Srinagar: Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has said that Team India lacked extreme pace in its bowling and they should back Umran Malik for the World Cup here on for the next World Cup.
India is set to play in 25 ODIs ahead of the World Cup, out of which two have already been played against New Zealand in the ongoing series.
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.
Kaif also backed pace sensation Umran Malik, who he believes should be kept in the scheme of things for the showpiece event.
“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.
Kaif said that 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.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he added.