Test cricket is back on the Indian team's radar but where are India's bowlers?

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Test cricket is back on the team's radar, but there aren't too many partners for Zaheer Khan More... Where are India's bowlers? Test cricket is back on the team's radar, but there aren't too many partners for Zaheer Khan Harsha Bhogle June 25, 2010 The Asia Cup, a tournament that had to be rather clumsily slotted in, and which has lost the principle it was founded on, is finally over. Sadly this time it was just another four-nation tournament. To be fair, it is on a hiding to nothing, for if two other teams had been accommodated it would have made the tournament longer and produced too many one-sided matches. Maybe the original idea needs to be reviewed in a post Twenty20 scenario. It now sets the stage for India to play their first Test for five months and for the return of those who defined batting as we knew it in the pre-Twenty20 era. India has always tended to be a batting country, and given the current bowling strength, the batsmen have to play the dominant role more than they usually do. But they cannot do it on their own, just as strikers cannot win a football match by themselves. At some point the bowling will have to show it has more teeth than it is displaying. In the last seven Test matches India played, the fast bowling was carried by Zaheer Khan, but he had fairly significant support from Ishant Sharma and, for a couple of games, from Sreesanth. Now neither of those two seems to be on the selectors' radar, because if they were, they would have been getting valuable overs under their belt for India A in England rather than having to give sundry statements to the media. With RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan in various stages of disfavour, India will have to find a partner for Zaheer, and it would seem a drawing of lots would be as accurate a method as any, especially given that the only spark so far has been provided by young Jaidev Unadkat on that A tour. In fact, the selection for that A tour worried me a bit, because I fear that side is full of people who are unlikely to play for India. The objectives of an A tour are really two-fold: to check out someone like an Unadkat, who you believe has promise, but more crucially to let your fringe players play themselves back into contention. It is like playing a couple of games for a 2nd XI once in a while to get time in the middle and rediscover rhythm. It would have been fantastic for India if an Ishant or an RP Singh or even a Sreesanth had picked up wickets in England and had enough overs under their belt to fly out to Sri Lanka. Given that India play 11 Test matches between now and the World Cup, I am hoping that the selectors know something we don't. They certainly have better options when it comes to spinners, with Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha, but in South Africa you might well want to play only one of those. Remember, too, that India don't have an allrounder at this level (actually at any level now!) and so must either play five batsmen and five bowlers or make do with four bowlers, which is what I suspect they will do. The batting, though, retains its settled look, which, given that the average age of the middle order is 37, should start worrying a few people now. The batsmen have powered India and over the last seven games have been in astonishing form, amassing 19 centuries from 52 innings. Only No. 6 is up for grabs now and there are three contenders for it. Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (who should have made his Test debut against South Africa had it not been for another of those maddening pre-match football games), Cheteshwar Pujara has made a pretty strong case for himself. There is much to look forward to and it will be a good test of the romantics who often speak of their yearning for Test cricket. They have 11 games before the biggest 50-over tournament and the glitziest 20-over carnival begin.

[b555]

11 tests :yay:

[Sir john]

Sree and ishant are partners of zaheer.

[b555]

Sree and ishant are partners of zaheer.

:haha: do u think they will be given the ball despite not having played fr india for quite sometime and the inconsistency they have been showing nehra might be a godd option but i dont know if he cant sustain the 5 day format

[Lord]

Ishant surely would be back.maybe even Sree

[Ram]

Obviously, they should go into the first test with Zak, Sree, Bhajji and Mishra.

[Lord]

Obviously' date=' they should go into the first test with Zak, Sree, Bhajji and Mishra.[/quote'] i would pick Ishant before Sree.both would be in the squad

[b555]

Obviously' date=' they should go into the first test with Zak, Sree, Bhajji and Mishra.[/quote'] mishra :headshake: ojha is better than him

[Ram]

i would pick Ishant before Sree.both would be in the squad

Actually you know what, I just realized, Ishant bowled a really inspiring spell against the South Africans in the 2nd test of previous home series we played against them. He didnt get a lot of wickets, but he ran in hard, hit the deck and bowled with aggression and sort of set the stall for our win in that match. But I'd still pick a fully fit Sreesanth over Ishant at this point. He's the kind of guy who can turn the match on his head with aggression (read lunacy).

[b555]

Actually you know what, I just realized, Ishant bowled a really inspiring spell against the South Africans in the 2nd test of previous home series we played against them. He didnt get a lot of wickets, but he ran in hard, hit the deck and bowled with aggression and sort of set the stall for our win in that match. But I'd still pick a fully fit Sreesanth over Ishant at this point. He's the kind of guy who can turn the match on his head with aggression (read lunacy).

:hysterical:

[Lord]

Actually you know what, I just realized, Ishant bowled a really inspiring spell against the South Africans in the 2nd test of previous home series we played against them. He didnt get a lot of wickets, but he ran in hard, hit the deck and bowled with aggression and sort of set the stall for our win in that match. But I'd still pick a fully fit Sreesanth over Ishant at this point. He's the kind of guy who can turn the match on his head with aggression (read lunacy).

but he cal lose it as well,which he is more likely to.i ould pick a much steadier Ishant,who can be aggresive in his bowling n also play a quiet support role wen requird

[rkt.india]

Actually you know what, I just realized, Ishant bowled a really inspiring spell against the South Africans in the 2nd test of previous home series we played against them. He didnt get a lot of wickets, but he ran in hard, hit the deck and bowled with aggression and sort of set the stall for our win in that match. But I'd still pick a fully fit Sreesanth over Ishant at this point. He's the kind of guy who can turn the match on his head with aggression (read lunacy).

he can also turn the game towards opposition too...like he did in England....though India were fortunate that RP and ZAK did well there...he is so inconsistent that you dnt know wt kind of Sreesanth will on the ground in just an hour...

