Legendary Indian opener and commentator Sunil Gavaskar termed the pool of talent available for India in the fast bowling department as unbelievable and mind-boggling.
Sunil Gavaskar’s comments came after India bundled Australia out for 195 on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test after their skipper Tim Paine opted to bat first.
Sunil Gavaskar: Bench Strength For Fast Bowling Is Unbelievable
India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with a four-wicket haul. He was well backed up by debutant pacer Mohammed Siraj, who claimed two important wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green.
Sunil Gavaskar credited the bench strength of India’s pace bowling attack for putting up such a great show even in the absence of veterans Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami.
“The bench strength for fast bowling is unbelievable. It may not be the same as far as spinners are concerned but when you look at the amount of talent available in the fast bowling department, it’s just mind-boggling,” Gavaskar told 7 Cricket.
India are without Mohammed Shami who injured himself in 1st Test and veteran Ishant Sharma who isn’t in the Test squad for fitness concerns besides Bhuvneshwar Kumar who is sidelined for injury but India still have a pace attack capable to destroy the opposition. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj bowled well in tandem to restrict opposition Australia to their lowest Boxing Day score ever batting first.
Sunil Gavaskar: Lots Of Young Pacers Are Knocking On The Doors
The former India captain heaped praise on Navdeep Saini who isn’t playing in Boxing Day Test and said he is next in line after Mohammed Siraj to make his Test debut.
“We’ve got Navdeep Saini who’s pretty quick, bowls around 145 regularly. He’s not playing (in Boxing Day Test) as he did not have good warm-up games, maybe that’s the reason why Siraj got the nod ahead of him. But he’s there, there’s Umesh Yadav, and there are lots of other young fast bowlers who are knocking on the doors,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
Sunil Gavaskar said the credit goes to the gym work they put in when he was asked to explain the reason behind India fast bowlers being able to generate pace easily nowadays compared to previous years.
“I think it’s all the gym work that they do. The upper body strength is good, they are now guided by professionals and that makes a big difference. Today’s generation is willing to work and they pride themselves on their looks,” he added.
In the 2nd practice match, Navdeep Saini picked three wickets conceding 19 runs in 1st innings but was expensive in 2nd innings where he went wicketless. He also leaked plenty of runs in first two ODIs.