Team India came up trumps routing Australia in the first of the four-match Test series in Nagpur last week and will be gearing up for the second game in Delhi starting Friday, February 17. While the hosts will start as favourites, they can’t take Australia lightly given how solid their team is. While Team India is likely to go in with the same bowling attack – three spinners and two pacers – the hosts will be without the option of a left-arm seamer for the Delhi Test. The hosts released Jaydev Unadkat for the Ranji Trophy final and even though he may have sat on the bench, he won’t be unavailable and head coach Rahul Dravid was asked the question about the same.
The Indian team has always been the one filled with right-arm pacers and since the likes of Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, they haven’t had one, who could play regularly in the side. The likes of Unadkat, Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan have been tried but only Arshdeep Singh has played for a considerable period and Dravid adrressed the same at the presser on Wednesday.
“A left arm fast bowler brings a lot of variation. You forgot the name of Zaheer Khan. But selectors and management definitely watch out for these talents. Arshdeep Singh played well in the recent ODIs, he also played Ranji Trophy, where he picked 4-5 wickets. He’s young, he’s developing,” Dravid said in the press conference.
Dravid delved deeper into the subject saying that there are other players who are performing as well and just being a left-arm won’t get you into the squad as there has to be quality as well.
“There are other guys who are performing. But only being a left-handed pacer will not help you get into the side, you need to perform as well,” the coach said.
“We do look at it, we know the importance but if you’re only a left-hand fast bowler then you cannot be considered. Be it Zaheer Khan or Ashish Nehra they didn’t get a chance just because they were left-hand fast bowler but they were good,” he added.
At this point, Dravid was interrupted by the journalist, who referred to the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Mitchell Starc and how those guys have done well against India and the head coach came up with a hilarious response.
“Agar 6ft 4′ bowler hain aapke paas toh aap batado (If you know someone 6ft 4, a bowler, let us know). You took the names of Mitchell Starc and Shaheen Afridi, but in India, we rarely find someone as tall as 6ft 5′ who bowls left-hand fast,” he added.
