Navdeep Saini a bright prospect for India, needs to be groomed well, says Amit Mishra

New Delhi: Fast bowler Navdeep Saini made an impressive international debut against West Indies in Lauderhill on Saturday (3 August), and Delhi veteran Amit Mishra, who now plays for Haryana, believes the youngster from Karnal has immense potential to shine at the international stage. The 26-year-old had a decent IPL 2019 season where he picked 11 wickets in 13 games and was one of India’s net bowlers at the ICC Cricket World Cup. Saini first came into limelight when he finished as Delhi’s highest wicket-taker in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy season, with 34 dismissals in eight matches. He followed it up with a brilliant run at the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, emerging once again as side’s leading wicket-taker. [caption id=“attachment_7120891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Amit Mishra (extreme right) at an event in Delhi on Tuesday.[/caption] Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the 15th edition of Airtel Delhi Half Marathon here, Mishra lavished praise on the promising youngster. “He is a very bright prospect, and he needs to be groomed well,” said Mishra. “He had a great debut, but I would want 4-5 new bowlers to come through the ranks to give us more fast-bowling options. Saini surely looks like an option and his form over the past year has been really good. He had a decent IPL too, and he has grabbed his chance very well. I’d like to see 4-5 more such bowlers,” said the leg-spinner who has represented India in 22 Tests, 36 ODIs, and 10 T20Is. Mishra said that India must begin their preparations for next year’s World T20 in Australia, and while he didn’t specify any particular weakness in the current Indian team, the 36-year-old said the youngsters should be given enough gametime to overcome inexperience. “I think it is the right time to begin preparations for World T20, and perhaps that’s the reason a lot of youngsters are being given a chance. The only problem is the lack of experience, and I feel the youngsters should be given enough matches to ensure they are ready on time,” he said. “I don’t think the Indian team has a weakness in the middle order or spin department. Our fast bowlers are world-class, and so are spinners. In middle order, you won’t get runs in every match,” he added. At the recently-concluded cricket World Cup, a lot was expected of India’s spin twins of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The duo, however, failed to live up to the expectations and returned with a combined haul of 18 wickets. Mishra, himself a leg-spinner with three IPL hat-tricks, said the English conditions didn’t go in favour of Indian spinners despite them bowling reasonably well. “I think the conditions in England were not really conducive to spin. The conditions there favour fast bowlers more, but despite that, I don’t think our spinners bowled badly. They were quite okay,” he said.