Don't get carried away with pace-friendly wickets in Australia: Kapil Dev to Indian bowlers

Kolkata, December 15

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Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev on Tuesday advised the highly-rated Indian pace attack to bowl to their strength and not get carried away with the bouncy wickets during the four-match Test series in Australia beginning on Thursday.

Even in the absence of the experienced Ishant Sharma, the India team boasts of a lethal pace-bowling attack, led by Jaspirt Bumrah and Mohammed Shami and backed up by the likes of Umesh Yadav and rookie duo of Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini.

But the legendary pacer felt that the Indians still lack experience of bowling on Australian pitches.

“Our fast bowlers are not that used to bowling on Australian pitches. Sometimes they may get carried away when they see a little bit of bounce and start bowling short. It’s very important to understand their pace and back their strengths,” Kapil said during a virtual session hosted by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

“We may have a very good pace bowling attack at this stage, but they (Australians) know the conditions better than our fast bowlers,” said the 61-year-old former India captain who played 131 Tests between 1978 and 1994, scoring 5,248 runs and taking 434 wickets.

The 1983 World Cup winning captain also said that Australia would have the edge in the series opening day/night Test in Adelaide as they had played more such matches than India, apart from the fact that they were playing at home.

“Definitely Australia have the edge. They are playing in their backyard. If India were playing a pink ball Test in India, I would say 80 per cent our chances. But Australia have played so many (pink ball) Tests and they understand the conditions better under the floodlights.”

Kapil picked his India debut in 1978 as the biggest moment of his career, ahead of the country’s 1983 World Cup win under his captaincy.

“The biggest ever moment that happened to me was the day I played for India. I would call it 1,000 times bigger than winning the World Cup because representing your country was always a dream. I still cherish that moment and feel so proud,” he said. PTI