Teams need large pool of bowlers - Eric Simons

Eric Simons, India's bowling coach, has stressed the need for teams to have a large pool of bowlers to stay competitive in top-level cricket. India entered the tri-series without two of their established bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, and Munaf Patel had to be drafted in as cover after Ishant Sharma had an ankle problem, Ashish Nehra had a glute injury and Abhimanyu Mithun suffered a heat stroke in the opening match.

"I think in the modern era you need a group of bowlers because you can't always rely on your main bowlers to be fit," he said after the Indian team's practice session in Dambulla.

India have handed one-day debuts to eight bowlers in the past eighteen months due to injuries or a loss of form to established players, though their first-choice attack still consists mainly of those who have been around for plenty of years. "We're still discovering what we can do with them [new bowlers] and what we can achieve with them," Simons said. "I've been happy with the guys I've worked with. But you need time, because it's a big difference from first-class cricket to international cricket. So you need to spend time with them and show confidence in some of them."

One trend with Indian fast bowlers over the past few years - including Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel - has been that they lose pace within a couple of seasons on the international circuit. Simons said that it was an issue he was addressing. "We are trying to get Ishant Sharma back up to the 140kph mark consistently. He's starting to show those kind of signs," he said. "The biggest job for me is to give them confidence. When you're confident you can run in and bowl quickly in good areas."