Team India outclassed Australia in the opening Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Nagpur, securing a thumping victory by an innings and 132 runs.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the four-match series, Rohit Sharma's men will meet the visitors in the second Test in Delhi from Friday (February 17).
Two days ahead of the game, India head coach Rahul Dravid addressed a press conference, where he touched upon a number of topics.
However, Dravid was left bemused by a query regarding the lack of quality left-arm fast bowlers in the Indian team.
Citing the example of Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi, a journalist asked Dravid to share his thoughts on India not having enough resources in the left-arm pace department.
Mentioning the names of Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan, the journo further said India are yet to find such quality left-arm pacers.
After listening to the question patiently, Dravid replied: “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.”
“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,” he added.
However, the journalist interrupted Dravid in between and further said how the left-arm fast bowlers have troubled the Indian batters in recent times.
To which, the Indian coach came up with a sharp response as he said: "Agar 6ft 4' bowler hain aapke paas toh aap bata do (If you know someone 6ft4 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.”
“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 remarked.
(Hindustan Times Inputs)
