Former India cricketer turned renowned commentator Aakash Chopra has shared that India have such a quality fast bowling unit. He further added that it hurts to leave any of them out of the playing XI and revealed the reasons behind this as well.
India had earlier struggled with their fast-bowling attack, with just one or two famous pacers in their team. However, over the last few years, they have build a strong pool of fast bowlers which has stepped up at the international level in most of the occasions as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “We have Bumrah, Shami, Ishant, Siraj, Shardul, Navdeep, Natarajan, Deepak, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav – just look at that depth. You feel hurt while dropping anyone, that he is such a good bowler, how he is kept out.”
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Aakash Chopra further added: “It started with the BCCI thinking that they wanted to be the world champions. This improvement would not have come if home victories were everything. You started giving grass and mentoring the fast bowlers. So first credit goes to the BCCI, the way they executed the long-term vision.”
Meanwhile, the credit should go to the BCCI as they decided to make seamer-friendly tracks at the domestic level which has certainly helped these fast bowlers grow as well. Aakash Chopra also added that the IPL has played a huge role in this as well.
He again shared: “The second big reason has been the IPL. When the IPL started, the difficult task of bowling the first six overs or the last four overs – it was done by the overseas bowlers. But as the league progressed, Chetan Sakariya, T Natarajan, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah – now you are talking only about the Indian bowlers.”
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The former Indian opener also stated that the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have been ideal role models for the youngsters. “Then sometimes there is a once-in-a-generation player who inspires everyone. Kapil paaji inspired, then Srinath and Zaheer. But because we are in this age – I think Boom Boom is inspiring a generation. He showed that we have a world-beater bowler, you have Shami as well,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
