Ganguly worried about Indian pace bowlers' heavy workload

Colombo, September 23: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is concerned about his pace bowlers' heavy workload, but realizes there is no easy solution.

"Our pace bowlers are under pressure . . being asked to bowl day in and day out," Ganguly said on Monday. "But I don't have the choice of resting them.

"We don't have an adequate bench strength to rotate our top bowlers. If I rest them, then who bowls in their place?" India has been on a hot streak, winning the one-day series against the West Indies and the triangular series in England that also featured Sri Lanka.

Beating England by eight wickets on Sunday, India now takes on South Africa in the Champions Trophy semifinals on Wednesday.

Ganguly said the lack of top-class bench strength was a worrying factor as India has a crowded schedule up to next year's World Cup. The Indian team has been on the road since March with drawn-out tours to the West Indies and England, before coming to Colombo for the Champions Trophy.

A week after returning home, India will again go into a series against the West Indies that comprises three tests and seven one-dayers during October-November.

The Indian team then takes off for New Zealand for another test and one-day series in December and January. On return, India's top cricketers will attend a training camp ahead of the World Cup, which will be played in February and March in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

India's medium-pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar have shared the pace-bowling load after the attack's spearhead, Javagal Srinath, quit test cricket on return from the West Indies.

Srinath told the Indian cricket board he was still keen to play one-dayers, but the selectors did not pick him.

The pace bowlers face the biggest risk of injury, but Ganguly said he had to play along.
"We have a large number of games to play before the World Cup, but I'm hopeful this bunch of players will be able to carry through," Ganguly said.