No end in sight for India's bowling slump

[rkt.india]

During the Test series defeat to England - only India's third at home in a quarter of a century - there was much heartburn about the state of the Indian bowling. The spinners were comprehensively outbowled by England's, and the pace bowling looked pedestrian once Umesh Yadav got injured. Look at the scores from the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals though, and it is a wonder that young men even bother to take up the ball. Only one game saw a result, as Services upset Uttar Pradesh. The other three matches saw totals of 718 for nine, 699 for three and 645 for nine. There were 12 centuries made, and two triple-hundreds - Cheteshwar Pujara's 352 for Saurashtra against Karnataka, and Taruvar Kohli's 300 not out for Punjab against Jharkhand. The only innings to treasure was Rajat Paliwal's 112 for Services in a game where the highest total was 263. The pitches were awful, so was some of the bowling. Pujara made his triple on a surface where a half-decent spinner would have asked serious questions. "The bowlers were not mature enough," he said with great candour afterwards. "I feel that it is a kind of wicket where you can easily get 10 wickets but I don't think they bowled well. "They were not bowling in the right areas. In six balls, they were bowling just one or two good balls and if you defend them, you could score two to three boundaries after that." It has become Indian cricket's chicken-and-egg question. Is it dire pitches that sap the enthusiasm of young bowlers? Or have the surfaces become an excuse for a lack of skill and heart? There is no answer in sight. Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/sport-comment/no-end-in-sight-for-indias-bowling-slump#ixzz2HjqOP9pb

[Ultimate_Game]

As I mentioned in a thread, unless we improve our bowling we will continue to be an average side. The reason we have under-achieved historically is that our bowling has been poor for most part. The sorry state of affairs is that our best 3 pacers in our history have been Kapil, Srinath and Zaheer which is an extremely low quality attack when you compare it to any of the other Test playing nations. At the end of the day bowlers win you matches, batsmen just save them.

[rkt.india]

As I mentioned in a thread' date=' unless we improve our bowling we will continue to be an average side. The reason we have under-achieved historically is that our bowling has been poor for most part. The sorry state of affairs is that our best 3 pacers in our history have been Kapil, Srinath and Zaheer which is an extremely low quality attack when you compare it to any of the other Test playing nations. At the end of the day bowlers win you matches, batsmen just save them.[/quote'] That is our problem. Our bar is already set very low.

[express bowling]

Why are sporting pitches not being prepared consistently ? That would have given us better pacers, spinners and batsmen. It is a mystery.

[Lord]

The pitches were awful, so was some of the bowling. Pujara made his triple on a surface where a half-decent spinner would have asked serious questions. "The bowlers were not mature enough," he said with great candour afterwards. "I feel that it is a kind of wicket where you can easily get 10 wickets but I don't think they bowled well. "They were not bowling in the right areas. In six balls, they were bowling just one or two good balls and if you defend them, you could score two to three boundaries after that."

that means the pitch was okay:hmmm: or hes just overplaying his ton

[Karan114]

As I mentioned in a thread' date=' unless we improve our bowling we will continue to be an average side. The reason we have under-achieved historically is that our bowling has been poor for most part. The sorry state of affairs is that our best 3 pacers in our history have been Kapil, Srinath and Zaheer which is an extremely low quality attack when you compare it to any of the other Test playing nations. At the end of the day bowlers win you matches, batsmen just save them.[/quote'] Yes, the figures don't lie - seventh out of eight serious teams in the all time win/loss ratio in Test cricket, which is absolutely woeful for a country so obsessed with cricket and with so many professional cricketers (yes, the system isn't good and FC cricket is poor but the same criticisms apply to Pakistan and they have been a far more successful Test team than us). Much as I appreciate the efforts of Zak, Srinath and especially Kapil, when your only three decent pace bowlers ever average 29-32 then it just shows how dire your bowling is. In Australia guys like Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee even get trashed by their own fans, but their records are similar to our best ever. Its embarrassing how dreadful our bowling is.

[express bowling]

Yes, the figures don't lie - seventh out of eight serious teams in the all time win/loss ratio in Test cricket, which is absolutely woeful for a country so obsessed with cricket and with so many professional cricketers (yes, the system isn't good and FC cricket is poor but the same criticisms apply to Pakistan and they have been a far more successful Test team than us). Much as I appreciate the efforts of Zak, Srinath and especially Kapil, when your only three decent pace bowlers ever average 29-32 then it just shows how dire your bowling is. In Australia guys like Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee even get trashed by their own fans, but their records are similar to our best ever. Its embarrassing how dreadful our bowling is.

Question is, why has nothing effective been done to improve our bowling , given the fact that we are a cricket crazy nation with huge population ?

[rkt.india]

Question is' date=' why has nothing effective been done to improve our bowling , given the fact that we are a cricket crazy nation with huge population ?[/quote'] I would say more than cricket crazy we are batting crazy nation. You would rarely see young boys in their teens playing cricket would run after ball to take ball in their hands to bowl first, most of them would run after bat and fight with each other for bat like crazy to bat.

