Kapil Dev hopeful of Indian pace attack ahead of England Tests

Ishant Sharma in action against Derbyshire

1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, addressing the media at Mumbai, praised the appointment of Rahul Dravid as batting consultant and expressed hope that the inexperienced Indian bowling line-up will stand up to the needs of the England Test series.

"I believe in the bowling and am not worried about it. Bhuvaneshwar is a seam bowler and these are ideal conditions and so is the case with Shami too. Ishant is the head of the pack and I still believe that he can come out good. I have a lot of confidence in the other two," said Kapil Dev, who was one of only three Indian captains to win a Test series in England. The side under his leadership won the three-match series in 1986 by 2-0.

Kapil welcomed the first 5 match Test series for India in England after 55 years. However, the legendary cricketer calling the bowling pack as limited over specialists, questioned their ability to bowl long spells.

“All of them are four over bowlers basically. I have not seen them bowling 20-30 overs, that's where I have a doubt, a reservation in my mind. But let us give the benefit of the doubt to these boys," he mentioned.

The second leading wicket taker for India in Tests and all-time third highest wicket taker among pacers in the world, felt that the Indians bowled way too short in their previous tour and need to alter their lengths to succeed in swinging conditions.

"In the New Zealand series, we did not get the result and that was disheartening. We need a good seamer or a senior player to show the way. You have to bowl up, make the batsman play straight, not use the cut shot. In England you don't need to seam the ball half a yard, (need) just six or four inches, and you're in trouble (as a batsman).

"In New Zealand they were bowling short and that cost us the results. You can't keep bowling short. The harder/ bouncier the pitch, you have to bowl a half yard more up to the batsman," he told.

Kapil Dev’s team that won the 1986 England Test series 2-0

Concerned by lack of all-rounders

The man with 5248 Test runs and 434 Wickets played down the effectiveness of Stuart Binny as a Test all-rounder.

"Had there been one good all-rounder it would have been a different story altogether – If he can bowl 20 overs in a day and bat at no. 7 or 6. Stuart Binny has to come a long way to get into the team. He does not give the impression he can bowl 20 overs in a day. If he can manage that then he would look totally different.

He's a brilliant fielder, but I have a doubt whether he can bowl 20 overs. Let's be critical when we are required to be critical,” claimed the 55-year-old, arguably, the best all-rounder India has ever produced.

"This team looks much stronger, but it's not going to be easy. Let anybody say whatever they want to say. It's going to be tough. If the batsmen survive (bat well) this time, our bowlers would do much better and I have a little more hope if (offspinner Ravichandran) Ashwin or (left-arm spinner Ravindra) Jadeja come back (to form) and start bowling well outside India," Kapil Dev said about the bowling line-up that misses the wise head of Zaheer Khan who was left out due to fitness concerns.

Cheteshwar Pujara – the key player:

Among the batsmen, the former player with 8 Test centuries picked Cheteshwar Pujara as his trump card.

"Pujara is ideal to play five-day cricket. If he plays well, the result can come out better in India's favour. Pujara can play the whole day, he has that temperament. Pujara can hold the wicket. I am not saying (Virat) Kohli is any less, but Pujara is the key player for me.

"In a couple of years he can play ODIs or T20s, but today he is your backbone (in Tests). He is the cricketer who can put his shutter down like Rahul Dravid and say I like to bat the whole day.

"In our time people used to say haai haai to Ravi Shastri, but we used to say Ravi you keep blocking. I told Ravi to occupy one end, play the whole day, don't score runs but play 40 overs against West Indies so that others can come and score.

"Such players might not get more runs, but they stay. Pujara is not Shikhar Dhawan or Sehwag, but we need players who can play out the day," the Chandigarh born legend explained.

MS Dhoni’s men are currently playing a warm-up match against Derbyshire ahead of the first Test on July 9 at Trent Bridge.