Swing to win, India

[nsareen]

Sanjay Manjrekar January 19, 2013 When Rahul Dravid retired from Test cricket, I remember saying that instead of fussing over who would be the new No. 3 to fill Dravid's big boots, India needed to find three world-class bowlers instead. A strong batting side can save Test matches but a good bowling attack will win them for you. Pakistan are a good example. When they were a winning team under Imran Khan, they were one of the few to challenge West Indies in their prime. Pakistan did not have a world-class batting line-up - Javed Miandad was more or less the only batting great they had, with an average of over 50 - but they had truly world-class bowling. Granted, India's batting on current form is a serious worry, but I still think the selectors and those holding the reins of Indian cricket need to be scouting for bowling talent. India has a strong, deep-rooted batting culture, and they will keep getting top-class batsmen along the line, without trying. It is a land where a Sunil Gavaskar retires in 1987 and a Sachin Tendulkar arrives in 1989. This, however, is not the case with Indian bowlers. They need all the help they can get to become viable international bowlers, for they are trying to emerge from a batting culture. With Laxman and Dravid gone, and Tendulkar and Sehwag to follow, I know a lot of people are worried about India's batting, and rightly so, but if India are to regain that No. 1, spot and stay there longer this time, they have to find better bowlers than they had last time. Just one Zaheer Khan is not going to be enough. And finding three world-class bowlers in a batting-friendly environment is not going to be easy; in fact, it will be very tough, and all focus, ideas and energies will need to be diverted to that one goal. Four weeks ago, after the home series loss to England, I was quite pessimistic about Indian cricket's future. Yes, India's batting had failed once more, but it was the bowling that depressed me more. But today I feel slightly different and that is because of the arrival of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Not for a moment am I suggesting that India have found a sensational bowling talent who will single-handedly take them right back to the top in Tests. All I am saying is that with a little work on him, by someone who really knows about bowling swing on the subcontinent, he can be a good Test seam bowler in all conditions. What really excites me is that Bhuvneshwar is not a freak talent who has come through the Indian domestic circuit, one who cannot be replicated. In fact, he can be the seam-bowling prototype for others to follow and for Indian cricket to invest in. He is a bowler with a natural Indian bowling action (not one modelled on the Australian pace manual), who bowls at a decent pace, around 135, swings it both ways, bowls it full, and critically, is a good athlete. Granted, India's batting on current form is a serious worry, but I still think the selectors and those holding the reins of Indian cricket need to be scouting for bowling talent Bhuvneshwar's impressive skills suggest that India with its dead pitches and its triple-centurion batsmen can still produce fine bowlers, and that makes me hopeful about the future of Indian seam bowling. With three improved versions of the current Bhuvneshwar, India may have a bowling attack that can take 20 wickets overseas. And this is not just an ex-cricketer's fantasy; I am convinced that with the right guidance this can become a reality. I have seen a couple of young bowlers in domestic cricket who are in the Bhuvneshwar Kumar mould: Siddarth Kaul of Punjab and Ishwar Pandey of Madhya Pradesh look like they belong in the same genre. Talk to a few senior batsmen in domestic cricket, like Amol Muzumdar and Aakash Chopra, and they may have two more names for you. It is interesting to look at all the major overseas Indian triumphs after 1980: the 1983 World Cup win, the mini World Cup win in Australia in 1985, the Test series win in England in 1986, Leeds 2002, Adelaide 2003, Wanderers 2006, Nottingham 2007, Perth 2008, and Durban 2010. You will find that the bowlers who made the important match-winning contributions were Kapil Dev, Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Chetan Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Ajit Agarkar, RP Singh and Sreesanth: all typical Indian medium-pacers, who bowled it full and swung it around - none express, and none a spinner. Batsmen around the world today hit the ball harder than ever before, but they are also more susceptible when the ball is pitched up and it swings late than batsmen of earlier generations were. This is India's chance to seize, to find bowlers who do just that. If an Umesh Yadav comes along, bowling at 145, that is a bonus, but it would be more pragmatic for India to look for more bowlers like Bhuvneshwar. And yes, come what may, do not allow them to cut down on their swing so as to try to bowl quicker. Make them feel proud to be swing bowlers, or else India may be left with more bowlers like Irfan Pathan, who, in the endeavour to get faster, lost his precious, god-gifted swing. With the disappointing spinning talent coming through these days, maybe it's time for Indian cricket to move away from spin and to make swing the new king.

[panther]

2 new balls helps India if they pick the right bowlers.

[Spiderguy252]

Stop hyping him, he's just another flash in the pan for all we know. Let's take a call on him after say 2 years.

[King Tendulkar]

Sanjay want trundlers and not worried about a U Yadav and is 90mph bowling. This is why we dont get an express bowler or fast bowlers with this idiotic thinking. Yes good to get good swing bowlers but we all know to have a blanced attack and true match wining bowlers in tests, need pace man. Manjrekar certain Mr Marshall, Garner, Holding and co say HELLO!!

[Crookbond]

Stop hyping him, he's just another flash in the pan for all we know. Let's take a call on him after say 2 years.

That's what Manjrekar says as well.

[Number]

Sanjay want trundlers and not worried about a U Yadav and is 90mph bowling. This is why we dont get an express bowler or fast bowlers with this idiotic thinking. Yes good to get good swing bowlers but we all know to have a blanced attack and true match wining bowlers in tests, need pace man. Manjrekar certain Mr Marshall, Garner, Holding and co say HELLO!!

We don't have Yadav type bowlers in abundance who can touch 150s and easily bowl 90 mph. (Ankit Rajpoot is 19 can hit 140s so probably he will become one.) So as of now likes of B Kumar will do who can take wickets in helpful conditions at least. Marshall, Holding etc. is daydreaming .

