London, Aug 20: In keeping with the tenor of the series, the Indian bowlers were pummelled by the England batsmen at the Oval to pile on 591 runs in their first innings of the fourth Test. India’s bowling coach Eric Simmons discussed India’s problems and his wards at the end of an England-dominated Day 3 here in London.

Excerpts from a media interaction:

On why the wicket looks different depending on which team comes out to bowl

It’s a question that we turn and ask ourselves. There is something in the wicket when you put something in it. We went past the batsmen at times [but] couldn’t find the edge, unfortunately when we were batting we did find the edge. Our bowlers have bowled a lot through the series [….]. They have allowed their bowlers to be really fresh and keep coming at us. They have utilised the conditions a lot better with the bat and the ball than we have.

On whether the Indian team were suffering more from mental than physical fatigue

It’s a bit of both, when you have been under the thumb the way we have been in the series. We have had two or three opportunities in the series where we could have taken matches but we haven’t been able to capitalise on them. We have been under pressure and that certainly creates mental fatigue. But we were the No. 1 [Test side] in the world and that’s what being No. 1 in the world is about - dealing with that [pressure]. That’s part and parcel of being champions; [here] we haven’t done all of that.

On who, according to him, can lead the bowling in the absence of Zaheer Khan

I think the problem here is the way we lost Zaheer at Lord’s and the pressure that put on the [bowling] attack. They only have a three-man attack; that really tired them off physically. To bowl the number of overs that they had to bowl because of losing him in the first innings of the Test match, really early as well, made a big difference. All bowled really good spells [in] stages. Ishant [Sharma] in particular has looked really threatening and been unlucky in terms of not getting wickets that perhaps he’s deserved. [S] Sreesanth bowled really well, PK’s [Praveen Kumar] bowled exceptionally well at times. Zaheer’s been a key leader for us, so has Harbhajan Singh; but the Indian attack has always been about working as a unit and when you lose key men like Zaheer and Harbhajan, it makes a big difference.

On whether RP Singh was included in the side to make up for the absence of a left-arm bowler

There were a number of thoughts that went into the process; the captain, the coaches [conferred] and obviously the ability to swing the ball, which PK had done for us, [was considered]; so that came into effect. You don’t want to have too much of the like so it is just a case of balancing your attack.

On Gautam Gambhir’s fitness

I am sure he is okay. Hopefully tomorrow morning he will be hundred percent.