workforce India had carried out properly within the previous two-Test collection and ODIs. Kaif argued that these two T20I losses shouldn’t overshadow the workforce’s general preparations for 2 important upcoming competitions—the Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, adopted by the ODI World Cup at house.
Kaif dismissed the considerations that India may under-perform within the World Cup, asserting that the workforce has the potential to excel on house turf.However, he did level out that the health of tempo bowlerJasprit Bumrah can be an important consider India’s success. Bumrah’s full health might be important for India’s possibilities of ending their title drought within the World Cup.
As the match attracts nearer, the Indian workforce might be seeking to deal with any weaknesses and fine-tune their methods to compete at their finest within the World Cup. The hopes of tens of millions of Indian cricket followers might be firmly positioned on the workforce as they search to assert victory on house soil.
“India has lost just two matches (T20Is against West Indies), so we do not need to get overly concerned. I am seeing a lot of negative reaction after the two losses. But I will only say that our team is extremely competitive.
“I’m not going to evaluate (India) on two back-to-back losses (within the West Indies). The solely factor is that key gamers are lacking.
“Bumrah missing is the biggest factor. If he recovers fully… one aspect is to complete the recovery and the other aspect is to gain match fitness. If he regains that (match fitness), it will be a massive gain for Team India.
“If Bumrah is absolutely match, we’ve an amazing likelihood of profitable the World Cup at house,” said Kaif.
Bumrah will be staging a comeback during the T20 series against Ireland after being out of action for almost a year following a back surgery, and Kaif attributed the 29-year-old quick’s absence for India’s string of losses in major competitions during that period.
“Lots of people are discussing that the (India) workforce below (chief coach) Rahul Dravid misplaced the (T20) Asia Cup (final yr), the (T20) World Cup in Australia, the World Test Championship in England (just lately).
“I understand all that, mistakes have happened. But I think, is it not easy to play with Bumrah not in the side. He is the biggest match-winner and Rohit Sharma didn’t get his services, so think about all that.
“I imagine, as quickly as Bumrah returns absolutely match… he wins 50 per cent of the matches for the Indian workforce. I believe if Bumrah is within the workforce and some others like KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer additionally return, we’ve the gamers who can win the (World Cup) trophy,” added Kaif.
‘New players will have to wait’
With youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal giving impressive performances in the series against the West Indies, there has been talk about them being considered for the World Cup in India, but Kaif felt when the likes of Bumrah, Iyer, Rahul return to the side, even someone like Mohammed Siraj will find it difficult to find a place in the squad.
“Shreyas Iyer is injured, KL Rahul is recovering. I hope they may all return to the aspect (in time for the World Cup). So all this speak about new gamers coming into the aspect (for the World Cup), they won’t get an opportunity within the workforce. Your (Team India’s) XI is all set,” averred Kaif.
“Iyer, when he returns, will play at No. 4. You have Shubman Gill and skipper Rohit Sharma (as openers), at No. 3 you will have Virat Kohli, at No. 4 you will have (Shreyas) Iyer, at No. 5 you will have KL Rahul.
“Hardik Pandya at 6, (Ravindra) Jadeja at No.7, Axar Patel or Shardul Thakur will play at No.8 depending on the condition (of the pitch). At No.9, you will have Kuldeep Yadav… he has a good ODI record, and and at No. 10 and 11 you will have the two fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Bumrah.
“Even Siraj may not discover a place within the XI. So, when it will likely be troublesome to accommodate Siraj, then the brand new gamers we’re speaking about, they may not get the chance on this World Cup,” said Kaif.
Kaif added that his logic was based on the fact that seniors will get the first opportunity to be in the squad and players like Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav will get a look-in ahead of some new faces.
“If in any respect there might be somebody within the squad, it might be Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav as a result of they’ve been taking part in for a few years.
“The new faces people are talking about are only for this (West Indies) tour. When the Asia Cup and the World Cup are played, then only the senior-most players will play.”
(With PTI inputs)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com