Barbados, June 30: India’s bowling coach Eric Simmons was all praise for the young bowlers in the Indian team while speaking to the media here in Bridgetown. Before the start of play on Day 3, he discussed how his wards had grown into the roles assigned to them in the team.

Excerpts from the media-interaction:

On the new bowlers in the Indian team

It has been very good. The guys responded to the challenge. Each time you have a situation like this it’s an opportunity for any young bowler and I am very impressed by the way some of the guys have taken them up. PK [Praveen Kumar] [is] new to Test cricket. He’s stuck to patience which we haven’t seen in the past in his career. So, he’s come along in leaps and bounds. Munaf [Patel] unfortunately hasn’t played; Ishant [Sharma] [has] come along fantastically in this Test match and Abhinav Mukund has something for the future, so [it’s] tremendous.

On whether he talks to the bowlers during every interval or at the end of day’s play

We interact all the time. Whenever there is a break we have a conversation about how that went, some points about what they did well, what they could have maybe done differently. We try and interact as much as we can but also not too much because the captain puts a lot of his own thoughts out there as well.

On Harbhajan Singh

Bhajji is a very important part of our planning and thinking. He’s come along and bowled really aggressively in the series. [He] bowled really well in the one-day series and carried it into the Test series. He is a very important part of [the unit] and [a mentor for] the young cricketers.

On whether rain-affected days like the second day of the Test were an opportunity for exchanging views with the bowlers

It is. We [are] together a lot. A lot of coaching takes place after [the] matches; [we try and have] chats or conversations around what they could do in different ways, how they can learn. Sometimes, as they say, in the most casual of circumstances you do the most important work.

On plans for Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels who are building an important partnership in the Test

We always had a plan but they have got a plan as well so that’s the challenge - to stay one step ahead of your batting opponent. But obviously, a breakthrough in the morning is going to be crucial for us and hopefully we can work that.