All-rounders make India a strong contender for World Cup, says Dravid

Former captain Rahul Dravid on Thursday said India are one of the strong contenders for the 2015 World Cup to be played in Australia and New Zealand as the team has the "advantage of playing five bowlers" in a match.

"India are one of the strong contenders for World Cup as the team has been shaping up well and have an advantage of playing five bowlers in a match, which is a key factor for any side to be that good," he said in Bangalore.

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India have the privilege of having two all-rounders - Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - in the side, Dravid stated.

Dravid said all specialist bowlers, including pacers, have been performing well in One-Day Internationals, which would give India an added advantage in the pacy and bouncy pitches in Australia and New Zealand.

The upcoming Australian tour would also be a great learning curve for the young Indian brigade before entering the World Cup, he pointed out. "The Australian tour will be a learning curve for young Indian players before they participate in the World Cup."

However, it will take some more time for these youngsters to cope up with the challenge of Test cricket, he said.

Asked how should the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane keep up the legacy of the 'Fab Four' that comprised greats like him, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman, Dravid said the younger lot must make efforts to establish themselves as good players.

"I didn't even think about trying to cope with the legacy of (Sunil) Gavaskar, (Dilip) Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Vishwanath. Yeah, there is a thrill associated with these names, but when you are starting as a kid you don't think you want to be aVishwanath," Dravid added.

Asked whether Tendulkar had missed anything in his autobiography Playing It My Way that was released last evening in Mumbai, Dravid said, "I have played with him for sixteen years but there are eight other years which I and the youngsters want to know."