Rahane and Ashwin will increase the experience quotient of the side: Mohammad Kaif

Mohammad Kaif recently opined that the arrival of veterans like Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin would certainly increase the experience quotient in the Delhi Capitals camp. He also seemed happy with the mixture of attacking foreign batsmen domestic players which would give an excellent balance to the team.

The former Indian batsman was sharing his expectations with the IPL franchise in an interview given to Gulf News.

‘‘The arrival of Ajinkya Rahane and Ravi Ashwin, both former captains of their IPL franchises, will increase the experience quotient in a big way. The presence of Jason Roy, who played a big role in England’s 2019 ICC World Cup win, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey and Shimron Hetmyer, the hardhitting West Indian batsman gives us good balance.”

The Delhi Capitals coach also heaped praised on skipper Shreyas Iyer. Mohammad Kaif lauded the way Iyer had grown into the role of captaincy after Gautam Gambhir had stepped down mid-season in 2018.

‘‘He has a mature head on his young shoulders and I am very happy to see him settle down in that crucial No.4 spot for India. Since last year, we had also formed the core of good Indian players in the trio of Shreyas, Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw, who were backed up by the experienced Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma - for both of whom it was like coming home,’’ observed Kaif.

Our Assistant Coach @MohammadKaif has fond memories of Delhi, and he can not wait to be part of a New Delhi!#BigUpdate #StayTuned430PM pic.twitter.com/qDFmAij94u

— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from 🏠) (@DelhiCapitals) December 4, 2018

"It has been a big learning process for me" - Mohammad Kaif on the role of Assistant Coach

This is Mohammad Kaif's second season as the Assistant Coach of Delhi Capitals. He feels that he has learnt a lot last year working with the likes of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly in the supporting staff. The familiarity with the players has also helped him settle into the job, says the former UP captain.

“It had been a big learning process for me last year under Ricky Ponting as the chief coach and ‘Dada’ (Sourav Ganguly) as the mentor. My advantage was my familiarity with most of the Indian players while in Parth Jindal - we had one of the most passionate owners.”

At 39 years of age, Mohammad Kaif is one of the youngest members among support staff of any IPL franchise. Before the stint with Delhi Capitals, he worked as the Assistant Coach of the Gujarat Lions side in the 2017 season.