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Why have we become oblivious to the need of having some tall and tallish pacers in the team these days


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Steep bounce  is one of the most difficult things to handle in cricket.  And when the ball is released from a very high point by tall pacers,  the trajectory of the ball is much more difficult to follow by batters.

 

Some of the most deadly pacers in the last 40 years have been tall and bouncy.  This includes ...

Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Holding, Croft, Bishop, Patterson, 

McGrath, Gillespie, Starc, Cummins, Hazelwood, 

Srinath, 

Akram, Asif,

Donald, Pollock, Morkel, Rabada,

Bond, Boult,

Willis, Harmison, Broad, Anderson etc.

 

Top tallish pacers include Roberts, Lee, Johnson, Kapil, Zaheer, Imran, Ntini etc.

 

Tall and accurate pacers are much more difficult to score off too.

 

Yes ... there have been some deadly short and medium heigh pacers ... like Marshall, Waqar, Akhtar, Steyn, Malinga etc.  And now Bumrah, Shami etc.

 

But most high quality quick bowlers have been tall or tallish.  Moreover, even if some pacers are short or medium height ...  the entire pace attack should not be filled with shorter pacers.

 

In India now we are playing  ...  

 

Shardul ...  short

Bhuvi ...  short

Kaul ... short

Shami ...  short

Umesh ...  medium height

Chahar ... medium height 

Bumrah ... medium height but gets bounce

 

Siraj ...  tallish  (  yet to play )

Khaleel ...  tall

Ishant ... very tall

 

Khaleel and Siraj are new ...  this means we have often had full pace attacks consisting of no taller pacers if Ishant is absent.

 

It is still ok in tests in Asia where skiddiness and reverse swing at pace are the most important factors.

 

But when we are touring overseas ... and in ODIs anywhere ...  having some tall and accurate pacers are important.

 

This seems amazing to me. I thought that anyone connected to cricket knew this aspect.

 

We may go to Australia for the test tour with only one tall pacer in Ishant.  Why are we making this tactical mistake  ?   

 

Please discuss.

 

Edited by express bowling
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New options we have regarding tall and tallish pacers

 

Siraj ... tallish ... ready for tests only 

Saini ... tallish ... ready 

Rajpoot ... tall ... ready

Khaleel ... tall  ...  ready for LOIs only

 

Prasidh ...  tall ... playing for India-A

Avesh ... tall ... not ready yet

Khejrolya ... tall ... not ready yet

 

Aniket C ... very tall ... out of favour

Sran ...  tall ...  is he fit   ?

Warrier ...  tallish ... never considered 

Edited by express bowling
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4 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

Dont know if our team managements thinks about these things as deeply as some of us.  What is the job of our coach?  Isnt to identify youngsters and develop them.  Sitting in the dressing room isn't the job of a coach.

 

Having some taller pacers with bounce is supposed to be a basic thing in cricket.

 

How can our coach, captain and selectors miss it  !

 

Just think of the pace attack we chose for England LOIs.

 

Kaul

Umesh

Bhuvi

Chahar /  Shardul

 

How can experts have such a pace attack ... all short to medium right armed pacers ... And 3 out of 4 without pace   !!

 

 

 

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Game is changing and not just cricket but most sports are starting to see tallish players. Its more evident in cricket than Tall plahers can use the pitch to their advantage wnd can have a real impact in many games. 

 

Its not a bad choice to spot such talent and pick a bowler or two and let them be enrolled into the A squad and main team eventually. We might not need all tall bowlers but at least having few can help. 

 

Even someone like Ishant Sharma, who has been massively inconsistent throughout his career, has shown recently that height can help him trouble players. So someone  as tall as Ishant or around his height can actually come to the team and do better thigs for us.

 

It will be welcome change for our test team. 

 

 

 

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Just look at how short players are strugging in Tennis these days. Most of them have poor serve and are struggling in futures ATP circuit or challengers circuit while taller players are making faster transitions to the ATP pro circuit.

 

Barring Diego Schwartzman of Argentina and Kei Nishikori of Japan, not many short height players seem to be finding it easy to play and battle against the tall guys which are norm now in Tennis.

 

Cricket works the same way. Use the bowlers who have height and they will get the purchase out of the pitch. 

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3 minutes ago, ThePhenomenal1 said:

Management are going for skills and traits that can be taught (swing, line and length) over things that can't really be taught (height, pace)

 

 

so why cant they teach those skills and traits to those who have height and pace? Wouldn't that be a better option for anyone with a slight bit of common sense or knowledge of cricket?

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27 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

. Use the bowlers who have height and they will get the purchase out of the pitch. 

 

This.

 

While selecting 4 pacers in a squad ... have atleast 2 tall or tallish pacers.

 

The other 2 pacers can be shorter if that are otherwise good  (  quick or skilled  )  ...  and there will be variety.

Edited by express bowling
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2 hours ago, rkt.india said:

Dont know if our team managements thinks about these things as deeply as some of us.  What is the job of our coach?  Isnt to identify youngsters and develop them.  Sitting in the dressing room isn't the job of a coach.

these are basics that even a 10 year old knows about. There's nothing to think so deeply about. It's a sport for god's sake not some science experiment. It's just that selection is politicized and people have their views about choosing experienced players or favorite players, regardless of how talented they are or what's required to actually get the job done.

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2 hours ago, express bowling said:

Ishwar Pandey 6'3"  and  Mohit Sharma 5'9"  both performed well in a particular season a few years back.

 

Both bowled 130 k to 140 k

Pandey was the better swing bowler

Pandey got much more bounce.

 

But Mohit played for India and Pandey never played a match.

 

So ... no recognition of height or bounce back then even.

maybe the 5 foot tall selector babus have some complex or jealousy against tall sportsmen and don't select them :/

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3 hours ago, Lannister said:

Is there anyway we could contact team management and smack some sense into them? :no:

Most team management can be contacted in the evenings in local pubs where match is taking place. Go earlier in the evening, else they may have shifted to strip clubs.

 

Main member of team management may be contacted by locating Anushka Sharma in the most expensive shopping area of that city.

Edited by Forever Indian
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Don't  think selectors are unaware that tallish bowlers have higher probability to gain more bounce.Its a basic scientific aspect which is posted in  numerous articles over the decades cricket has been played. Selection has always been dubious.The quota system was abolished bit still we see zone wise selection. One north zone player gets dropped, his replacement usually would be from North zone. Similar with other zones.

 

Javagal Srinath and Ishant are the two tall pacers who have played a lot of cricket. Abey Kuruvilla was tall as well but he did not get many matches apart from the debut against Windies and probably a test here and there.Amongst the spinners Kulkarni was the tallest spinner. It is good we have a lot of tall pacers right now. The only issue is how many games they will represent in.Strategic selections could continue to be less.

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Aniket Chaudhuri is a 6'5" tall left arm pacer who bowls 130 k to 145 k.   Has a sharp bouncer and can swing the ball.  Gets steep bounce.

 

Did reasonably well for India-A when he got his chance. 

 

But fell out of favour suddenly.

 

Why could he not be tried in 4 or 5 ODIs even, if they are too conservative to try him in tests   ?     (  Not in T20Is, which is the worst format for a newbie to debut in  )

 

His time has passed now with lots of new guys coming through.

 

But I hope Navdeep Saini and  Ankit Rajpoot don't go the same way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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