'Eating Meat Gives Them Strength': Shahid Afridi Explains Why Indian Bowlers Are Performing Well

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has highlighted Indian bowlers eating meat behind the reason for their improved performance in international cricket. At the same time, the former swashbuckling all-rounder believes India's investment in grassroot cricket has been fantastic and credited the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in development of the youngsters.

Team India has seen an incredible rise of fast bowlers in the last few years, notably Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Umesh Yadav proving themselves as good as any. The Men in Blue also have a capable young crop as the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep Singh have showcased their skills at the international level.

"India has a huge 1.4 billion population, and the quality of cricket has changed [over the years]. Back then we used to say that they are producing great batters while Pakistan is creating good bowlers, but that was not the case as we were generating both bowlers and batters. However, their bowlers have now started eating meat, so they have gained strength," Afridi said while speaking to a local sports show.

India open their 2023 World Cup campaign with a win:

Meanwhile, the Men in Blue, led by Rohit Sharma couldn't have asked for a better start to their 2023 World Cup stint as they beat Australia by six wickets. After losing the toss, Indian spinners claimed 6 out of the 10 wickets to fall, restricting the tourists to 199.

India suffered a collapse of their own, teetering at 2-3 as Josh Hazlewood struck twice in one over. However, the partnership of 167 between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul took India home comfortably.