Kirsten lauds Sachin

February 26, 2010 08:44 pm | Updated 08:44 pm IST - Ahmedabad

India coach Gary Kirsten said Saturday's ODI here would present him with an opportunity to assess young cricketers in testing situations.

"It's exciting being the coach of this Indian team. There is so much young and promising talent around," he said.

Kirsten spoke about the Twenty20 and the one-day World Cups and dwelt on the need to find the right combination of cricketers.

He said, "I would say that we have not yet zeroed on the five or six main bowlers for the one-day variety. We are still trying. We have played around eight pacemen this season. It's a process before settling on the best possible men."

Kirsten said paceman Sudip Tyagi was likely to receive a look-in in the final ODI.

On Sachin Tendulkar's world record ODI double hundred in Gwalior, Kirsten said, "It is probably the best ODI innings he has played and perhaps the finest ODI innings I have seen."

Abraham de Villiers, who made a fighting hundred in the second ODI, said he has not seen a better one-day effort than Tendulkar's double century at Gwalior. "It was an amazing knock," he added. de Villiers said the young bowlers in the South African side had learnt a lot by bowling at world class batsmen in the sub-continental conditions.

"It's a learning experience for them. They are young and promising. They may have gone for runs but will return as better bowlers."

Asked about the dip in South Africa's form after the Nagpur Test, he said, "It's not so much about our form dropping. I think India raised its game."

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.