Suggestions for India's Redemption

[J P K]

Selectors had a great vision by injecting youth (Kohli' date=' Raina, ...) when we just won the WC, now we get drubbed 0-4 in a test series and the selectors have suddenly turned into bozo the clowns. :hahaha:[/quote'] the current selection committee has not done anything for the future the selectors who injected youth was vengsarkar committee took a brave decision of sacking seniors keeping wc in mind srikanth never had any guts to sack any senior player ie- bhajji

[Rightarmfast]

While this was no nuclear physics to find out, I agree with what he is saying. This time around, its constructive criticism I feel. The fact about absence of fast bowlers, no action on Harbhajan, and no world class batsmen is totally right.

[rkt.india]

Ghavri asks for longer camps at bowling academy Karsan Ghavri, the former India allrounder who currently heads the BCCI's bowling academy in Mohali, has said bowling camps need to be longer if players are to develop through the academies. Around 120 bowlers have come through the Mohali-based academy, with state associations sending players in the age group of 17-19 years. But Ghavri said the quality of youngsters coming to the camp was not always up to the mark, and he was yet to see a fast bowler who could bowl at 140kph. "Out of the 120 boys we have trained so far, we have shortlisted around 15 boys who are good and some of them bowl at 135kph in the nets," he said. "But I haven't seen a fast bowler touching 140kph still. "Most of the boys either have a faulty run-up or fail to adjust their body balance. We try to correct them as much as we can but three weeks is not enough. Each camp should be of, at least, five to six weeks to allow us to fine-tune their skills. Then we can accommodate more matches to check on their match fitness and introduce more modern drills for a lengthier period." India's bowling reserves have come under the scanner after they failed to recover from the loss of Zaheer Khan in their 0-4 Test series loss in England. Ghavri said the BCCI needed to take more responsibility, firstly in identifying talent, and then nurturing it. "The BCCI must urge the state units to ensure they identify true talent and send them here for training. There's no point working on bowlers who don't have it in them to make it big. We also expect the Board to communicate, come and see how things are being run here. More accountability is required from the BCCI "The boys come to the academy only for three weeks, but what happens after that? They have to be looked after in the future and the BCCI should play a larger role here." Another thing Ghavri said was long overdue in India was the introduction of faster pitches to hone seamers. "It is not that India cannot produce a fast bowler or that India cannot produce a fast wicket. Both things are possible and are dependent on each other. "We don't have great spinners in our national team now. We have reasonably good medium-fast bowlers and there are some more coming up. So, to encourage them, we need to make fast tracks. It's important now that India start playing their domestic matches on hard grassy wickets." http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/529559.html

[rkt.india]

Around 120 bowlers have come through the Mohali-based academy, with state associations sending players in the age group of 17-19 years. But Ghavri said the quality of youngsters coming to the camp was not always up to the mark, and he was yet to see a fast bowler who could bowl at 140kph. "Out of the 120 boys we have trained so far, we have shortlisted around 15 boys who are good and some of them bowl at 135kph in the nets," he said. "But I haven't seen a fast bowler touching 140kph still.

135k is not a bad pace for 17-19 year old bowlers. They must ensure they improve from then on in terms of their speeds and do not stagnate.

[J P K]

Haven't seen a youngster who can touch 140kmph MUMBAI: As MS Dhoni and Co get ready for the ODIs with almost nothing to show after a humiliating Test series defeat to England, a gloomier picture is beginning to emerge back home. The series that ended bizzarely with a 0-4 whitewash has seen our bowlers struggling to prove their fitness and generate pace. But scratch the surface and try to go little deeper - it is bound to leave one short on hope. Karsan Ghavri, who heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) bowling academy at Mohali, says in one-anda-half years of the academy's existence he hasn't seen a single fast bowler touching 140kmph. Lack of genuine pacers The BCCI-owned bowling academy gets around six to eight best fast bowlers from various state associations every three weeks and has trained around 120 such youngsters in the age group of 17-19 years so far. But, surprisingly, none have clocked beyond 135kmph. "Young bowlers in a group of six to eight come to the academy for a period of three weeks. They undergo bowling drills, bowl at the nets, their diets and training sessions are monitored, there are gym sessions and it's a comprehensive programme. Whenever we get the time we try to organise matches against the local teams to check their match fitness. But out of the six or eight maybe only one is good and we shortlist the candidates and send the list to the BCCI. Then it's the Board which has to keep an eye on them all the time. "Out of the 120 boys we have trained so far, we have shortlisted around 15 boys who are good and some of them bowl at 135kmph at the nets. But I haven't seen a fast bowler touching 140kmph still," says Ghavri. Shortage of time But there is little the former India pacer can do as three weeks is not sufficient time to groom a fast bowler. "Most of the boys either have a faulty run-up or fail to adjust their body balance. We try to correct them as much as we can but three weeks is not enough. Each camp should be of, at least, five to six weeks' time to allow us fine tune their skills. Then we can accommodate more matches to check on their match fitness and introduce more modern drills for a lengthier period." Is the Board vigilant enough? With cricket manifesting itself in different forms and the IPL snaffling up talented youngsters there is a huge risk of the hard work getting wasted. Ghavri wants the BCCI to step in here, keep monitoring the progress of the shorlisted candidates and arrange for frequent tours abroad for better training and acclimatisation. "The boys come to the academy only for three weeks, but what happens after that? They have to be looked after in the future and the BCCI should play a larger role here," he says. Need for sporting wickets Flat wickets have been a curse for subcontinental teams playing overseas and Ghavri feels the BCCI should make fast wickets mandatory in domestic matches. "It is not that India cannot produce a fast bowler or that India cannot produce a fast wicket. Both things are possible and are dependent on each other. "We don't have great spinners in our ranks (Indian team) now. We have reasonably good medium-fast bowlers and there are some more coming up. So, to encourage them we need to make fast tracks. It's important now that India start playing their domestic matches on hard grassy wickets." Need more accountability But does the Board's responsibility end with dishing out fast wickets? No, says Ghavri. Interestingly, none of the BCCI bigwigs have ever visited the fast bowling academy and the former India pacer has called for more accountability from the top bosses. "We keep sending reports from time to time. But we also expect the Board to communicate, come and see how things are being run here. More accountability is required from the BCCI," says Ghavri. The former India pacer also rues the lack of talent in the bowlers. "The BCCI must urge the state units to ensure they identify true talent and send them here for training. There's no point working on bowlers who don't have it in them to make it big." These are indeed hard times for Indian cricket. With our pride at stake, it's time to get back to the basics for a more conventional and methodical rise - block by block, match by match and series by series. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/india-in-england/top-stories/Havent-seen-a-youngster-who-can-touch-140kmph-Karsan-Ghavri/articleshow/9740725.cms

