Ahmedabad:With the World Cup scheduled to kick off on October 5, teams are preparing for the marquee event. As India are gearing up for the tournament, team's spinners are expected to play a major role with pitches favouring them. However, Ravindra Jadeja will have an additional responsibility with the bat. His childhood coach Mahendra Singh Chauhan spoke ahead of the crucial competition with ETV Bharat about the cricketer and India's chances of winning the World Cup.
Chauhan remarked that India have all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya who can perform well in the slog overs and it will make India's batting lineup pretty strong. He added that apart from India, England and Australia also have chances of getting their hands on the silverware.
"India have all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya and Ashwin and the teams with quality all-rounders have more chances of winning the tournament than others. These players can excel in the slog overs which makes the Indian batting unit very strong," he said.
"India are my favourite and I wish for their victory in the upcoming World Cup. But, England and Australia also have bright chances to shine by winning the trophy. Also, Pakistan is a strong unit."
Reflecting back on his first meet with Jadeja and initial coaching days, Chauhan revealed that the spin all-rounder wanted to become a pacer in the early days.
"I met him (Ravindra) when he was eight years old. He came along with his parents and his interest for cricket was evident since back then. Initially, he wanted to become a fast bowler but he focused on spin bowling and batting later which was more suitable to his slightly short height. The move worked brilliantly for him and he is now one of the leading all-rounders around the world," he explained.