"Won’t be surprised if this young squad wins the series in Sri Lanka" - MSK Prasad

Former India chief selector MSK Prasad has said that he won't be surprised if India triumph in their upcoming limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka. He believes that a young squad of white-ball specialists, including the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, possesses the required spunk and skills to defeat a full-strength Sri Lanka team.

MSK Prasad made these observations in an interview with Sportstar. He also spoke about Yadav and Kishan's splendid outings in their debut series against England, saying that the new line of Indian cricketers are audacious and eager to grab their opportunities with both hands.

The skill level back then was similar to what we have now. But the confidence levels of the boys today is five times more than what we had then. Simple example: first ball, Suryakumar Yadav, gets an opportunity to play in a T20I game, smashes one of the best bowlers in the world for a six. Or Ishan Kishan, the way he blasted the opposition (England) on debut. I won’t be surprised if this young squad wins the series in Sri Lanka,” said MSK Prasad

The 46-year-old picked Yadav as the 'guy to watch out for' in the series. He also rued the fact that Avesh Khan, who was the second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL 2021, may miss out on the chance to play either series as he has been selected to be with the Virat Kohli-led side in England as a reserve bowler. He added:

"Suryakumar Yadav is the guy to watch out for. Ishan and Sanju also have a great opportunity at hand. I would have also loved to see Avesh Khan (named standby for the UK tour). He has been excellent in the IPL, and it would be unfortunate to see him miss out on playing in either series.”

Happy place 🔥💪 pic.twitter.com/oPdxVSLP8v

— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) June 1, 2021

The tour of Sri Lanka will comprise three ODIs and as many T20Is, beginning on July 13.

"Getting into India A has also become a benchmark" - MSK Prasad

MSK Prasad

MSK Prasad, who was the chief selector for over 3 years from 2016-20, also explained the behind-the-scenes work he and his team did to strengthen India's bench strength.

“With the volume of cricket and cricketers we have in India, we realized that we could get into the specialization aspect of it and have players for different formats. We planned to create enough bench strength for the current lot... Around 60 players from domestic cricket were rounded off by our panel based on their performance over two seasons," said MSK Prasad.

He added that due to the meticulously-planned system, getting selection in India 'A' teams is also a big achievement now.

"We further filtered it to 25 players and rotated them in India A cricket across formats. Say a wicketkeeper, and we have the likes of Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, KS Bharat and Sanju Samson in the rounds. The filtered players, barring a few, have received continuous opportunities over two years. This is the system put in place. Getting into India A has also become a benchmark".

Finally, MSK Prasad lauded former India captain and National Cricket Academy chief Rahul Dravid for his contributions in 'molding' the youngsters.

"Credit to Rahul as well. He is the best person at that level and has molded the youngsters perfectly. Our duty was to give him the right players, and he has managed to do the rest,” MSK Prasad signed off.

Incidentally, in the absence of Ravi Shastri and his team, Dravid is also likely to be the head coach for the young team in Sri Lanka.

Great news for all Indian cricket fans 🇮🇳Rahul Dravid to coach the limited-overs side on the tour of Sri Lanka 🤩#SLvIND #India #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/bmKjApG2mv

— Sportskeeda India (@Sportskeeda) May 20, 2021