Former captain Bishen Singh Bedi said on Saturday that India`s average bowling and not so impressive fielding will not be able to back the batsmen enough during the World Cup.
Questioning the selection of players, Bedi said the selectors have included too many spinners in the squad, ignored right options in the fast bowling department and hardly given importance to fielding which is very significant in one-day cricket.
“One spinner is too many (in the conditions). I don`t think this kid Piyush Chawla will get to play. And look at the fast bowling…they are not outstanding bowlers. Ashish Nehra is not the bowler he was in 2003. Zaheer and Praveen are struggling. Bowling is definitely a weak link,” Bedi said.
“I would have picked Sreesanth in place of Nehra since he is a very fit youngster. And India`s fielding is poorer. The batsmen will have to do a hell lot of job to make up for the average bowling and poor fielding,” he said.
“Expectations have always been high after the 1983 win but this World Cup is open. Any side, India, South Africa, Australia or even England, can go on to win the trophy. Sri Lanka always are a contender. So, all the teams would be under a lot of pressure.”
Bedi refused to compare the current side with the 1983 World Cup winning team but said one of the major reasons for India`s success at that time was that almost all the players were brilliant fielders.
“Comparison won`t be fair. At that time India had nothing to lose but one thing I would like to say is that players such as Roger Binny, Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath and Sandip Patil, they were all good fielders. Fielding can win you matches but we have ignored this aspect this time around,” he argued.
Bedi also said the Indian team should do everything to win the coveted trophy for Sachin Tendulkar, who is perhaps playing in his last World Cup.
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