Duncan Fletcher deserves credit for shaping Indian pace attack: Nick Compton

Duncan Fletcher handled the toughest transition phase in Indian cricket post the retirement of stalwarts and he should be given due credit for shaping of the pace of attack of the current team former England opener Nick Compton Indian pacers took 19 out of 20 wickets at the Trent Bridge where India beat England by 203 runs to peg the series at 21Compton feels that just like James Anderson and Stuart Broad were guided by Fletcher in their formative years the current lot Umesh Yadav Mohammed Shami Bhuvneshwar Kumar has benefitted from the inputs of the respected Zimbabwean coach Indias pace attack hasnt come together all of a sudden It has taken time and it has happened one by one as all of these bowlers took their time coming off age India didnt have so many pacers at once earlier but now they do And all most of them at some point have played under Fletcher so it is a credit to him This process of building a pace attack started long ago and it has come together for India now Compton told PTI todayAsked whats the difference he finds now Compton says The difference from the past is that these bowlers do not compromise on pace Like James Anderson and Stuart Broad they retain the ability to move the ball at pace Pace Thats the keyword You have to consider why the likes of Anderson and Stuart Broad have been so successful in their careers They have a thousand wickets between them in Test cricket because they move the ball at pace And it is no coincidence that both of them started their England careers under Duncan Fletcher Compton saidGrandson of the legendary Dennis Compton the former international believes that the Indian team management should allow other personalities to grow in the dressing room especially the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane who could provide a different mood or direction of thought They Pujara and Rahane should be allowed to grow into stronger personalities in that dressing room Now that Pujara and Rahane have scored runs things will get easier for them India won in Nottingham and hit upon a good team balance There is no further reason for change It will be interesting to see if Virat make any changes for the fourth Test Compton saidCompton feels that Kohlis too much of chopping and changing does create problems for likes of Rahane and Pujara But in terms of selection Virat makes too many changes For example it was a baffling decision to leave Pujara out of the first Test and it showed poor insight from the team management to allow that decisionWhen Virat makes so many changes as captain it cannot always be easy for other players like Pujara or Rahane for that matter They do not have alphamale personalities and such players can sometimes struggle to cope with extreme methods However it wont be easy for India to make it 32 feels Compton I dont think England are out of this series just yet and winning three Tests on the bounce here is very tough for any visiting side There will be some good competitive cricket in the remaining matches but I do not see India winning the series Compton saidCompton also feels that Joe Root isnt a natural No 3 and that is creating issues The top order is a mess because they havent got their batting order right Joe Root isnt a number three batsman and he isnt batting at his best position He should be batting at number four and controlling the innings He didnt handle Jasprit Bumrah very wellBumrah bowls at pace and moves the ball into batsmen working that angle I think someone like Root should be able to work it out better on his off stump But the fact that Bumrah is still able to cause problems to Root says a lot about his quality Captaincy is also an added burden said Compton who played last of his 16 Tests for England in November 2016I also think captaincy is burdening him a bit as well At times I think he should be left alone to be Englands best batsman because he certainly is However it isnt like England have another option at the moment They certainly do need to rethink their batting order especially if they continue to not get good startsCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever