Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri believes the Indian team must take care of the fast bowlers and he reckons the team can go on to win a lot of World Cups if the fast bowling clicks. India has potent white-ball teams and they have been ticking the right boxes.
India has been a force to reckon with and they are the defending T20 World Cup champions and Champions Trophy winners. India’s Test team also played a 2-2 draw against England on a recent tour.
The management is also looking after the workload of the fast bowlers, and recently Jasprit Bumrah played three out of the five Test matches against England to manage his workload.
Ravi Shastri said on Sony Sports, “I think they should take care of the fast bowling department. Take a lot of care in that area. Because if that area clicks, then you can win a lot of World Cups in all three formats. The white-ball teams are still very strong, which can win World Cups. They won the T20 World Cup (in 2024), and in the next 6-7 years, we can win more.”
“But to remain number one in Test cricket, if the fast bowling department can be readied, if we can look into the reserve bench strength, then this Indian team in the next 5-6 years will dominate in all three formats”.
On the other hand, Shastri said he is a fan of maintaining left-right hand batting combination, recalling the famous 2011 World Cup win when India had left-handers like Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, and Suresh Raina.
“I am a big fan of the right-hand-left-hand combination. You look at the 2011 World Cup win. There was Suresh Raina there. There was Gautam Gambhir there. There was Yuvraj Singh there. So, that makes a lot of difference. When you have shot makers like Tilak Varma, Abhishek Sharma at the top, and Shivam Dube below them, and then Axar Patel after them, then this becomes a very dangerous side, and it won’t be easy for other teams to beat them.”
“The mix that was needed has now come. I feel that during my time, we were short of the odd left-handed batter and a batter who could bowl at the top that wasn’t there. There are a lot of all-rounders now”.
India will next take on Oman in their last Group A fixture at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Friday.
