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.
I think wile and strategy is India's strength and not brawn and power. That being said we are now getting more and more young people with great physical strength which is an important aspect of pace bowling.
ReplyDeleteJust saw an article on cricinfo regarding Malinga's strong shoulders were nurtured and strengthened through freesyle swimming.
More the awareness of physical fitness spreads in India, the quality of sportsmen (in all schemes and not just cricket) would rise.