Bowling coach Bharat Arun said that young and talented left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed is a welcome addition to India's already “exciting” pace strength and the side is better for it, ahead of the World Cup next year. 

Ahead of the fifth ODI at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, November 1, Arun showered huge praise on the depth of talent that Indian Cricket has developed in the fast bowling department and said, “We have a very good fast bowling quartet. And also, the bench strength is very exciting,” before going on to express how one unique 20-year-old captures his imagination, “Khaleel looks a very exciting prospect. He is sharp and has the skills to do well in international cricket. He is a very exciting prospect,”

Impressed by the beautiful swing and seam during the 3-wicket haul at CCI in the fourth ODI, Arun further said, “When we started off, the onus was not only on creating a force to reckon with pace bowling unit for the Indian team, also we needed very good bench strength. To sustain fast bowling over a long period of time, you need to rotate these bowlers. The team management had to monitor the workload,”

“When we played against South Africa, I think it was the first time in the history of Indian cricket we went into a match without a single spinner. We happened to win that Test match as well. This augurs really well for Indian cricket,” he added. 

In line with this, Arun also cleared that despite the widespread criticism and questions over MS Dhoni's place in the side, the team remains firmly behind their most experienced talisman. 

He said, “He is one of the legends of Indian cricket. His striking ability is for everyone to see. He has done it many times before. He is extremely experienced and I’m sure given the opportunities, he will come good.”

The home team had an optional training session on Wednesday, October 31,  with the affable Rishabh Pant enjoying his team with the gathered fans. Other than him, only Ambati Rayudu, K L Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav practised on the day, where West Indies opted not to train. 

(Inputs from PTI)