Bowlers give India strong chance to defend CT title, says VVS Laxman
Terming young pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as among the best death overs bowlers in world cricket, former star batsman V.V.S Laxman said a powerful bowling line-up gives India a strong chance to defend Champions Trophy title.
Laxman said that skipper Virat Kohli will be depending on these two bowlers because of their current form and the pace-friendly conditions in England.
"India has got four quality fast bowlers and along with that they have got two quality spinners in (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja; it's important to pick up wickets not only with the new ball but also with the middle overs.
"And I believe that Virat Kohli will depend a lot on Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, possibly two of the best death bowlers in world cricket, to bowl well at the end," Laxman told IANS.
"I believe that India has got a very good chance of defending the Champions Trophy. The way they played in both the warm-up games, the batsmen are in good form, but the bowlers have been very ruthless," the former right-handed batsman added.
Laxman also said that the much-awaited match against Pakistan will be a high profile one because of the fact that India rarely play against their arch-rivals. "The expectations of the countrymen of both countries will be really high but as far as Virat Kohli and his team are concerned, I'm sure his message to the team would be, go out, just keep aside all the distractions from outside and just look to focus on the target and the task at hand -- and go out and express yourself, play your natural game," the 42-yearold said. "And I believe that once they do that, they have got the ability and the potential to not only beat Pakistan but to also retain the Champion's Trophy," he added.
The veteran batsman also praised Kohli for his attacking game and said its good to see him playing like this.
"Virat as a captain was very attacking, because to bowl out both New Zealand and Bangladesh in that fashion, and the way they were getting the wickets, it was really heartening to see," Laxman said.
Laxman praised the Indian batsmen for showing the temperament and skills in English conditions.
"It was really good to see the way Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja and even Virat Kohli in the first match against New Zealand bat," Laxman said.
Former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri had earlier said that the Champions Trophy is only an overdose of cricket for the audience and equally hard on the players. When asked about the importance of the tournament Laxman differed from his former teammate's comment.
"I always felt that the Champion's Trophy is a very good tournament, it is always treated like a mini World Cup," Laxman said.
Laxman also named his four semi-finalists of the tournament.
"For me the four semi-finalists would be England, Australia, South Africa and India and whichever team plays well on that particular day will win the championship but it is going to be highly competitive tournament," he concluded.