Mohammad Kaif has raised some serious questions on India’s preparedness for the 2023 ODI World Cup which will be played in India, as he asked why multiple senior and experienced cricketers are missing from the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand.
The Indian team made an embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup 2022 after they lost to England in the semifinals by 10 wickets and their wait for an ICC trophy got longer. Though they are the hosts of the ODI World Cup next year which will be played in October-November; the preparations have not started well with India losing the first ODI to New Zealand in Auckland.
As per the FTP calendar, India will engage in 25 ODIs ahead of the World Cup, out of which two have already been played against New Zealand in the ongoing series.
Sharing his views on the same, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif feels the management needs to handpick players soon and keep backing them until the showpiece event, which will be played in October-November next year.
Speaking on Prime Video, the official broadcaster of the India-New Zealand series, Kaif noted: "The England team which won the World Cup recently, the average age of the squad was 31, so having experienced players always works someway or the other. And if India wants to start the preparations for the World Cup, they need to do it from here, the ongoing series against New Zealand. Because there are not many ODIs, maybe 25 till the World Cup.”
Kaif called bowling India’s biggest problem and highlighted how experienced pacer like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and talented ones like Mohammed Siraj is not part of the Indian squad for this series.
He said: “The main problem is bowling. If you see Shardul (Thakur) isn't playing the 2nd ODI, you've sent (Mohammed) Siraj home, he could have played in the ODIs. Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar not in the squad, I have no clue. He's a good bowler, but he is not part of the squad. In the search for new players, we are losing out on the old ones. There's a saying: in search of diamonds, we lost the gold.”
“You had good players in the squad so this shouldn't be the case. If you're backing someone, please do it nicely. The preparation starts from here, there's no time for experiments. The months will pass away and suddenly you'll find yourself approaching the World Cup. So you decide on the players and keep backing them,” he added.
Furthermore, he backed Umran Malik for success in the future and said that the J&K fast bowler should be kept in the scheme of things while preparing for the World Cup in 2023.
“Umran Malik, the extra pace that we often talk about, (Jasprit) Bumrah got injured at the T20 World Cup, there was no one with that kind of pace. The three pacers - Arshdeep (Singh), Bhuvneshwar Kumar and (Mohammed) Shami all three of them bowl nearly at the same pace. In the World Cup we missed someone, who can bowl 145 cases per hour. Someone like Umran Malik, definitely, back him from here on,” Kaif said.
The third and final ODI between New Zealand and India will be played in Christchurch on Wednesday.
(Prime Video inputs)
