Prasad backs India bowlers

Zaheer Khan has not had much success with the ball in the NatWest series © Getty Images

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India bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad has offered a staunch defence of the tourists' pace attack ahead of the fourth NatWest Series contest at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Left-armers Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh, the former being named man of the series, were key components of only India's third Test victory in England earlier this summer with a clutch of wickets.

They have not managed the same rate of productivity in the one-day campaign, which India trail 2-1, but Prasad insists he would not swap his pair for England duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad despite the statistics.

"There are plenty of lessons other people can take from my fast bowlers, I guess, because they have been wonderful," said Prasad.

"One-day cricket is more of a batsman's game. Everything goes in favour of the batsmen and these guys have done extremely well.

"They are proven customers, they've played plenty of cricket and the other bowlers need to take their example.

"I am not saying Anderson or Broad are not bowling well. They are.

"But as far as I am concerned there is plenty to learn from our bowlers: you are seeing them win games for India, they play under tremendous pressure, tremendous expectation and responsibility, so come on."

England have posted opening stands of 43, 76 and 76 to date and India have managed only five wickets in the 60 overs of powerplay to date.

Munaf Patel is not bowling with as much ferocity as he did for India last year © Getty Images

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However, Prasad feels there are other reasons for the lack of potency from both the left-armers, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel.

"The England openers are slightly cautious, they would like to keep wickets in hand," said Prasad.

"That is what we have been looking at. It is not that we are not bowling in the right areas, we are always looking for wickets and also we have dropped catches first up.

"That is an area we need to be really good at - if you take those catches it gives you perhaps a couple of wickets in the first 10 overs."

Despite his full backing for the bowling collective, however, Prasad believes he should have been consulted before Patel was selected for the seven-match campaign.

Patel, who missed the Test series because of a back strain, was included in the one-day squad as a replacement for Sri Sreesanth.

Prasad said he was "pretty happy" with his fitness but suggested that he was not bowling with the same ferocity as last year, when he proved a real handful for England on the sub-continent.

"He has not played much cricket but what's important is that the selectors need to talk to me on how a bowler is bowling," he said.

"It's important to have a good communication and be proactive in terms of fast bowling.

"When I'm handling the fast bowling it's very important for them to have a talk with me in terms of how one is doing and how we should be going about it. It's a proposal I'm giving to the board."

Patel last played for India in May, against Bangladesh, and only had a couple of state games prior to his performances here, which have seen his 13 overs cost 107 runs.

"I'm pretty happy (fitness-wise)," said Prasad. "I need to know from the bowler and need to understand how he's bowling.

"Because I've been travelling and there should be somebody else to make sure that he is bowling with the same intensity that he has been bowling with previously while playing for the country."