[rkt.india]

Bowlers bowling 140+ at the age 17-19 are rare and exceptions. If a bowler can bowl at 135K in this age group, he must be groomed properly, so that he can gain more pace by the time he is 23-24.

[rkt.india]

17-19 is a basic building block time for a fast bowler and BCCI should also have camps for bowlers age group 20-24 and then see how many are there who can bowl 140+.

[Guest Gunner]

They expect to get ready made material, this is the problem. WTF does the NCA do then, if a bowler arrives bowling 90 MPH? Slow him down?

[Sachinism]

They expect to get ready made material' date=' this is the problem. WTF does the NCA do then, if a bowler arrives bowling 90 MPH? Slow him down?[/quote'] :haha: You got it

[rkt.india]

They expect to get ready made material' date=' this is the problem. WTF does the NCA do then, if a bowler arrives bowling 90 MPH? Slow him down?[/quote'] Absolutely. A guy bowling 135K at 17-19 can easily bowl over 140 by the time he is 22 with some strength training and refinement. That is why I said the should also organize camp for bowlers age 20-25 and see how many can bowl 140 then. 17-19 is an immature age physique wise and they will be fortunate to find a bowler bowling 140 at that age and if they can find that guy can certainly compete with Akhtar and Lee in terms of speed in coming years. There is only 2-3 guys in the world who I have seen bowling 140+ at 17-19 age group. Pattrick Cummins from Australia, Adam Milne from New Zealand, and we already know about banned Mohammad Aamir.

[Crookbond]

India need to make fitness non-negotiable for starters - Harsha Bhogle http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/529485.html

India needs an enquiry into the defeat, not an inquisition, and it is not a difficult enquiry to conduct. Many journalists and former cricketers have done it already, and while some are admittedly more thoughtful than others, certain truths have emerged. However, the basis of a successful enquiry is intent and subsequent action; and Indian cricket has traditionally been good at neither. Action assumes accountability, and that is a dreadful word for many. I have often said that you become what you choose to become. Should there be a BCCI enquiry, it must begin with a fundamental question: what do we seek to be? If the idea is to be a profitable entity, the BCCI already is. If, however, the idea is to be the best cricket team in the world, then you must have the people and the structure that can take you there. Otherwise India will flirt with No. 1 but never own that position. Traditionally Indian cricket has placed skill on a pedestal and attitude by the wayside. That seems to me to be the subcontinental way of doing things - even Bangladesh exhibit it. And so our part of the world tends to throw up people who can do some brilliant things but don't care too much about doing the smaller, more routine things. We are a batting country, then maybe a bowling country, and hardly, if ever, a fielding or fitness-driven one. You see, the newspapers and television channels don't report on fielding and fitness, and in any case those two aren't switches that can be flicked on for results. Attitude then becomes an individual pursuit not an institutional trait. A Dravid or a Tendulkar or a Kumble are products of individual values, and so they are willing to do the small things that allow them to become great. In England, the team who did the small things better won. When you spend time on the small things, you are actually practising excellence. At key moments in the series India were a bowler or a batsman short, not because a truck had knocked them over but because they weren't fit. And it didn't matter to those selecting them that the players weren't fit. Both at Lord's and in Nottingham, India had the opportunity to win but didn't have a bowler when it mattered. Zaheer Khan shouldn't have been on the tour; his shape was a testament to that. Neither should Virender Sehwag or RP Singh have been on it. The new England make some things non-negotiable, as the old Australia and the old West Indies did. Fitness is one of those. As an Indian player told me, fitness isn't about being able to get onto the park but about coming back after tea to bowl a solid six-over spell. To do that you must be strong and in rhythm, and to be strong and in rhythm you have to have trained and played. In days gone by, English cricket sent players burdened by county workload to play Test matches. Predictably they didn't last, they weren't strong enough. But when Stuart Broad was bowling poorly against Sri Lanka he was sent off to play a four-day game for Nottinghamshire and told he had to bowl a lot and bowl a certain way. Instead of bowling short, as he was doing, he had to pitch it up and swing it. Knowledge alone wasn't enough, he had to bowl enough balls, which he did for his county. By the time he came to Lord's he was ready with a change in style. England could do that because they manage his workload. When Chris Tremlett had a niggle, he was left out, because England didn't want to be down to three bowlers. Somebody was taking tough decisions. Indeed, England's renaissance is built around identifying a problem and doing what it takes to rectify it. They had fitness issues; now they have a state-of-the-art academy at Loughborough that monitors cricketers and requires them to submit themselves to tests at regular intervals. They have a fast-bowling coach with the power to summon bowlers from the pavilion if they aren't warming up before the start of play. And they chose not to pick their best spin-bowling allrounder, Samit Patel, because he disregarded instructions and wasn't fit enough. These messages travel. India can do it too but not in the cozy democracy that exists today. If India's cricket establishment asks itself hard questions, and accepts the answers, India's climb back to the top could be quicker and their stay there more permanent.

