New Delhi:
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi on Monday hailed the brilliant performance of the Indian team in the Champions Trophy and said the "nucleus" of the squad that will represent India in the 2015 World Cup is ready.
"This tournament has given us an idea about what will be Indian team`s nucleus during 2015 World Cup. Shikhar (Dhawan), Virat (Kohli), Jadeja (Ravindra) and Suresh Raina will form the core of Dhoni`s team for the World Cup Down Under," Bedi said on Monday.
The legendary left-arm spinner, however, cautioned that one shouldn`t get carried away as this is the time to build upon this stupendous show.
"Let`s not get carried away by this performance. They are deserving winners no doubt but we need to build upon this victory. We shouldn`t bring the team down if they lose a few matches. The best part was that same XI played throughout the tournament and it happens when a team is full of self-belief," the 66-year-old former spinner observed.
The stand-out player in the tournament, according to Bedi, has been Jadeja, who has shown "remarkable temperament".
"Jadeja has been outstanding in the tournament. He has improved by leaps and bounds in the last two years. He bowled brilliantly throughout the tournament and contributed with the bat when the team needed him the most. It seems that he has worked a lot on his game. He has shown remarkable temperament in," Bedi said.
For Bedi, the key factor in winning the Champions Trophy has been the performance of the Indian bowling unit which has made the difference.
"The trio of Bhuvneshwar (Kumar), Ishant (Sharma) and Umesh (Yadav) should be praised for their performance. The bowlers made a worthwhile effort and took the bulk of the burden. Such was their performance that there was no place in the playing XI for boys like Vinay (Kumar) and Irfan (Pathan), who were equally deserving," he explained.
"If you look at how the team performed, the middle-order wasn`t tested at all during the entire duration of the tournament until the final which turned into a T20 affair. I am a firm believer that T20 is a game of lottery," Bedi said.
Bedi made an interesting observation about the match and the composition of the England squad.
"England team went into the toss thinking about 50-over game and it turned out to be a T20. Now the playing XI is not exactly what England prefers when they play the shortest version. Cook doesn`t play T20, nor does Trott. Now the moment it became T20, the plans went haywire," Bedi explained.
Someone who is not known to mince words, Bedi however didn`t make any comments about the future of the famed quartet of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh.
"I can`t comment on their future and it`s not for me or you to assess where these guys see themselves in the current scenario. I believe they are the best judge when it comes to knowing where they stand right now," he concluded.
