Nawaz better than Kuldeep & Chakaravarthy! Team India coach responds to Mike Hesson’s bold statement

Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel are ranked 4th and 13th in the ICC T20I bowling ranking, while Mohammad Nawaz is placed 30th.

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has responded to Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson’s bold claim that, currently, Mohammad Nawaz is the best spinner in T20I cricket. The Kiwi coach stated so when asked about how Pakistan will handle India’s spin threat duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy.

Mike Hesson’s mind games

Prior to commencing their Asia Cup campaign, Pakistan had played a tri-series against Afghanistan and the UAE. Nawaz had ended up as the highest wicket-taker in a tri-series. He also took a hat-trick and a 5-wicket haul in the final as well. Whether Hesson said to pump up his player or just play mind games, one doesn’t know, but it was an interesting statement.

“I guess the beauty of our side is we’ve got five spinners. We’ve got Mohammed Nawaz, who is the best spin bowler in the world at the moment, and he’s been ranked that over the last six months since his comeback in the side. We’ve had Abrar and Sufiyan do as well as he has,” Hesson had told reporters.

Pakistan head coach ‘entitled to his opinion’

Doeschate brushed the comments aside when asked on the eve of the India vs Pakistan match. He stated that the management realises how well Kuldeep, Chakravarthy, and Axar Patel have bowled and don’t care what other teams have to say about who’s the best spinner in the world and how they rate their players.

“I think spinners are going to be very important in this competition. If anything, I don’t think it has gripped as much as we anticipated, and certainly not like it did earlier in the year when we were here (for the Champions Trophy). But spin in general has become a very important part of T20 cricket, and both teams have a lot of spin on offer. And we certainly know how we feel about Varun, Axar, and Kuldeep, so everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and they can rank their players wherever they wish,” India’s assistant coach said in the pre-match press conference.