Short bowling India's weakness says Gayle

BRIDGETOWN: Chris Gayle believes that India's batsmen must prepare better for short-pitched bowling in the future, or else face the possibility of opponents exploiting this vulnerability.
The West Indies captain admitted that his side purposely use the short-ball to undermine the Indian batting, and set up a 14-run victory in their Super Eight match in the ICC World Twenty20 on Sunday on a hard, true Kensington Oval pitch.
"They know that every team will bowl short at them, so they just need to work on their mental game and back themselves," said Gayle, whose 98 from 66 balls put his side on course for victory.
"They are capable of handling it, but maybe it's just a mental thing, so if they can overcome that I'm sure they'll be even more dangerous."
West Indies then successfully defended a victory target of 170, when they restricted India to 155 for nine from their 20 overs with lively bowling and purposeful fielding "They are always going to be vulnerable against the short ball," said Gayle.
"Every team has done it against them, and it's something at which they have to look, and for which they have to prepare better."
He added: "They are a very good all-round team, but they do not have my height. They are quite short, and might have a bit of trouble on bouncier pitches.
"They are capable batters and have won games for their team on many occasions. They might struggle in conditions like these, but back home [on slower, lower pitches] they are very dangerous."
India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni bemoaned his side not handling the short-pitched bowling better.
"Its not something that has appeared all of a sudden," said Dhoni. "You are equipped to deal with it.
"In this format, they bowl consistently short stuff at you, and you have to keep scoring."
"It's not easy, but as the players get more experience at international level, they will groom themselves up and be ready for the task.
"Quite a few players, I don't think they have played this kind of bowling on this kind of track. We were slightly on the back foot, but it's only good for Indian cricket to have players get used to this."
India face Sri Lanka in their last Super Eight match on Tuesday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St. Lucia, where West Indies meet Australia on the same day.
- Paul Mitchell