Bowling remains a headache for Indian cricket

[rkt.india]

When he announced his retirement earlier this month, Rahul Dravid was asked where he saw Indian cricket heading. "They have got the talent and skills required to be successful. When I look back at myself as a 23 year old when I played for India, and then look at the present players, I know that I was nowhere near as talented as these kids." It was obvious that he was referring to one man in particular. At the turn of the year, there were some querying Virat Kohli's place in the Test side. Since then, he has top-scored in Perth, scored a century in Adelaide and followed up with three one-day hundreds in four innings. He averages 50.56 in the 50-over game and a tally of 11 hundreds and 21 half-centuries from just 82 innings puts him up there in rarefied Sachin Tendulkar-Viv Richards territory. India's selectors have shirked some tough decisions in recent times, but keeping faith in Kohli after an average start is one that has far-reaching ramifications for the future. There has been so much focus on Tendulkar and the 100 hundreds that it has almost been forgotten just how well the one-day team managed without him for long spells in 2009 and 2010. Having him at the top of the order does not hurt India benefited hugely from his nous last night - but the days of Tendulkar or bust are long gone. Under MS Dhoni's leadership, so many more arrows have been added to the quiver. You cannot say that of the bowling though. Nearly 12 years ago, India and Pakistan clashed in another Asia Cup game in Dhaka. Pakistan won easily, and Indian supporters who recall that game might still cringe at the ineptitude of the bowlers. Thiru Kumaran, playing the last of his eight internationals, went for 86, while Amit Bhandari, a two-cap wonder, conceded 75. The underrated Ajit Agarkar aside, it was as popgun a pace attack as you could imagine. Despite the investment of time and money, and a plethora of foreign coaches and experts, India's pace bowling appears to have lapsed back to that time. Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan lack pace, while Ashok Dinda, highly rated by Sourav Ganguly, is still finding his niche. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron have the pace, but Joe Dawes, the new bowling coach, will need to work very long hours to impart the skills necessary to thrive in this era of Power Plays and bats with a foot-long sweet spot. So much has been said about the need to move on from a legendary middle order that the frailties on the bowling front have been almost overlooked. India's batsmen were poor in England and Australia, but the bowlers did not look world-beaters either. Apart from a couple of sessions at Trent Bridge and Melbourne, they came nowhere close to matching the opposition. Forget about the future after Tendulkar. The batting will sort itself out. India should worry more about unearthing the next Kapil Dev or Anil Kumble. The quicks that have emerged in recent times have quickly lost pace or intensity or both. Zaheer Khan, who made his mark soon after that Asia Cup debacle in 2000, is on the way out and without a replacement stepping up, India will leave even a talent like Kohli with too much to do on some days. http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/sport-comment/bowling-remains-a-headache-for-indian-cricket

[MCcricket]

Well written exactly how I feel, more or less India has a history of identifying and being patient with batters who have class or skills, with bowlers selections have been bad, ither they are chosen too late , or discarded after couple of games, if a bowler has the set requirements like pace, swing or seam , or a unique action , he should be groomed and persisted with.Domestic cricket will make FTB and 125 trundlers look good with better stats but a good selectors will identify what will work at int level not PK'S , VK'S OR Unadkats, get bowlers with pace first of all, then build their skills or groom them . I hope we do not loose players like Gony, Shami, Anwar , Suyal, Ishant, Umesh, Aaron, Nechim, as Salil Ankola, Abey Kurruvilla, VRV singh in the past.Indian bowlers playing on patta 's have to be handled with care as most get injured or loose pace or don't adjust quickly to tracks that they are not used too . Ideal scenario would be , fit again Sreesanth [mentally and physically], Ishant, Umesh, Aaron, Munaf, Irfan making the core and , Shami, Anwar, Suyal, Tyagi, Gony, Nechim, Parmeswaram each being groomed in A tours and also picked up as 16th member in the squads.I don't think Zak has many seasons left in him cricket wise, batting will take care of itself, selectors and captaincy is critical, and that is where we lack most.

[Vijy]

Ideal scenario would be , fit again Sreesanth [mentally and physically], Ishant, Umesh, Aaron, Munaf, Irfan making the core and , Shami, Anwar, Suyal, Tyagi, Gony, Nechim, Parmeswaram each being groomed in A tours and also picked up as 16th member in the squads.I don't think Zak has many seasons left in him cricket wise, batting will take care of itself, selectors and captaincy is critical, and that is where we lack most.

