India has enough pace talent, says Lillee
Dennis Lillee thinks it is wrong to say there aren't enough talented fast bowlers in Indian cricket.
The great Australian fast bowler, who is credited with giving Indian cricket Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad at the MRF Pace Foundation, says three of the 15 boys under his care could make the mark in international cricket.
Asked why the Foundation, which is ten years old this month, could locate just two
speedsters for India, Lillee shot back, ''Tell me, how many real fast bowlers did you have before I came here?'', adding that Kapil Dev was only a medium fast bowler.
''I would be happy with two good bowlers,'' he said.
Lillee and his fiery partner Jeff Thompson are in Madras to conduct a fortnight-long camp to mark the Pace Foundation's tenth anniversary.
He singled out Sanjay Pande (Bihar), Asif Zafar (Uttar Pradesh) and
Zakir Hussain (Railways) for praise, saying,''they
have improved a lot since I was here the last time.''
But the assembled media corps were not just interested in India's pace potential. They wanted to know more about the burnt out cases -- Srinath
and Prasad. To their pointed queries about the cause for the Karnataka bowlers's injuries, Lillee reiterated the conventional wisdom -- the two men, he said, had bowled way too much.
''The Indian cricket board should look at its international and
domestic programmes and decide whether its frontline bowlers should
be involved in all the matches,'' he said.
Lillee felt a second line of players should be built up for the national side.
In Australia, he said, the selectors had decided recently to pick separate
teams for one day games and Test matches. "This line of thinking is now
being adopted by all cricketing nations in the wake of
injuries to bowlers, fast and spin," he added.
Lillee said physiotherapist Max Pritzner, who
is in Madras with graduates of the Australian Cricket Academy,
told him that Srinath has been training hard after being treated for his rotator
cuff injury. "He will bowl even better now," Srinath's mentor felt.
Prasad, Lillee said, did not suffer a rotator cuff injury, but
the comparatively lesser affliction of tendonitis. However, most shoulder
injuries have something to do with the rotator cuff, the paceman, who has suffered career-threatening injuries in his time, said.
Srinath and Prasad, Lillee felt, were good enough to last a minimum of three to five years in international cricket. The trouble with the Indians, he complained, was their physique and low endurance levels.
Lillee said Prasad and Srinath would do well to visit the
Australian Pace Academy. "It is up to the Indian Board.
Both guys are amenable to the idea. They can get themselves
updated on injury management, among other things."
Lillee and Thommo also refuted criticism that the Pace
Foundation now seemed to cater more to the needs of other cricketing nations.
"The Foundation is primarily meant for Indian fast bowlers,
training them to be good enough to play for India," the Aussies said.
Fast bowlers from South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are
attending the current camp.
"It is easy for the press to criticise from the comfort of
air conditioned boxes," Thommo quipped, adding that
bowlers like Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas were
invited to train at the Foundation so that the Indian trainees could be inspired by their achievements and learn to emulate them.
Moving on to other things, Lillee rated Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis
as "the best" fast bowlers in international cricket.
South Africa, he said, has quite a good attack. "India, with Srinath
about to get back and Prasad are growing. They have
got it in them to go up," he said.
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