Former India and Bengal cricketer Rohan Gavaskar has hailed the current fast bowling contingent of the current Indian team and said that now budding cricketers have 5-7 top quality fast bowlers to look up to, as compared to previous generations.
He also mentioned that the Indian team shouldn’t be judged on their failure to win the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, saying that the Virat Kohli-led side has been in great form in the five-day format of cricket for a long time.
While speaking with the YouTube channel ‘Cricket Life Stories’, Gavaskar said, “This is an excellent cricket side. You've got quality cricketers in this team. Yes, New Zealand was better than us in that Test but that doesn't take away anything from the fact that we have done well in the last couple of years.”
India has turned the heat on during the overseas tours as well, registering back-to-back Test series wins in Australia, standing toe-to-toe against South Africa, apart from routing all these teams at home.
The cricketer-turned-commentator also spoke of India producing quality seamers in the present era. He said the current Indian team has around half a dozen fast bowlers to look up to. He mentioned that the earlier generations had the likes of Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, and Zaheer Khan as idols to look up to, but that isn’t the case now.
“The pitches in India have become better for pacers. There has been a good progression as far as fast bowling heroes are concerned. In the 70s and 80s you had Kapil Dev, who inspired a new generation of fast bowlers. Then you had Srinath, Prasad, Zaheer Khan to look up to. Then this generation has these 5-7 pacers to look up to. Now we have got some absolute top-quality fast bowlers,” Rohan Gavaskar concluded.
