I feel for the Indian fast bowlers: Dale Steyn

[indiefan]

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/i-feel-for-the-indian-fast-bowlers-dale-steyn/article4734701.ece

Dale Steyn feels always looking up to spinners for wickets is not the right way to go about encouraging the crop of pacers in India. “If you’re always going to look at the spinners to do the job for you, what’s the point of even having a fast bowler?†asked Steyn. Aware of India’s “rich tradition†with spinners, Steyn gave an example from the recent India-Australia Test series to make his point. “I watched the recent Test series between India and Australia and at one stage Ishant (Sharma) bowled his first over of the match with the second new ball! There’s not a lot of confidence your captain is giving you as a fast bowler when he gives you the ball only after 80 overs. “I say this with due respect to M.S. Dhoni because they went on to win the Test series 4-0. But for a bowler like Ishant, it doesn’t say a lot to him. I’m sure he buys into the team’s plans and priorities and so he’s fine with it. “But when questions are raised about Indian fast bowlers — which I think will always be raised — I think that’s your answer right there,†the South African was quoted as saying by the IPL website. “The wickets here aren’t really helpful for them either and I feel for the Indian fast bowlers. If Ishant wants to come to South Africa, he’ll make the team any day, I can promise you that. He’s a fantastic bowler,†said, Steyn. “Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshar Kumar are other two very good bowlers. They just need the right conditions. If you’re going to give them spinning wickets, it’s going to be difficult. “If you’ll give them the ball after 80 overs, it’s going to be even more difficult.†— PTI

[Crookbond]

The exact reason why our bowlers should play in the county every year.

[ravishingravi]

^ain't happening ever. Our batters need it more than bowlers.

[Crookbond]

^ain't happening ever. Our batters need it more than bowlers.

And they aren't allowed as well despite being freaking free!

[Marut]

Unhelpful wickets aren't the only reason we don't produce fast bowlers. Pakistan has similar kind of wickets. Batsmen become better when batting conditions are unhelpful, similarly bowlers can become better bowlers bowling on unhelpful pitches. Pakistan is proof of it. May be our bowlers lack the stamina to grind it out on such wickets. Bowlers who can take wickets only on friendly pitches are the bowling analogues of flat track bullies who make mountains of runs on dead wickets.

[saket123]

nothing that sensible cricket fans don't already know. In home conditions don't favor fast bowlers.. society and media don't favor fast bowlers... India is a place where fast bowling dies a natural death.

[saket123]

Unhelpful wickets aren't the only reason we don't produce fast bowlers. Pakistan has similar kind of wickets. Batsmen become better when batting conditions are unhelpful, similarly bowlers can become better bowlers bowling on unhelpful pitches. Pakistan is proof of it. May be our bowlers lack the stamina to grind it out on such wickets. Bowlers who can take wickets only on friendly pitches are the bowling analogues of flat track bullies who make mountains of runs on dead wickets.

Pakistani society favors and looks up to fast bowlers.. unlike ours.

[rtmohanlal]

then what about bowlers like Marshal,Donald, etc who proved to be so successful in India?

[SLICKR392]

“The wickets here aren’t really helpful for them either and I feel for the Indian fast bowlers. If Ishant wants to come to South Africa, he’ll make the team any day, I can promise you that. He’s a fantastic bowler,” said, Steyn.

Really? :|

[FischerTal]

steyn playing mind tricks before SA tour :giggle:

[saket123]

then what about bowlers like Marshal' date='Donald, etc who proved to be so successful in India?[/quote'] Pace bowlers have been successful in India before.. but it's on and off.. with mostly off where our FTBs butcher the bowlers and ramp up 300+ runs. Also, these bowlers developed their pace bowling skills on pitches that favored it and were able well honed before they had to face our flat tracks. So their skills compensated for the flat tracks. Guys like Ishant don't really have that. The poor guy has been bowling his heart out in Indian pitches most of the time with minimal or no results. I don't think pace bowlers can hone their skills on Indian pitches.

[vvvslaxman]

I doubt if Steyn watched the test lol I think Ishant probably was whining about it to Steyn.

[Yoda-esque]

Steyns trolling.

[Lord]

Really? :|

we should swap Ishant with Philander:giggle:

[Pagalpanti]

Sorry but it seems to me Steyn is just doing a PR job for Ishant. Ishant bowled on the very same pitch yet averaged 50+ while Anderson and Steyn wreaked havoc to the 'fame' Indian batting line up. And Ishant making to SA line up any day - :hysterical: (Not even an Indian fan would come up with such a statement)

[kubrickian]

Unhelpful wickets aren't the only reason we don't produce fast bowlers. Pakistan has similar kind of wickets. Batsmen become better when batting conditions are unhelpful, similarly bowlers can become better bowlers bowling on unhelpful pitches. Pakistan is proof of it. May be our bowlers lack the stamina to grind it out on such wickets. Bowlers who can take wickets only on friendly pitches are the bowling analogues of flat track bullies who make mountains of runs on dead wickets.

There is a huge difference in nature of wickets between India and Pakistan. Some people keep saying wickets in Pakistan are same as in India but they dont know what they are talking about. Wickets in India generally tend to help spinners a lot more. They are usually very slow and low and even if a bowler gets pace, swing, reverse swing, the batsmen has enough time to adjust and play accordingly. This completely nullifies fast bowlers. A good example is India has produced the likes of Prasanna, Bedi, Venkatraghavan, Chandrasekhar etc. Kumble has 600 test wickets and Harbhajan has 400. No Pakistan spinner has ever got even 300 wickets in tests. Even Ashwin and Ojha who have debuted recently have picked close to 100 wickets in tests already.

[Old guy]

Really? :|

epic trolling :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Hafeez]

Ishant will make in SA Team easily :D

[FischerTal]

Ishant will make in SA Team easily :D

more likely than atg tanvir ahmed and rahat ali :hehe:

[rkt.india]

Unhelpful wickets aren't the only reason we don't produce fast bowlers. Pakistan has similar kind of wickets. Batsmen become better when batting conditions are unhelpful, similarly bowlers can become better bowlers bowling on unhelpful pitches. Pakistan is proof of it. May be our bowlers lack the stamina to grind it out on such wickets. Bowlers who can take wickets only on friendly pitches are the bowling analogues of flat track bullies who make mountains of runs on dead wickets.

that's not always true. Batsmen plying in unhelpful conditions will lack a habit of playing long innings. This is what happening with young Aussie batsmen. They produced better batsmen when they had better batting tracks in domestic cricket but now as tracks are turning helpful for pacers with more grass and seam of the pitch, their batsmen are struggling in domestic cricket. Michael Hussey once said that when he used to play FC cricket batting was easy with better batting tracks, batsmen used to have high averages but now rarely any young batsmen averages over 40 in their domestic cricket due to more seaming tracks. NZ faces the same problem.