MSK Prasad delighted with the series win over Australia

The chief selector of India, MSK Prasad is delighted with India’s performance against Australia in the recently concluded ODI series. India clinched an emphatic win over the team from down under in the 5-match One-Day International series at home by 4-1. Men in Blue sealed the fate of Australians in first three games itself by defeating them and it was only the fourth game when the visitors got better of Virat Kohli and his men. However, India continued their domination and trounced the Men in Yellow in Nagpur in the final game of the series.

Both the teams will lock horns now in the 3-match T20 International series starting from October 7. Ranchi will host the first game as the teams will travel to Guwahati and Hyderabad for the second and third T20Is respectively. The chief selector was extremely happy with the team and also expressed his happiness as the team perched to the top of the ODI rankings. Also, he would love to see the team winning the contest in the shortest format as well.

Prasad credits Dravid for India A victories

MSK Prasad is very happy over the performances of the India A team along with the senior team. “I don’t think there was any one department where India failed to excel. Every player who was given a chance contributed to the success and as the chairman of the panel, I am glad to see this team perform so well. “I don’t want to engage in any sort of comparison on how this Virat Kohli-led Indian team will be rated with any other previous teams. What is important and immensely satisfying is that it is producing the results that we are all looking for,” he said with a smile on his face in an interview with ‘The Hindu’.

However, he refused to comment on whether fitness would have greater emphasis in the selection and not just consistent performances. India A completed the clean sweep over New Zealand A in the two-match Test series and won both the matches quite comfortably. Prasad did not forget to credit the coach Rahul Dravid for the tremendous success of the team.

“To appoint Rahul as the coach is one of the best things to have happened to Indian team,” he said. “When it comes to Rahul, it is not just about imparting cricketing skills. More valuable is the mental toughness he is trying to pass on to the young talent. And, he is doing a great job,” were Prasad’s compliments to Dravid. He also praised the likes of Ankit Bawne, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem and Shreyas Iyer for displayed their prowess during the series.

“The performance of India-A team against New Zealand-A is very creditable given the fact that there are quite a few very good internationals in the visiting side. This should do a world of good to the confidence of someone like Shreyas (Iyer), Bawne (Ankit) and the two spinners (Karn and Nadeem). These kind of matches help us ensure a very strong reserve of talent ready to take up bigger responsibilities,” he concluded.