India have best pace unit in the world but Jasprit Bumrah needs to work on fitness: Zaheer Khan

India have best pace unit in the world: Zaheer Khan

Mumbai, September 28: Zaheer Khan, who led India pace attack admirably, is chuffed to see the progress India made as far as their pace bowling department is concerned and said the current India pace unit is the best in contemporary cricket.

Zaheer said this is an exciting time to be a fast bowler in India, but it gave him immense pleasure to see the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma and others have performed consistently.

1. On India's fast bowling

"These are exciting times to be a fast bowler in India. The likes of Bumrah, Shami, Ishant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Navdeep Saini among others have proven the fact that the current Indian team is a powerhouse of bowling and it is by far the best bowling attack in the world. I hope they keep putting in the hard work and maintain the rhythm which has seen them achieve results," Zaheer told IANS.

2. On Bumrah's injury

"I have tracked Jasprit's progress since a very young age. Since his early days with Mumbai Indians he was extremely talented and I am happy as to how over the years he has been able to nurture himself and brought out some stellar performances for his team. His awkward action has worked really well for him, I feel he just needs to keep working on his fitness and keep evolving without putting too much pressure on himself."

3. On the pace reserve bench

"Navdeep Saini has impressed with his pace. I feel in the longer format he can have a great impact because of the consistency of length that he has shown. Deepak Chahar has been very good with his swing. He is someone who has been using the outswingers to great effect. Chahar's strength has been swing with the new ball while Saini's strength is his pace and Khaleel Ahmed has been good with his variations."

4. On Virat Kohli's captaincy

India's rise to the top of the Test rankings has a lot to do with skipper Kohli's love for the longest format of the game and the emphasis he puts on red-ball cricket. One of the few to have played under Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Kohli (in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore), Zaheer said the current India skipper is a lot like his first captain in international cricket - Ganguly.

"Sourav made us believe that we can win oversees and inspired us to play with a lot of aggression. Dhoni was calm through tough situations, yet aggressive in his approach. We won the World Cup under him, so it was always very special playing under his leadership. Virat is a lot like dada (Ganguly), he is expressive, bold in his decisions and always pumps the team up through crunch situations. His sublime batting form is always reflective of the way he leads the team on field."