[King Tendulkar]

We don't have Yadav type bowlers in abundance who can touch 150s and easily bowl 90 mph. (Ankit Rajpoot is 19 can hit 140s so probably he will become one.) So as of now likes of B Kumar will do who can take wickets in helpful conditions at least. Marshall, Holding etc. is daydreaming .

My point is if idiots like manjreakr keep spouting this we cant bowl fast and not worth trying rubbish, then we wont will we. If you keep dreaming, aspiring and trying then we will get fast bowlers of quality. Yadav is already there, so shows its possible. Yes marshall and co is a dream. but my point was the importance of fast bowlers in history of cricket. Yet manjrekar is basically saying dont bother, cant do it and not important anyway. He should be saying yadav is indian, it can be done

[Sandeep99]

B Kumar will be more than handful this Champions trophy! Waiting for it!! And imagine Umesh, Bhuvan, Shami bowling together in England! Wow.. a delight for Indian fans

[Crookbond]

My point is if idiots like manjreakr keep spouting this we cant bowl fast and not worth trying rubbish, then we wont will we. If you keep dreaming, aspiring and trying then we will get fast bowlers of quality. Yadav is already there, so shows its possible. Yes marshall and co is a dream. but my point was the importance of fast bowlers in history of cricket. Yet manjrekar is basically saying dont bother, cant do it and not important anyway. He should be saying yadav is indian, it can be done

First, if you keep dreaming you will bowl 150 kmph only in your dreams. Second, Yadav is just finding his feet. One series with bad performance and we will soon see a thread from you. Manjrekar is giving a pragmatic view point. For once (and for FFS) understand the PoV - he never says "don't bother, don't do it", he says focus on people who are genuine swing bowlers at a decent pace - 135 kmph. While doing so, if you get a 150kmph bowler great but do not bracket 135 kmph swing bowlers as "trundlers". They are far potent and useful in varying conditions.

[Vilander]

yadav,aaron,shami,bhuv make a good pace attack..if they ever make it..

[Crookbond]

They will - one day. I think we need to 'preserve' some bowlers as Test ONLY and pay them money for the ODIs, T20s they don't play.

[The Outsider]

These guys get paid to write stuff like this - bowlers, specially fast bowlers are important to win tests consistently and which team would say no to having three world class bowlers in it's lineup? LOL!

[The Outsider]

My point is if idiots like manjreakr keep spouting this we cant bowl fast and not worth trying rubbish, then we wont will we.

Yeah, because future cricketers in India chart their careers based on what Manju writes on cricinfo every week. :wall:

[saneindian]

The home season of 2011-12 saw the emergence of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron in the ODI series vs Eng at home and the subsequent test series vs WI at home. All the talk was about pace and pace alone and a turnaround in Indian cricket with pace being the new mantra. 12 months later, we are back to talking about skills, swing, seam etc :((

[King Tendulkar]

]]First, if you keep dreaming you will bowl 150 kmph only in your dreams.

Thanks for that. Bloody hell what a pedant point to make. You know what I meant, taking such a literal view is ridiculous and misuse of language:--D Yes if you dream only of bowling fast and do nothing to make this dream come true you will indeed only dream of bowlling fast. Glad we cleared that up:giggle:

[Crookbond]

Thanks for that. Bloody hell what a pedant point to make. You know what I meant' date=' [b']taking such a literal view is ridiculous and misuse of language:--D Yes if you dream only of bowling fast and do nothing to make this dream come true you will indeed only dream of bowlling fast. Glad we cleared that up:giggle:

:giggle: Oh dear highness, I beg they pardon! I totally forgot that ridiculousness, misinterpretation and exaggeration were thy holiness copyright under the 1975 Copyright Protection Act of Fake Internet Forums. I plead guilty to the use of these expressions, please forgive me!

[Crookbond]

he is not saying not to give chance to quicker bowlers but to give chance to swing bowlers ahead of ordinary spinners.

+1 IF ONLY people read before typing.

[Old guy]

The home season of 2011-12 saw the emergence of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron in the ODI series vs Eng at home and the subsequent test series vs WI at home. All the talk was about pace and pace alone and a turnaround in Indian cricket with pace being the new mantra. 12 months later, we are back to talking about skills, swing, seam etc :((

yadav is still here..we need all kind of bowlers to have an effective attack wont mind seeing bhuvan,yadav and shami bowling in south africa:cantstop:

[NareshK]

Bowling 130+ and having good control and moving the ball is good enough to trouble the batsmen. But once the ball stops swinging, a bowler needs to be lot more quicker through the air to reduce the reaction time of the batsmen and induce the mistake. Bowlers like Yadav will be more helpful in tests in Indian conditions because after first 7-8 overs, the ball generally stops swinging. Bowlers like BK are more useful in England and SA. If he can increase his pace and bowl 140+ consistently, he will be effective as a wicket taking seamer in India too. Zaheer Khan who bowls at the same pace as BK has been effective in tests in India because he can also get reverse swing with the old ball. I dont know if BK can do that.

[vayuu1]

We don't have Yadav type bowlers in abundance who can touch 150s and easily bowl 90 mph. (Ankit Rajpoot is 19 can hit 140s so probably he will become one.) So as of now likes of B Kumar will do who can take wickets in helpful conditions at least. Marshall, Holding etc. is daydreaming .

Well I can name 4 guys Aaron,shukla,warrior also add mohsin sayed to that list heard he is capable of bowling 140+ as well he didnt play in under 19 wc this year , apart from them we got guys who ,can bowl in early to mid 140's guys like pandey, shami, mohit,suyal,kaul,anwar Ahmed ,awana agree we don't have a lilie,Marshall etc but then these guys can make our bowling potent,if we take care of them.