[vandokkum]

IPL and culture of venerating batsmen doesn't really help either. And also the fact that there hasn't really been any ATG bowlers that youngsters look up to like Imran khan, Lillee, Donald etc.

[Marut]

Well, India has an excuse for dismal quality of bowlers in the past. We did not have a rich board then. Now BCCI had the biggest financial resources in the world and they should be ashamed of what they acheived so far. I am sure that there are very promising bowlers out in the wild not getting any support, facilities or backing. Whenever I go to the beach I see those ten or twelve year old kids bowling at a pace beyond their years, even with a tennis ball. Most of these kids never come into the limelight and their skills disappear at that level. What are the talent scouts at BCCI doing? Why can't they find half a dozen world class bowlers from the one billion plus population of India? And why can't they even manage our bowlers who showed a lot of initial promise? - Like Ishant,Irfan, Sreesanth,Munaf etc? Every where there is favouritism, corruption, dogmatism etc and that is what we will get.

[1983-2011]

we fans need to chill, indian or bcci team will have its up and down, no need to get our blood pressure high over them.

[Lord]

I would say more than cricket crazy we are batting crazy nation. You would rarely see young boys in their teens playing cricket would run after ball to take ball in their hands to bowl first' date=' most of them would run after bat and fight with each other for bat like crazy to bat.[/quote'] that is an effect,not the cause.if bowlers start doing well n winning us matches,I'm sure young kids will start wanting to bowl.its about role model,everybody wants to be Sachin,not Zaheer n u cant fault them

[rkt.india]

that is an effect' date='not the cause.if bowlers start doing well n winning us matches,I'm sure young kids will start wanting to bowl.its about role model,everybody wants to be Sachin,not Zaheer n u cant fault them[/quote'] That is not an effect that is a cause because most Indian greats are batsmen and batting is the only thing which is talked about in India. Other than that it also shows that young boys runaway from the hard work of bowling or fast bowling. Fast bowling is donkey work in India which hardly anyone wants to. Even if someone wants to be a bowler, he runs away seeing the hard work in it.

[Lord]

That is not an effect that is a cause because most Indian greats are batsmen and batting is the only thing which is talked about in India. Other than that it also shows that young boys runaway from the hard work of bowling or fast bowling. Fast bowling is donkey work in India which hardly anyone wants to. Even if someone wants to be a bowler' date=' he runs away seeing the hard work in it.[/quote'] like I said,if the bowlers start doing well consistently.none of our bowlers are ATGs.so naturally thier isnt that love abourt bowling.bowling specially fast bowling is exciting n kids would like to take it up if they see our bowlers running thru oppositions n winning us matches,this despite the hard work.but all they see is bowlers getting hammered left right n center. batting is only thing talked about n our greats are batsmen is the effect of our approach to our cricket.flat pitches,encouraging batsmen n not bowlers

[Dumbbells]

Hope India is bullied by all the teams and make the BCCI realize the need for encouraging fast bowling talents.

[Ultimate_Game]

One way to produce more fast bowlers is to overhaul our central contract system. Right now we award central contracts to players who are stars or have done well at intl level, and most of these players are batsmen. I am sure if India hands out 25 central contracts at least 18 of those players would be batsmen. We need to change the contract system so that the system is based on skill set/discipline instead of "free for all" irrespective of the discipline. Thus if we have a system in place where let's say only 9 central contracts are allocated for batsmen, 9 for bowlers (6 pacers and 3 spinners), 4 for all-rounders and 3 for wkt keepers, we will have likes of Rohit or Manoj Tiwary missing out on a central contract whereas likes of Dinda & B Kumar will earn a rich million dollar per annum central contract. This will force youngsters to sit up and take notice as they will want to become a bowler as it would be easier to get a central contract by competing against the likes of Dinda, Kumars, Ishant etc. rather than likes of Pujaras, Yuvrajs, Gambhirs etc. BCCI can shake up the allotment depending on the paucity of skill positions every few years. At the same time BCCI should focus on improving MRF pace academy and NCA. Let's be honest, has any of these academies done anything at all other than make consultants and folks managing these academies rich? BCCI needs to run these academies like a corporation where folks are held accountable and have to achieve annual/bi-annual targets, i.e. at least 2 pacers from these academies making it to India A squad or 5 pacers making it to Ranji squads from these academies etc. These changes will take time but at least it's a start instead of just moaning about lack of bowlers and falling back on "but we never had decent bowlers" excuse. In earlier times we never had financial resources like we do now, earlier we never used to generate majority of global cricketing revenue, earlier we weren't the heart of cricket. Now we are. We have the richest board and as far as cricket is concerned we don't lack any resources - be it financial or otherwise. It all depends on whether BCCI really wants to make the difference or BCCI higher ups are simply content making money, which will anyway happen despite our poor performances. I wish BCCI cared about Indian cricket and national team's performances as much as an average Indian fan does and unless BCCI's attitude changes nothing else will matter.