Former cricketer Mohammad Kaif asserted on Monday that the Indian staff has the aptitude to win the World Cup at residence this 12 months and it shouldn’t be judged on the idea of two T20I losses within the West Indies. India, after successful the two-Check sequence and ODIs within the Caribbean, are trailing 0-2 within the five-match T20I sequence, resulting in criticism over the facet’s preparations forward of two main competitions — the Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the ODI World Cup at residence.
Nevertheless, Kaif mentioned at a perform right here that the fears of India under-performing within the World Cup had been unfounded, though he indicated that tempo bowler Jasprit Bumrah must be totally match for the hosts to finish the title drought.
“India has misplaced simply two matches (T20Is towards West Indies), so we don’t have to get overly involved. I’m seeing loads of destructive response after the 2 losses. However I’ll solely say that our staff is extraordinarily aggressive. I’m not going to guage (India) on two back-to-back losses (within the West Indies). The one factor is that key gamers are lacking,” Kaif mentioned.
“Bumrah lacking is the largest issue. If he recovers totally… one facet is to finish the restoration and the opposite facet is to achieve match health. If he regains that (match health), will probably be a large acquire for Staff India. If Bumrah is totally match, we’ve an excellent likelihood of successful the World Cup at residence,” mentioned Kaif.
Bumrah might be staging a comeback throughout the T20 sequence towards Eire after being out of motion for nearly a 12 months following a again surgical procedure, and Kaif attributed the 29-year-old fast’s absence for India’s string of losses in main competitions throughout that interval.
“Lots of people are discussing that the (India) staff below (chief coach) Rahul Dravid misplaced the (T20) Asia Cup (final 12 months), the (T20) World Cup in Australia, the World Check Championship in England (just lately).
“I perceive all that, errors have occurred. However I believe, is it not simple to play with Bumrah not within the facet. He’s the largest match-winner and Rohit Sharma did not get his providers, so take into consideration all that.
“I imagine, as quickly as Bumrah returns totally match… he wins 50 per cent of the matches for the Indian staff. I believe if Bumrah is within the staff and some others like KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer additionally return, we’ve the gamers who can win the (World Cup) trophy,” added Kaif.
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