India’s World cup winning coach Gary Kirsten feels country’s bowling spearhead in ODI cricket Bhuvneshwar Kumar has raised his skills and is currently one of the best bowlers in the world. He said this in an e-mail conversation with this reporter.
Kirsten has coached India from 2008-2011 and is currently working as an assistant coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He was in New Delhi to attend a one-day talent scout at Siri Fort Sports Complex on Thursday.
When asked about how he feels about the current crop of fast bowlers and budding youngsters in the country, he said, “I think India has a good batch of fast bowlers and there are also some really exciting young u-19 players coming through who are bowling 140 plus. If you look at Buvi Kumar, you don’t necessarily always need express pace but he has certainly grown his skill level and is one of the best in the world currently.”
Kirsten believes IPL is a good platform to groom future Indian players and stressed on the need to tap the potential of talented pool of youngsters the country possess.
“In a country of over a billion people, there are always going to be difficulties that come up. We are hoping to help with the already strong processes in place and look forward to seeing players explore their games more. The IPL is a wonderful platform and I think you will see more and more young Indian players coming through because of it,” the former South African opener said.
50-year-old Kirsten doesn’t see the MRF pace foundation as a competition and wants to create platform for all players to enhance the level of their game. The iconic pace foundation in Chennai has gone on to represent Indian cricket team with players like Javagal Srinath, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan among others.
He said, “If we can create a platform for all players to improve their games and have a place to go to where they can explore options, then everyone is benefiting. We certainly don’t see anyone as competition and we are hoping to work with all entities around India so that we can start driving similar messages and providing similar platforms.”
The 2019 Cricket World cup in England is just a year away and the Sunday Guardian asked which nation does he thinks will win the title. Kirsten said, “They all have a chance.”
Meanwhile, the talent scout saw the selection of six candidates for further training. The hunt was overseen by Gary himself and other assistant coaches. This was the 3rd of the nation-wide hunt planned by Gary Kirsten Cricket in the months of April and May. It was held in Mumbai (23 and 24 April) followed by Bangalore (28 and 29 April) and will continue in Chennai (14-15 May) and Pune (21 May).