'Bowling options are great, but on a flat pitch, there will be challenges' - Legendary bowler concerned about India's ability to defend totals

Published - 27 Feb 2026, 14:32 IST | Updated - 27 Feb 2026, 14:53 IST

India registered a dominant victory against Zimbabwe in their Super Eights clash of the T20 World Cup 2026 on Thursday, February 26, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The 72-run win means that the Indians find themselves just a win away from making it to the semi-finals. Meanwhile, legendary bowler Anil Kumble has marked his opinion that the team might not be able to defend totals on flat wickets.

Kumble has said that the Indian team has gone with the luxury of keeping eight batters, which might come to haunt them later in the tournament if it comes to picking the best bowling attack for defending totals. The cricketer-turned-commentator believes that the Indian bowlers may struggle to contain the opposition batters on batting-friendly tracks.

"They certainly did all the right things to get the batters to bowl a bit through the previous World Cup to now. If you look at the last 18 months, where India played T20 cricket where they've won every single game, that Tilak Varma got to bowl, Abhishek Sharma got to bowl, Dube got to bowl. Then even Rinku Singh bowled, even Suryakumar Yadav bowled," Kumble told via ESPNcricinfo.

"So in that sense, you have options and that's great. But on a flat pitch, there will be challenges. India would ideally want the comfort of playing eight batters, rather than going in with seven batters and five specialist bowlers," Kumble added.

Kumble's statement does sound agreeable because the Indian team has not picked a spearhead bowler like Mohammed Siraj despite the pacer being in the squad for the tournament. The need for picking an extra all-rounder has had them compromise for other specialists in the ongoing event.

Why Mohammed Siraj was dropped despite strong performance?

Notably, Siraj delivered a match-winning three-wicket haul in the only game in this tournament but has since warmed the bench. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the team takes their selection calls for the playing XI going forward.