Mumbai: India will need to field a robust bowling attack at the ODI World Cup in southern Africa late next year because the matches are likely to be played on pitches that will be far better to bat on than in the past, former India batter Mohammad Kaif said on Monday.
Kaif was a key middle-order batter and an ideal foil to Yuvraj Singh’s flamboyance when India reached the final of the 2023 edition, the last time the 50-over World Cup was staged mainly in South Africa. The upcoming edition will also feature games in Zimbabwe with Namibia hosting some preliminary games.
“The conditions have become much better in South Africa, there are a lot of batting-friendly pitches. So, I don’t think bowlers will dominate. I feel batters will dominate, so which team has better bowlers will do well,” Kaif, who was the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the Harris Shield Inter-school competition here, said.
The batting pitches are a pattern around the world, said Kaif, who played 125 ODIs.
“The focus is on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, I think they will be fine. If India has to win, bowling and fielding must be sorted, they are the two important aspects,” he said.
Kaif and Yuvraj were electric on the field in the campaign 23 years ago in which the Sourav Ganguly-led India recovered from a slow start to reach the final, where they lost to Australia after their bowling came apart.
In 2003, Sachin Tendulkar led the batting to be named the player of the tournament. “One player will not win you the World Cup abroad, Kohli is the main player, but a lot of others will need to help,” said Kaif.
“Tendulkar was our main batter, but if you check the matches, others also contributed. Yuvraj got important runs, I got an unbeaten half-century against New Zealand, Rahul Dravid’s runs were there, Virender Sehwag’s runs, Ashish Nehra’s match-winning spell against England, Zaheer Khan bowled good spells, Javagal Srinath was our senior bowler. Ganguly’s captaincy was excellent, a lot of credit goes to him.”
With one year to go for the tournament, India’s biggest concern is an unsettled pace bowling line-up. “A lot of batters are in the queue, but in bowling there is no one. Who after Jasprit Bumrah we have to figure out,” Kaif said.
“They (team management) were going with young bowlers but it is not working out, so now they have to find the balance. Shubman Gill (27) is a relatively young captain, and with that, a young bowling combination will not work. With a young captain, an experienced set of bowlers will work.”
Seeing the struggles of an inexperienced attack in recent matches, the national selectors have become open to recalling experienced bowlers. The 36-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar has received an India recall after four years, selected for the T20I series in New Zealand.
This makes a case for the selection of another 36-year-old out of favour pacer, Mohammed Shami, in the ODI side. Shami played the last three World Cups with great success, picking 55 wickets in 18 matches. Kaif recalled his 2023 performance where Shami picked three five-wicket hauls and one four-for in seven matches.
“Shami had a big impact in the 2023 tournament. In Africa, you will get flat wickets, you need experienced players. Shami is a skilful bowler… He is an ICC event bowler, he has performed in every World Cup. Bhuvneshwar’s selection has given hope to other experienced bowlers,” said Kaif.
“Whatever protocols are there for a comeback, he is doing it. He is playing domestic, bowling 20 overs, which means he is fit. Age is not the criterion, it is your performance and fitness, how long a spell you can bowl, can you contribute to the team’s win,” said Kaif, pointing to the Australia pace pack in the Durban Test against South Africa.
“Australia is playing a Test, what is the age of their bowlers?”
Mitchell Starc is 36, Josh Hazlewood is 35, and skipper Pat Cummins is 33.
