The West Indian pace quartet of the 70s & 80s, Walsh-Ambrose in the 90s; Thomson-Lillee & McGrath, Lee & Gillespie for Australia; Allan Donald-Shaun Pollock for South Africa; Wasim-Waqar and later Shoaib Akhtar for Pakistan have all been potent new ball handlers & partnerships oppositions have feared and been wary of and have been hugely instrumental in their team’s successes during their careers. India’s fiercest new ball combo, even though they lacked express pace has been of Kapil Dev & Prabhakar who operated together in the late eighties and early nineties. Kapil’s retirement put extra pressure on a young Javagal Srinath; arguably India’s finest produce in the fast bowling department. He was quick, could swing both ways and be intimidating too. Prabhakar’s form dipped and wasn’t anymore the effective bowler who was once Miandad’s nemeses; now concentrated on his new role as an opening batsman. A lanky Venkatesh Prasad shouldered responsibility and Srinath-Prasad combo operated for India from 1996-2000. They will never be counted amongst the best ever; but were hard working and effective for India. Indian cricket, since the retirement of these two have suffered to find one fast bowling combination which would last for more than a year. Zaheer has spearheaded the attack since Srinath’s retirement but with minimal & inconsistent support from the other end.
Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Tinu Yohannan, VRV Singh, L Balaji and many more to add in the ODI format. India, like any other country has produced a battery of pacers but none who seems adept enough to carry forward a big responsibility. Every bowler India tried in this meanwhile has shown initial zest & promise but mysteriously fizzles out.
Irfan Pathan’s yorker to send back Gilchrist in his debut series is still unforgotten and so is his first over hat-trick against Pakistan at Karachi. Irfan started with a bang and was already touted to be the next big thing on the cricketing horizon and he slowly faded out and now doesn’t ever cross the 130 kmph mark let alone finding his in-swinging yorkers. A shoulder injury and subsequent loss of form and confidence could be blamed for his fall.
Munaf Patel even before his domestic debut was touted to be India’s fastest ever. Following his international debut and few successes, he has looked a pale shadow of himself. Fitness issues too have marred his career.
RP Singh began with a bang and promised a great lot following his Man of the Match performance in his debut test against Pakistan but slipped back and now struggles to find rhythm.
Sreesanth remains his mercurial self. Will bowl exceptionally well on his day and concede runs in torrents wicket less on a day that’s not his. More concentration on the game than his antics on field could help him develop further.
And Ishant Sharma, a gawky teen who troubled Ricky Ponting on his home turf and found reputation to be India’s quickest and most exciting bowler in a long time has totally lost confidence and has burrowed into a shell he and his coaches have no clue how to get him out of.
The only able partner Zaheer found has been in Nehra. Nehra, when fit and selected has been an asset to the team in all forms of the game. But fitness has been his undoing since the beginning of his career. We haven’t seen someone like a Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Mohammed Aamer, Lasith Malinga or Dale Steyn. Our bowlers have never been express fast, but they also have lacked wicket taking capabilities. The mysterious shell that Indian pacers take shelter in once established has to be unearthed and found a solution to. It has become a perennial problem for Indian pacers that existed even two decades back in the 80s when exciting fast bowlers like Chetan Sharma, Vivek Razdan, Atul Wassan, Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee followed by the likes of Dodda Ganesh, Paras Mhambrey, Abey Kuruvilla, Debashis Mohanty, Harvinder Singh & David Johnson amongst others in the 90s decade showed promise to only fade away soon without trace.
Pakistan, Australia & South Africa on the other hand have been very successful in finding able replacements for their yesteryears’ stars. That’s what makes them strong teams to play against in seaming, bouncy conditions. Indian batsmen are found wanting while countering bounce & swing and they don’t consistently possess a bowling attack that could trouble an opposition on such tracks either. Each team at least has one bowler who can clock up to 85 mph consistently. And India’s search for one such prodigious talent hasn’t borne fruit yet.
India’s march to the top of the table in the Test rankings hasn’t been easy. Tougher than that is going to be how they plan to cement their place there. For that and also the fast approaching 2011 World Cup, India needs a fast bowling attack they can rely on to win matches. Apart from those already in line to support Zaheer; Jaidev Unadkat, Abhimanyu Mithun, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pradeep Sangwan, Umesh Yadav & Ashok Dinda are youngsters who’ve shown promise, talent and ability to carry forward the baton of fast bowling to the next level for Indian cricket.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Wizard Retires & World Cup Semis
Muttiah Muralitharan decided to hang his boots after the first test against India at Galle. His wicket tally of 792 wickets is just 8 short of the unimaginable 800. His decision to only quit from Tests might be one consolation for Sri Lanka. One can safely assume that the World Cup 2011 in the subcontinent will be last the world will see of him in international cricket. In a career spanning 2 decades, the journey to say the least hasn’t been an easy going one for the Wizard. The offie had a tough tour down-under in 95-96 and called for throwing by the OZ umpires. He then won the WC in '96 and kept picking wickets in bulk till his tour down under in 98-99. He again was called for throwing when his captain courageous Arjuna Ranatunga stood for him against all odds and handled the situation admirably. Any weaker captain would have wilted under the pressure exerted, but Ranatunga threatened to "walk off" instead in order to stand for his player. There have been plenty of allegations against him starting from people like Bedi, Warne, Dean Jones, Holding and Martin Crowe amongst others. His natural deformity came to his rescue when tested by ICC. But it’s no mean achievement to snare 792 test wickets and 512 ODI wickets even for a man with an improper action.
