We are ready to play on fast wickets: Ravi Shastri

The Indian team has been playing a packed schedule for some time now. India’s home season started with Australia touring the subcontinent following which, Oceania neighbours New Zealand visited the country. Currently, Islanders Sri Lanka is embroiled in a gruelling contest against India after they were decimated 9-0 by the Men in Blue across all formats of the game at home. Culminating subcontinent rivalry, India will head to South Africa for their new challenge.

Team India always play convincing at home while they are transformed into lambs when exposed to tough conditions outside the sub-continent. Indian batsmen have time and again looked hapless against the seam and swing bowling. However, a confident Ravi Shastri revealed that his boys have the ability to cope in South Africa and are prepared for the fast tracks.

In an interview with Mid-Day, the Indian coach said, “We are ready to play on fast wickets. Our challenge will be to handle the pace. Obviously, pace and bounce will differ a little bit from one ground to another. We are prepared to play on bouncy wickets. We will be ready for that. I am confident that our team will do well on fast tracks on the tour of South Africa.”

He further added, “We have to play more matches on seaming tracks. We used to play on batting-friendly wickets. Now we have to bat on tracks where there is some grass and bounce.”

Shastri content with India’s current crop of pacers

He also discussed a lot of things in the interview. When asked about Ajinkya Rahane’s recent run of form, Shastri revealed bad patches are a part and parcel of the game. The trick is staying pertinent and the Indian coach believes Rahane will be back in his mojo in no time.

Shastri looks content with India’s current crop of pacers and heaped praises on Bhuvaneshwar Kumar for his stellar contribution to the team.

Lauding the pacer he said, “He’s a very intelligent cricketer. The moment he realized how to improve as a cricketer, he immediately started spending more time to develop his skills.”