Former Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad rates Zaheer Khan as the pick of the present crop of pacers and blames the media for putting unnecessary pressure on Irfan Pathan by going hyper over his performance.
"Pathan is a very good quality bowler who wants to dominate the batsmen. He is fantastic. But there was no need for the media hype, which proved too much for the youngster," Prasad said in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Prasad said the media even went to the extent of comparing Pathan with cricketing legend Kapil Dev as an all-rounder after the Baroda pacer scored a couple of half-centuries.
"Before making such comparisons, one should watch a player in the top [flight] of the game for at least two or three years to find out if he was mentally strong to handle the pressure," Prasad said.
Prasad, who formed a lethal opening attack with Javagal Srinath in the late nineties, said Pathan, Zaheer and Laxmipathy Balaji had it in them to form the most potent pace combination for India.
"But if you ask me to pick any one of them as the most promising strike bowler, I will mention Zaheer," he said.
"He only needs to manage his injuries well. And therein lies the importance of the team management which should help him in this regard," he said.
Prasad, who has level three coaching diploma from both India and England, advocated a rotation policy for the bowlers to prevent them from burn-outs.
Asserting that pace bowling is always a tough proposition in India because of the dead tracks and the weather, he said the team management needed to ensure that the bowlers are not over-burdened.
"The team management has to be careful so that the bowlers do not have to turn their arms too much in the nets or in matches. The team management should put in place a rotation policy," he said.
Prasad suggested that during a long series, the bowlers who warm the benches could be asked to play the last couple of ODIs or the last Test.
"It is important how you use your bench strength," he added.
Asked to name some promising seamers in the country, Prasad mentioned the names of Bengal's Ranadeb Bose and S S Paul.
Prasad, who expressed his keenness to get associated with the national side as bowling coach, said he is also open to coaching stints for foreign countries as also County teams.
"But so far, I have not got any such offers," he added.
On whether Srinath would make a good bowling coach, he said, "Yes. He will be fantastic for the job. He has played a lot of cricket. He also has a very good knowledge of the game".
Prasad said he is enjoying coaching and has set some goals.
"It is very exciting and challenging. I have set some goals for myself and I shall go step by step. Maybe, one day I'll be in charge of the national side."