Controversy or no, Murali will remain to be amongst the best spinners to have ever played the game. His natural deformity came to his rescue when tested by ICC. But it’s no mean achievement to snare 792 test wickets and 512 ODI wickets even for a man with an improper action. His form has been dipping and has been far from his prime in test cricket. Most unforgettable amongst his performances is his 16 for 220 against England at The Oval in 1998. He almost single handedly bowled Sri Lanka to victory. Alec Stewart’s run out denied Murali a perfect ten in that game. All said and done Murali will be missed thoroughly in international cricket. With Murali’s retirement the number of cricketers from the 90s decade are receding from international cricket and surely marks an end of an era. Murali’s tally of 792 wickets is almost as steep and unimaginable as Bradman’s average of 99.94 or Tendulkar’s tally of 93 international centuries.
Holland won 3-2 over Uruguay. Indeed, the Uruguayans clearly missed the strike force of Suarez, (who has been really maligned for his hand ball against Ghana. I think any other footballer would have done the same in that situation). Forlan waged a lone battle up-front. The former Man Utd striker continued his awesome form into the World Cup. He is a versatile and almost a veteran for Uruguay. He will come back, get the ball, pass it, take corners and free-kicks, distribute the ball and most importantly score goals. For all the hype behind people like Barry some other so-called "stars" from Europe, particularly England, Forlan has taught them a lesson as to how to play the game. Why did Manchester United let him go? Indeed, had Suarez been there, this would have been a much tougher game for the Dutch, who got a lucky break on the second goal. Not only was it a deflection, it was also a goal in which Van Persie was fortunate to have been judged off side. He clearly raised his foot, and was thus, "in play" when the ball crept into the Uruguayan goal.
It's like deja vu all over again: Spain 1 – Germany 0.
Paul the Octopus got it right once again, picking Spain and sending the German romantics crashing out of the World Cup…at least until Saturday, when they’ll play Uruguay in their second straight consolation game.
The first half of this game was arguably the best 45 minutes we’ve seen on the international level in the last four years. It was, to the casual observer, boring, tense, slow and rather unproductive. But in truth, it was a chess game being played by two grandmasters; an show of tactical nous and footballing intelligence. The breakthrough came when a flying Puyol broke through the barrier of bodies to crash a header past Manuel Neuer into the back of the net just past the hour mark. From there, the predictable happened: Germany pushed numbers, Spain held and countered on occasion. Ultimately it was Euro 2008 all over again with a 1-0 final score.
Controversy or no, Murali will remain to be amongst the best spinners to have ever played the game. His natural deformity came to his rescue when tested by ICC. But it’s no mean achievement to snare 792 test wickets and 512 ODI wickets even for a man with an improper action. His form has been dipping and has been far from his prime in test cricket. Most unforgettable amongst his performances is his 16 for 220 against England at The Oval in 1998. He almost single handedly bowled Sri Lanka to victory. Alec Stewart’s run out denied Murali a perfect ten in that game. All said and done Murali will be missed thoroughly in international cricket. With Murali’s retirement the number of cricketers from the 90s decade are receding from international cricket and surely marks an end of an era. Murali’s tally of 792 wickets is almost as steep and unimaginable as Bradman’s average of 99.94 or Tendulkar’s tally of 93 international centuries.
Holland won 3-2 over Uruguay. Indeed, the Uruguayans clearly missed the strike force of Suarez, (who has been really maligned for his hand ball against Ghana. I think any other footballer would have done the same in that situation). Forlan waged a lone battle up-front. The former Man Utd striker continued his awesome form into the World Cup. He is a versatile and almost a veteran for Uruguay. He will come back, get the ball, pass it, take corners and free-kicks, distribute the ball and most importantly score goals. For all the hype behind people like Barry some other so-called "stars" from Europe, particularly England, Forlan has taught them a lesson as to how to play the game. Why did Manchester United let him go? Indeed, had Suarez been there, this would have been a much tougher game for the Dutch, who got a lucky break on the second goal. Not only was it a deflection, it was also a goal in which Van Persie was fortunate to have been judged off side. He clearly raised his foot, and was thus, "in play" when the ball crept into the Uruguayan goal.
It's like deja vu all over again: Spain 1 – Germany 0.
Paul the Octopus got it right once again, picking Spain and sending the German romantics crashing out of the World Cup…at least until Saturday, when they’ll play Uruguay in their second straight consolation game.
The first half of this game was arguably the best 45 minutes we’ve seen on the international level in the last four years. It was, to the casual observer, boring, tense, slow and rather unproductive. But in truth, it was a chess game being played by two grandmasters; an show of tactical nous and footballing intelligence. The breakthrough came when a flying Puyol broke through the barrier of bodies to crash a header past Manuel Neuer into the back of the net just past the hour mark. From there, the predictable happened: Germany pushed numbers, Spain held and countered on occasion. Ultimately it was Euro 2008 all over again with a 1-0 final score.
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