Indian side a mixture of experience and youth: Gaekwad

The presence of seven left-handers in the Indian side is very unusual. Questions have been raised about the disadvantages of having so many southpaws in the squad. But the Indian coach Anshuman Gaekwad does not think so. He made his views clear to reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday on the eve of the Indian team's departure for Nairobi to play in the ICC knockout tourney from October 3 to 15.

Anshuman Gaekwad © CricInfo Ltd 2000

Gaekwad said "No, I would not say that it's a disadvantage. What is important is to get the right combination (of right and left handers)." Half the members of the 14-member Indian side are lefthanders - Sourav Ganguly, Robin Singh, Vinod Kambli, Sunil Joshi, Sridharan Sriram, Hemang Badani and Yuvraj Singh. Speaking about the squad, he said "it's a well-balanced side with a mixture of experience and youth."

Gaekwad who has taken over as coach after the recent turmoil, said "I am approaching the job with a positive frame of mind." He was optimistic over India's possible clash against Australia if they clear the first hurdle against Kenya. Gaekwad said "in one-day cricket the team that plays well on the particular day wins." India play Kenya in the tournament opener on October 3.

Gaekwad who earlier was the coach of the Indian team during the World Cup last year felt that the boys were fit enough for the Nairobi tourney, following the 10-day coaching camp in Chennai. "Physio Andrew Leipus carried certain fitness tests on players after the camp and the results were very close to those of the Australians. This is heartening news," Gaekwad said.

On the side's fielding, which has been a cause for some concern, an optimistic Gaekwad said the current squad has a big advantage over the teams of the recent past. "It's a good fielding side, especially because the newcomers in the team are all fine fielders," he said.

Asked about the new faces in the squad, the 48-year-old former Indian opening batsman described Zaheer Khan, who plays for Baroda, as fast and fairly accurate. "At times he is quicker than even Javagal Srinath", Gaekwad said. On Yuvraj Singh, the coach said that though Yuvraj could also bowl, his place in the side is primarily as a batsman.

On wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya, who is new to international cricket, Gaekwad opined that "Dahiya has played first class cricket and is a mature cricketer. He also appears to be a good bat." He ruled out the possibility of asking Rahul Dravid to keep wickets to make way for an extra batsman or a bowler. Gaekwad said "Dravid is our main batsman and you need to safeguard him." Gaekwad took over the reins from Kapil Dev and is expected to remain as coach till the Sharjah tournament which begins on October 20.