India defeated Australia by innings and 132 runs in the opening Test to take the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Australia’s two innings were controlled by the bowlers from India. In their two innings, the guests were run out for 177 and 91 respectively. In contrast, India scored a whopping 400 runs, including a brilliant century from Captain Rohit Sharma.
The second Test will start on Friday, February 17, and the hosts are eager to continue their winning streak. The Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will host the second Test of the four-game series. Rahul Dravid, the coach of India, spoke to the media prior to the game to address a variety of issues. The Team Head was asked about the dearth of good left-hand pacers, to which he delivered a scathing response.
Dravid was questioned by a journalist about his thoughts on the Team’s lack of competent left-arm pacers. The journalist posed the query while using Mitchell Starc of Australia and Shaheen Shah Afridi of Pakistan as examples. He even questioned why India hasn’t yet discovered pacers of the caliber of Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan. But Dravid responded angrily to the reporter.
“A left-arm fast bowler brings a lot of variation. You forgot the name of Zaheer Khan. But selectors and management definitely watch out for these talents. Arshdeep Singh played well in the recent ODIs, he also played Ranji Trophy, where he picked 4-5 wickets. He’s young, he’s developing. There are other guys who are performing. But only being a left-handed pacer will not help you get into the side, you need to perform as well,” Dravid said.
“Agar 6ft 4′ bowler hain aapke paas toh aap batado (If you know someone 6ft4 bowler let us know). You took the names of Mitchell Starc and Shaheen Afridi, but in India, we rarely find someone as tall as 6ft 5′ who bowls left-hand fast,” he added.