Former India captain Ajit Wadekar believes that the Indian team under Virat Kohli has the wherewithal to deliver good results anywhere in the world.
After playing plenty of home internationals in the last 18 months, India travels to South Africa, England and Australia in the next 13 months. “South Africa is always tough to beat. They have a good team and the wickets there are a lot faster and hence the Indian players have to get adjusted to those wickets,” said the 76-year-old Wadekar.
“At the moment, the Indian team is doing really well; it’s balanced and I think the team has enough experience to play on any kind of track. Their past track record suggests that they are in pretty good form and they should be able to deliver anywhere,” he added.
Wadekar was fielding questions after being presented the Dr. Rameshwar Dayal Lifetime Achievement Award by the Dr. Dayal Foundation which is celebrating its decade long service to humanity.
Amol Muzumdar, Praveen Amre and Ratnakar Shetty were also felicitated for excelling in the sport, coaching and administration.
Wadekar also lavished praise on Kohli. “He is of a different mould entirely. He is a tremendously attacking cricketer. The present day game requires that type of a cricketer because without guys like him you won’t be able to attract crowds.
“Not only is he attacking, but he is also the one who plays for the team. The one thing I like about him is that he likes to win at all times; he doesn’t like to lose matches which is a great thing.”
In recent times, the discerning have been concerned with Ajinkya Rahane’s form, but Wadekar said all cricketers go through a bad patch.
“I have seen Sunil Gavaskar go through a bad patch, it can happen to any great cricketer. Rahane is one of the top cricketers India has produced and he will definitely overcome the bad patch. But, the sooner he does that the better for Indian cricket. He should keep playing because, if he keeps playing, he will get back the confidence and get back among the runs.”
Talking about Rohit Sharma’s 208 in the ODI against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam, Wadekar said: “The wickets are getting better these days and the bowling attacks stereotypical. So it has become easier for batsmen to score runs. But today’s batsmen are also more skilled than we were and they are playing more shots. Rohit is a damn good player along with Virat.”
