NEW DELHI: The Indian squad is fortunate to have a strong batting lineup, according to captain Rohit Sharma, and he wants to develop a similar stock in fast bowling to ensure that injuries no longer affect the team’s equilibrium.
The senior pacer Mohammed Shami‘s slow recovery and left-arm quick Yash Dayal‘s shoulder injury-Dayal was called up to the Indian squad for the most recent series against Bangladesh-come into play when Rohit made his remarks.
“When it comes to batting, there are a lot of options. We want to create the same in bowling as well. We want to create bench strength where tomorrow if anything happens to anyone, we are not worried,” Rohit said on the eve of the first Test against New Zealand here.
“We don’t want to heavily reliant on a few individuals. That is not the right thing to do. We want to look at the future and try and make sure we get the right guys in as well,” he added.
The selection of pacers Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Prasidh Krishna by India as travelling reserves for the three-Test series against the Black Caps was therefore not shocking.
Prasidh sustained an injury during Karnataka’s opening Ranji Trophy encounter against Madhya Pradesh in Indore, but his ability to travel with the team depends on the NCA granting him a fitness clearance.
Apart from that, Rohit gave the reason behind the Indian think-tank’s desire for those youthful pacers to be near the senior team.
“So tomorrow, if we feel like they are ready to take that role (replacing an injured pacer), they should be ready for it. They have obviously played a few games before we made this announcement.
“They have played the Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy as well. So, we just want to make sure that they are monitored quite well. Their workloads have been taken care of,” said Rohit.
The Mumbaikar stated that since Test cricket is a different beast than white ball formats and it will take time for the bowlers to acclimate, such a measure was necessary.
“In the short period of time, they have shown they have ability as well. We want to keep them with the team and see whether they will be ready for international cricket or not.
“Especially Test cricket because Test cricket is a different ball game compared to white ball cricket. We want to see what they can offer us,” he noted.
According to Rohit, pitchforking a young bowler to the senior team will let the team management to gain insight into their mindset and ideas regarding Test cricket.
“Sometimes you have to fast-track someone. That is only in the betterment of Indian cricket. We want to create guys where even if there are injuries, we have someone to quickly step in and take that role. Nitish (Reddy) and Harshit (Rana) both are talented individuals.
“In the future, they are going to provide a lot of stability. So, it’s always nice to just have them around and see their mindset,” said Rohit.
When the four traveling reserves head to South Africa for a bilateral Twenty20 International series, they will get more chances to play international cricket before returning to Australia to play Test cricket with the Indian team.
