India's former bowling coach Paras Mhambrey wants the national team's new head coach Gautam Gambhir and his management will have to discuss future plans with two veteran cricketers - Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin. Both the players are on the wrong side of 30s and are nearing their retirements. At the same time, they are a vital part of the Test team.
However, with not much time left, Mhambrey reckons the management will have to talk with them and start investing in the youth. He suggested names of Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan to be included in the team for now with India set to play a lot of Test matches in the next few months.
"It's important to have those discussions with Shami and Ashwin about their future plans and then lay out a plan. When we decided to invest in youth, we made sure they were not alone in the park shouldering all responsibilities. Be it Arshdeep or Avesh, we made sure they were always bowling alongside senior bowlers," Mhambrey said while speaking to Times of India.
India are scheduled to host Bangladesh and New Zealand in the home season and then face Australia away from home in December-January. Shami and Ashwin both will be vital for India especially in Australia while World Test Championship Final is also set to be played next year in June. Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, is once again performing well to make it to the final of the WTC.
"You can't put a timeline on that. You have to be patient with it. We started in 2015 and we had that pool by 2020. If you look at Arshdeep's evolution, he played in the U-19 World Cup in 2018 and he was representing India in 2022 before really becoming an integral part in 2024. A young pace bowler takes four-five years to hit his peak. You can't simply rush them through," Paras added.
