MSK Prasad is near to end of his tenure of the chief selector of the Indian national cricket team. His tenure has been surrounded by questions of his Idea of selecting players in the team. In an interview, Prasad opines the one big achievements during his period.
The former Indian cricketer has been criticised about many decisions. One of them is the never-ending search for the No.4 batting position in ODI cricket. In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, India couldn’t find a player who can best suit for No.4.
However, MSK Prasad while chatting to India Today said that there was a major change in the bowling department in the team during his tenure. He said that the fast bowlers got the opportunity to evolve themselves. He opined that with the support from the domestic side to increase the strength of the team in fast bowling.
“The pace battery is the biggest plus point over the last three years. No definitely, no doubt that we have the best fast bowling unit at the moment. See, we were clear about the away series that were scheduled beforehand. It was a combined effort of both the senior and the India A team management along with the selection committee. We had a very, very clear roadmap,” he added.
“We understood the needs and requirements for the team for different series. Those requirements propelled our plans. That’s when we had to unearth quite a few young pacers. We groomed them through India A process,” he was quoted as saying by India Today.”
Today we a healthy fast bowling attack – MSK Prasad
Prasad said the youngsters from India A were given proper training which has helped the senior team for having a strong bench. He also explained the process of how he had the contact with Rahul Dravid who was the head coach of India A & India U19, and now he is the head of cricket at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. He believes that communication from the ground has helped the team to get the new pacers.
“Today we a healthy fast bowling attack. Even the bench strength is very good. Also, we had a healthy relationship with the India A team management headed by Rahul Dravid. We also share a lot of information. From there, we took it to the senior team management. It’s a triangular effort,” he added.