Dennis Lillee helped India build great fast bowlers, says Dominic Cork
Former England pacer, Dominic Cork has stated Dennis Lillee is the reason behind India having a great crop of fast bowlers with an ability to take twenty wickets in a Test match. He further added that, after Lillee's contribution, Duncan Fletcher as India coach ensured that India had the firepower.
India’s pace bowling in Test cricket has been formidable in recent times as the bowlers displayed a consistent performance throughout the home and overseas series'. After Virat Kohli took over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni, the former along with Ravi Shastri guided India to great heights in the red-ball format.
India became a powerful Test side with several overseas victories over the years under the leadership of Kohli during Shastri's coaching tenure. The rise of Jasprit Bumrah as a world-class bowler, happened during the Shastri era in Indian cricket. Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Siraj also turned out into fierce bowlers during this period.
Meanwhile, former England pacer Dominic Cork has praised Indian cricket for having one of the best fast bowling attacks in world cricket in the modern-day era. Cork credited former Australian cricketer Dennis Lillee who helped the Indian bowlers while they were training in the MRF pace foundation. The former England speedster further added that after Lilee's contribution, former head coach Duncan Fletcher ensured that India had the firepower.
"India didn't have that much depth in pace bowling at that time. India has come along greatly in fast bowling. Dennis Lillee and the MRF began it all. Then Duncan Fletcher as a coach ensured that India had the firepower. I have seen them in the IPL and then developing into fine bowlers, like Navdeep Saini. With spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and all the pacers, India could bowl any side out,” Cork said to the Hindu.
England recently suffered a heavy loss against Australia by 4-0 in the Ashes. Several former cricketers blamed the participation of English players in IPL and the Hundred for England's failure in the longest format of the game. However, Cork had a different view on the issue and the former England fast bowler said that the failure of the Joe Root-led side was due to the lack of top overseas players in the modern era.
“We will blame anything. We will blame the IPL, The Hundred. The reason is that we just took the eye off Test cricket. We don't have the quality we had back in the 1990s when we had top overseas players. We used to have Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Holding, Brian Lara and many others. They could bat all day. I was lucky to play in that generation,” he added.
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