[Fontaine]

Harshe can be such an idiot sometimes. What exactly are the selectors going to learn by including RP Singh or Pathan in the India A tour to England? That these bowlers can swing the ball in helpful conditions? That's no big secret, and everyone knows that. It's the fact that they can't do anything at all when the ball isn't swinging is the problem. I agree with the previous posts that it's either going to be Ishant or Sree getting the new ball with Zaheer and it's should depend on who's fully fit.

[Lord]

Harshe can be such an idiot sometimes. What exactly are the selectors going to learn by including RP Singh or Pathan in the India A tour to England? That these bowlers can swing the ball in helpful conditions? That's no big secret, and everyone knows that. It's the fact that they can't do anything at all when the ball isn't swinging is the problem. I agree with the previous posts that it's either going to be Ishant or Sree getting the new ball with Zaheer and it's should depend on who's fully fit.

i agree,but Ishant n Sree could certainly hv been sent to Eng to give them sme match practice n also to assess whos in better form

[Gunner_Mania]

Harshe can be such an idiot sometimes. What exactly are the selectors going to learn by including RP Singh or Pathan in the India A tour to England? That these bowlers can swing the ball in helpful conditions? That's no big secret, and everyone knows that. It's the fact that they can't do anything at all when the ball isn't swinging is the problem. I agree with the previous posts that it's either going to be Ishant or Sree getting the new ball with Zaheer and it's should depend on who's fully fit.

Ever heard of gaining confidence? Instead of sitting at home and warming their backsides, tey would have had the opportunity to bowl under match conditions. They would have a chance to bowl lots of overs - in helpful conditions - and get back their confidence. They would have atleast known they are in the scheme of things for India. Now it is like they have been left to hang out dry.

[meloveindia]

we are asking the same question since last 5 years as long as we are no 1 due to these bowlers i am happy

[Fontaine]

Ever heard of gaining confidence? Instead of sitting at home and warming their backsides' date=' tey would have had the opportunity to bowl under match conditions. They would have a chance to bowl lots of overs - in helpful conditions - and get back their confidence. They would have atleast known they are in the scheme of things for India. Now it is like they have been left to hang out dry.[/quote'] I agree with you in theory but what does confidence have to do with being able to seam/cut the ball when there's no swing? It's no secret that RP struggles in the subcontinent and does well in places like South Africa where the moisture and cold conditions help his bowling. So what does his bowling in England have any bearing on how he's going to perform in Sri Lanka? The choice is going to come down between Ishant and Sreesanth and sending them on a tour to England where the conditions are vastly different, where you have to bowl a differet length against pretty inferior batsmen was going to be a waste of time.

[Gunner_Mania]

I agree with you in theory but what does confidence have to do with being able to seam/cut the ball when there's no swing? It's no secret that RP struggles in the subcontinent and does well in places like South Africa where the moisture and cold conditions help his bowling. So what does his bowling in England have any bearing on how he's going to perform in Sri Lanka? The choice is going to come down between Ishant and Sreesanth and sending them on a tour to England where the conditions are vastly different, where you have to bowl a differet length against pretty inferior batsmen was going to be a waste of time.

Sorry, I didnt realise you were talking specifically about RP. My point was more in general about the fringe bowlers including Ishant & Sree. Some of them should have been picked for the A tour. It doesnt matter who they were bowling against, they would still have been playing in match conditions, bowled a lot of overs would have got rythm or even have the opportunity to iron out some of their flaws away from the glare of the media.

[Fontaine]

Sorry' date=' I didnt realise you were talking specifically about RP. My point was more in general about the fringe bowlers including Ishant & Sree. Some of them should have been picked for the A tour. It doesnt matter who they were bowling against, they would still have been playing in match conditions, bowled a lot of overs would have got rythm or even have the opportunity to iron out some of their flaws away from the glare of the media.[/quote'] Maybe, maybe. But personally I don't think the problems with these two (Ishant/Sree) can be fixed or ironed out in just a few Tour A matches. Sree's biggest problem as I'm sure we all know is his inconsistency. He'll bowl the odd delivery that seams into the batsmen and cuts him in half, but he'll follow that up with two or three horrible hit me balls. He's basically had the same accuracy/consistency issues for years, with different bowling coaches, in different teams, in different formats so one Tour A match wasn't going to make a difference. With Ishant, he's unable to bowl at the right length that suits his height and he's had some technical issues with his arm action so he should be fixing that with dedicated bowling coaches in net sessions instead of going on promotional events/parties. What I'm saying is pretty much that it's up to these bowlers themselves to fix their issues and not anyone else. Until they are prepared to put in countless hours of hard work, they're not going to improve no matter how many tours they go on.

[putrevus]

Harshe can be such an idiot sometimes. What exactly are the selectors going to learn by including RP Singh or Pathan in the India A tour to England? That these bowlers can swing the ball in helpful conditions? That's no big secret, and everyone knows that. It's the fact that they can't do anything at all when the ball isn't swinging is the problem. I agree with the previous posts that it's either going to be Ishant or Sree getting the new ball with Zaheer and it's should depend on who's fully fit.

What did Dale Steyn and Morne morkel do when ball was not reversing in Kolkatta , Indians scored over 600 runs, if ball does nothing no bowler can do anything. RP singh and Irfan pathan have still bigger upside than jokers who are in team like Tyagi, kulkarni and Jaskaran singh. When Sachin scored 175 against Aussies Bollinger, hilfenhaus every body went of 70 or more runs in their ten overs, pitch was flat, so bowlers couldn't do a thing. Like yesterday If pitch has some life even in subcontinent our bowlers can be effective.