India is considered the powerhouse of the cricketing world having the richest board among all nations. Having a huge number in revenue also means that a large amount is invested in the sport to unearth several talented players every year. However, despite having a large talent pool, team India hasn’t won a major title in the past nine years. After India got knocked out in the semi-final of the 20-20 World Cup earlier this month, all eyes are now set on the ODI World Cup next year.
With eleven months to go in the mega event, India once again face a selection conundrum as they don’t have a settled team in the format. After the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee was sacked, the new body is yet to be appointed. They will have the responsibility to select the team who will finally end India’s trophy drought. But before that happens, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has raised an important point of backing players.
In the past 12 months, the Indian team management has followed the hit-and-trial method giving opportunities to the large talent pool. Since the method has turned out to be ineffective so far, Kaif stated that the team should back players who they want to play in the 2023 World Cup.
Speaking with Amazon Prime Video, Kaif questioned Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s absence from the ongoing New Zealand ODIs.
“Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar not in the squad, I have no clue. He’s a good bowler, but 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,” Kaif said.
There’s no time for experiments : Mohammad Kaif
“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, and suddenly you’ll find yourself approaching the World Cup. So, you decide on the players and keep backing them,” he added.
Kaif further pointed out the exclusion of Umran Malik from India’s T20 World Cup squad and stated that he should be backed well.
“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 concluded.
