Kedar Jadhav Injury Update: India’s Head Coach was vocal about Kedar Jadhav’s injury and picked his favourites for the World Cup.
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India Head Coach Ravi Shastri considers West Indies and Australia as favourites for the imminent ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. In a recent interview with CricketNext, Shastri explained why the two countries will be tough opponents during the tournament.
“When they [West Indies] were in India [last year], I said we might have beaten them but we had a tough series and they played some excellent cricket. And I said that at the given time, there was no [Chris] Gayle, there was no [Andre] Russell in that side,” Shastri was quoted as saying.
Highlighting the rich history of the team which won the first two editions of the World Cup, Shastri laid emphasis on “power-hitting” being West Indies’ biggest strength for the tournament.
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“I said watch out for this side, they have serious talent and I was very happy about that. Because you have played in the glory days of West Indies against some of the best players to have played the game and then the country has gone through some real debacles.
“The power hitting there is something that no team comes close. When it comes to the sheer ability to hit sixes, they are way up the ladder there,” Shastri added.
On Australia
Speaking about defending champions Australia, Shastri couldn’t ignore their dominating record in the World Cup. The 56-year old considered the comeback of David Warner and Steven Smith a positive sign for the Australians.
“They [Australia] have won more World Cups than any other team in the last 25 years. There is never an Australian team which is not competitive. And now they have got all their players back and they seem to be in pretty good form but then again in the World Cup it is that given day,” Shastri mentioned.
Kedar Jadhav Injury Update
India all-rounder Kedar Jadhav injuring his shoulder during the IPL has been a concern for the team. Being asked about Jadhav’s chances of participating in the showpiece event, Shastri talked in the affirmative.
“When the flight takes off on the 22nd [May], we will see who are the 15 on that and just take it from there. Luckily in Kedar’s [Jadhav] case, there is no fracture so we will wait and watch. There is still time so it should be OK,” Shastri further said.
