File photo of Rohit Sharma© BCCI/Sportzpics
India skipper Rohit Sharma said on Tuesday that the team is blessed with a strong pool of batters and he wants to build a similar stock in pace bowling so that injuries stop having a bearing on the side's balance. Rohit's comments come in the backdrop of delayed recovery of senior pacer Mohammed Shami and a shoulder injury to left-arm quick Yash Dayal, who was drafted into the India squad for the recent series against Bangladesh.
"When it comes to batting, there are a lot of options. We want to create the same in bowling as well. We want to create bench strength where tomorrow if anything happens to anyone, we are not worried," Rohit said on the eve of the first Test against New Zealand here.
"We don't want to heavily reliant on a few individuals. That is not the right thing to do. We want to look at the future and try and make sure we get the right guys in as well," he added.
So, it was not surprising to see India naming pacers Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna as travelling reserves for the series against the Black Caps which comprises three Tests.
"Mayank has shown what he can do. But we want to be careful with him. He had a lot of injuries in the past, so we want to progress him not rapidly. Just see how he is every day, try to build his workloads with the red ball. For us, it is to build them gradually rather than getting them straight into international cricket," said Rohit.
However, Prasidh's availability to travel with the squad is subject to him getting fitness clearance from the NCA after suffering an unspecified injury during Karnataka's opening Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh at Indore.
That apart, Rohit explained why the Indian think-tank wanted those young pacers to be around the senior side.
"So tomorrow, if we feel like they are ready to take that role (replacing an injured pacer), they should be ready for it. They have obviously played a few games before we made this announcement.
"They have played the Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy as well. So, we just want to make sure that they are monitored quite well. Their workloads have been taken care of," said Rohit.
The Mumbaikar said such a step was mandatory because Test cricket is a different beast compared to white ball formats, and the bowlers will take time to adjust to it.
"In the short period of time, they have shown they have ability as well. We want to keep them with the team and see whether they will be ready for international cricket or not.
"Especially Test cricket because Test cricket is a different ball game compared to white ball cricket. We want to see what they can offer us," he noted.
Pitchforking a young bowler to the senior squad, Rohit said, will give the team management an opportunity to understand their cricketing psyche and thoughts about Test cricket.
"Sometimes you have to fast-track someone. That is only in the betterment of Indian cricket. We want to create guys where even if there are injuries, we have someone to quickly step in and take that role. Nitish (Reddy) and Harshit (Rana) both are talented individuals.
"In the future, they are going to provide a lot of stability. So, it's always nice to just have them around and see their mindset," said Rohit.
The four travelling reserves will have more opportunity to play international cricket when they travel to South Africa for a bilateral T20I series, and from there they will rejoin the Indian Test squad in Australia.