[CG]

Absolutely. A guy bowling 135K at 17-19 can easily bowl over 140 by the time he is 22 with some strength training and refinement. That is why I said the should also organize camp for bowlers age 20-25 and see how many can bowl 140 then. 17-19 is an immature age physique wise and they will be fortunate to find a bowler bowling 140 at that age and if they can find that guy can certainly compete with Akhtar and Lee in terms of speed in coming years. There is only 2-3 guys in the world who I have seen bowling 140+ at 17-19 age group. Pattrick Cummins from Australia, Adam Milne from New Zealand, and we already know about banned Mohammad Aamir.

Ishant sharma bowled 140+ at 19.also we need to invest in good coaches at nca as guys like gaveri will change every natural action to textbook action making them swing bowlers who bowl at 120km.we need to allow natural actions to develop !

[Lurker]

Duh!! Scribes like Harsha Bhogle seem to make a living stating the obvious. Who doesnt know Indian team needs fresh legs and fit players? But when did he ask such questions when India was doing well? Shouldnt he have asked the questions in the very first over that Zaheer Khan bowled? Or did he need a month to figure that out. Getting tired of these Indian journalists, Sambit Bal and Sharda Ugra on Cricinfo are recent examples, who are great on bigging up Indian players when things are going good (perhaps to be in the good books?) and when things go bad they start starting what was blatantly obvious all along.

[IKnowU]

Bowling fast comes from when you first start bowling......just because you turn a certain age or have certain physique doesnt equal speed. It should come naturally from when you first start playing.

[maniac]

150+ bowlers don't come out of the blue...If they did they go downhill fast.150 bowlers are groomed over a preiod of time...

[CG]

Bowling fast comes from when you first start bowling......just because you turn a certain age or have certain physique doesnt equal speed. It should come naturally from when you first start playing.

When u start bowling term fast means 120km/h unless you chuck

[maniac]

I think India's approach in unearthing fast bowlers is wrong...You find someone bowling 140+ and people cream in their pants...It should be finding some young talent who consistently can bowl 130-135+ with ability to move the ball and eventually groom him to add more pace to his bowling without having to drop is ability to move the boall. This is were the Indian mgmnt have dropped the ball over the years with Ishanth,Irfan,Balaji,RP and Sree who had incredible ability to move the ball and had decent pace and age on their side when they started. Ishanth is the only ray of hope as of now

[kabira]

Fitness routines is a habit, should be incalculated at young age. I would like to know what Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli etc do to keep themselves fit. We know our bowlers are not doing much with fitness.

[rkt.india]

Ishant sharma bowled 140+ at 19.also we need to invest in good coaches at nca as guys like gaveri will change every natural action to textbook action making them swing bowlers who bowl at 120km.we need to allow natural actions to develop !

that is just as he hit good rhythm in Australia. In Banglore test and as well as Sydney tests, he was barely going over 135K. He had never bowled that fast even in domestic cricket before. He has since been inconsistent in terms of PACE. and he is only one is so many u19 pacers we have seen bowling that fast, probably Yomahesh too bowled 87 mph in 2006 U19 WC but then he went downhill. Yomhaesh could have been groomed so well if he was in England or Australia.

[rkt.india]

Bowling fast comes from when you first start bowling......just because you turn a certain age or have certain physique doesnt equal speed. It should come naturally from when you first start playing.

No..it is not completely true. Take example of Broad and Bresnan who were just medium fast initially but now can bowl 90 mph.