in recent times and has been expensive lately. He leaked 21 runs in the 18th over in the series-decider, with Tim David hitting him for two sixes and a four.

“We know that he has had more good days than the bad days in the last so many years,” Sharma said of the veteran fast bowler in a post-match press conference.

“Yes, of late it has not been the kind of performance that he wants but that can happen to any of the bowlers. You can see the opposition as well, it’s not easy to bowl in the death.”

The 32-year-old Kumar, who remains a key member of the team’s plans for T20’s showpiece event in Australia, had just two wickets from two matches and an expensive economy rate of 13.00.

Sharma said the team will devise a better strategy in the three T20 internationals against the Proteas to help Kumar return to his miserly ways in the final overs.

“We’ve been working on some execution plans and hopefully we can give him more options to bowl in the death and he’ll be as good as he was before. And he is not short on confidence,” said the Indian captain.

“We want him to come back as quickly as possible because he has bowled those difficult overs in the past. As a team we believe in his ability. Time for us to show that faith in him and keep backing his skill set.”

Sharma was equally patient with Patel who, returning from a rib injury, could not do justice to his reputation as a crafty late-overs bowler.

The 31-year-old bowled a combined eight overs, bleeding 99 runs for a single wicket in the series against Australia.

“He missed cricket for close to two months. Whenever a bowler goes through that injury phase and makes a comeback, it’s not easy,” Sharma said.

“We have not judged him by how he has performed in these three games because we know his quality, what he can do with the ball. He has bowled some really tough overs in the past. You want players to keep improving and we can see that happening. I’m pretty sure he is not too far from his best.”

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah returned to the team from injuries and Sharma said he expected the bowling unit to hit form with more game time.

“Bowling is something that we have a lot more focus on than the batting at the moment,” said Sharma.

“Those three [Bumrah, Harshal and Axar Patel] who haven’t played much cricket in the past are playing now, so you got to give some time to them and get them back (in rhythm) as quickly as possible,” said Rohit.

“It’s just about getting their confidence and with the kind of individuals they are, I don’t think it will be too long.”

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022