Ishant has played for nearly 50 tests. He's had ample time to iron out his problems and he must be shown the door for good. Until Zaheer continues to play he should be around to mentor the others such as Umesh, Munaf, etc. Aaron appears ever more raw than Umesh. Irfan lacks pace and even his swing isn't at his older level, so he's not a viable option either.

[Adi_91]

Problem is, batsmen these days are well equipped due to IPL and other 20-20 leagues. So bowlers are always under tremendous pressure. And coming to Ind bowlers, there is never any emphasis on producing good bowling talent. Until then, I don't see any good thing from future of Ind bowling either.

[ChanaLal]

Does anyone really think Joe Dawes can do anything? He's been given the job of rescuing the bowling attack..I am very, very, very worried!

[jairamesh]

Despite the investment of time and money, and a plethora of foreign coaches and experts, India's pace bowling appears to have lapsed back to that time.

:hysterical: Foreign coaches and experts is a short term solution. It's at grass root levels that needs a shift of several magnitudes to produce quality fast bowlers.

[Crookbond]

:hysterical: Foreign coaches and experts is a short term solution. It's at grass root levels that needs a shift of several magnitudes to produce quality fast bowlers.

I think we should encourage (and probably force via their financial power) few select domestic fast bowlers to play country cricket. It's the only way I see something's going to change. An 'A' tour here or there isn't going to help much.

[Dravid_TheWall]

Our test attack should be ZK, Sree, try another pacer (Yadav, Dinda, Tyagi, Munaf) Ojha. I do think there is talent out there but we can't keep chopping and changing. Have one seamer slot being rotated and persist with others..

[jairamesh]

Let's not beat around the bush. Just a quick glance at the current crop of bowlers (and the past ones too) and it simply comes down to that they are physically not fit enough to bowl fast consistently. The only two bowlers I have seen with the body to cope with physical demands that come to my mind are Kapil Dev, Srinath, and msybr br throw in Prasad (yes him that trundler, he was more consistent performer than the current bunch of unfit no hopers) The likes of Ishant, Zaheer, Dinda, Varun, Vinay, Praveen, Sreesanth are physically not strong or athletic. The only ray of light has been Umesh Yadav. And a special mention for Ishant, this guy has been playing Test cricket now for over 4 years, and his body has been the same since his debut that starved lean pole noodle legs. His has got a beautiful action but lacks muscle required to maintain that extra yard. Fast bowling in Tests is physically the most demanding role, and to maintain good pace (145 plus) for long periods requires you to have an athletic body or if you are lucky, natural strength i.e the West Indian greats, Andrew Flintoff etc. And long periods can be a 5 over spell (in hot and humid conditions) or a 15 over spell in cooler conditions. None of our bowlers barring Yadav have that capability, to consistently bowl fast with good line and length, because they lack the fitness and the number of injuries that Indian bowlers fall prey to is proof for lack of fitness.

[jairamesh]

I think we should encourage (and probably force via their financial power) few select domestic fast bowlers to play country cricket. It's the only way I see something's going to change. An 'A' tour here or there isn't going to help much.

Regardless, we just don't have the bowlers good enough for Test level. At this moment in time, Australia, South Africa, and England all have one gun bowler capable of consistently generating 150km plus. All of them marked out for potential and developed from an early age without First Class experience. Cummins (Aus), De Lange (SA), Finn (Eng) were earmarked from an early age without proving themselve in their domestic First Class games. They were fast tracked to international set-up, nurtured and it's paying dividends. I am glad we done that with Umesh Yadav and Varun (to an extent). But this should have been done 12 months ago. Everyone here (ICF forum) had heard about Yadav and Varun way back in 2010, and excited of the pace they generated. Yet BCCI and selectors kept on ignoring them and ending up selecting them by default after they were left with no options. I wonder how many such bowlers fall through net, end-up playing gruelling first class games, by which time the energy is sapped out of them and by 21 are fully converted into a Trundler King. I remember Mithun when initially he poped up was suppose to be known for his pace. What happened to Manpreet Gony, VRV Singh. These guys were built to bowl fast yet have faded away into mediocrity bowling 120km. :facepalm:

[SLICKR392]

Shreeshanth, Umesh & Aaron...could be a deadly trio "if" they are groomed well.

[rkt.india]

Let's not beat around the bush. J And a special mention for Ishant, this guy has been playing Test cricket now for over 4 years, and his body has been the same since his debut that starved lean pole noodle legs. His has got a beautiful action but lacks muscle required to maintain that extra yard. Fast bowling in Tests is physically the most demanding role, and to maintain good pace (145 plus) for long periods requires you to have an athletic body or if you are lucky, natural strength i.e the West Indian greats, Andrew Flintoff etc. And long periods can be a 5 over spell (in hot and humid conditions) or a 15 over spell in cooler conditions. None of our bowlers barring Yadav have that capability, to consistently bowl fast with good line and length, because they lack the fitness and the number of injuries that Indian bowlers fall prey to is proof for lack of fitness.

Due Ishant was faster than Yadav both against WI in India and against Australia as well on a consistent basis. He may be lean and thin, but he has fantastic stamina to bowl quick in long spells. Being lean helps him in this aspect. I think there is not much problem with what he bowled in Australia tests. He was too short at times, but he beat batsmen most times. His only problem that I see is his seam position and without a good seam position, no bowler can take wickets consistently in test cricket.

[Roshanrocks]

All Ishant ever needed to do was to pitch the ball ahead of his "short ball" zone. He bowls short consistently and the batsmen never need to bother about where their wicket is and just play off his length. How he has not been able to improve on his length is beyond me. I still maintain he will be world class if he adjusts his bowling length. A yard closer to the wicket will give him swing and make him lethal. But use kaun samjhaaye? Sreeshant has pace but is too erratic and emotional. Dont think he can change, but he could try no? I like Yadav, but he too needs to find consistency. All in all i feel, each bowler needs to put an extra effort to find consistency in their bowling, unless they do that our bowling attack will be like this only.

[rkt.india]

All Ishant ever needed to do was to pitch the ball ahead of his "short ball" zone. He bowls short consistently and the batsmen never need to bother about where their wicket is and just play off his length. How he has not been able to improve on his length is beyond me. I still maintain he will be world class if he adjusts his bowling length. A yard closer to the wicket will give him swing and make him lethal. But use kaun samjhaaye? Sreeshant has pace but is too erratic and emotional. Dont think he can change, but he could try no? I like Yadav, but he too needs to find consistency. All in all i feel, each bowler needs to put an extra effort to find consistency in their bowling, unless they do that our bowling attack will be like this only.

All Ishant's problem was seam position. He was not getting anything out of the pitch even when he was pitching the ball up due to not hitting the seam.

[express bowling]

It is risky for really tall players to bulk up. Ligaments and tendons find it difficult to handle the disproportionate addition in weight that happens to really tall guys.

[Roshanrocks]

All Ishant's problem was seam position. He was not getting anything out of the pitch even when he was pitching the ball up due to not hitting the seam.

I dont agree with you. Its his length.

[rkt.india]

I dont agree with you. Its his length.

Bowlers like McGrath and Gillespie never bowled fuller length consistently, but they always got wickets because they used to seam the ball after pitching which Ishant has not been able to do off late because of poor seam position. It is not like Ishant bowled only short or short of length, he bowled fuller too, but he did not get any purchase. Fast bowling depends on seam position a lot, to seam and swing the ball. Most batsmen will play straight balls whether they are pitched up or short of length. It is movement which deceives the batsmen. Length depends on the kind of bowler you are. A swing bowler will mostly bowl fuller, but he is not swing bowler. He is seam bowler and seam bowlers need to vary their length to deceive batsmen with seam movement from both length fuller length and short of a good length.

[express bowling]

Another problem with Ishant has been that he is bowling wrong lines and giving the batsman too much width ball after ball.

[CG]

All Ishant's problem was seam position. He was not getting anything out of the pitch even when he was pitching the ball up due to not hitting the seam.

:two_thumbs_up:

[MCcricket]

Just like Hilffenhouse looks a different bowler after corrctive work, Ishant can do that too, he is fit and strong , has the right attitude, RKT rightly pointed out the seam problem as earlier he used to bring the ball in and then one ocassionally kept its line and the batsmen was in two minds, currently he bowls a bit short and when he bowls fuller he gets hit because there is no deviation in air or of the seam.He can be India's spearhead, very tall, fast, fit, right attitude, just needs to take it up a notch.