Pace bowling and development of a pace bowler in India

[theguyinallblue]

india will do well..if some how...we could extract two more years from Kumble as Test captain.. we are playing good amount of tests this year... and my dream of a white-wash win over pakistan in pakistan is a real possibility under Kumble in the up coming series against at arch-rivals...we can't let the chance go away... we really royally ****ed up a chance when Ganguly was captain...

[Chandan]

The pacemen cometh By K.R. Nayar, Senior Reporter Published: June 20, 2008, 00:08 After years of relying on spinners to bring them victories, India suddenly have a band of fast bowlers ready to take on the world's best batsmen.. There was a time when India relied on their spin attack to win matches. That hardly seems to be the scenario nowadays. Today it is their pace attack that delivers victories. From a period when fast bowling was a rarity, India now has a battery of young pacers, each one knocking hard for a slot in the final eleven. An analysis to pick the best among them can be quite interesting. Statistics reveal that Ishant Sharma has the best pace and has been most impressive in the number of matches he has played. But this by no means leaves the others behind. The question then is, who among the hopefuls is capable of serving India longer and bringing more glory? 1. Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan was expected to to be known as India's best opening bowler. He was impressed with the new ball and could swing the ball very well. He was also quick, but recurrent hamstring injuries denied him opportunities during India's tour of Australia and Pakistan. So much so that his injuries went on to affect his bowling and when he did make a comeback, he failed to impress as in the past. And in his eagerness to establish his place in the team he attempted quite a few variations without mastering them. Additionally, the new breed of pacers also put pressure on him and he soon found himself struggling for form as well a place in the team. A disappointed Khan joined Worcestershire where he went on to take 78 wicket in the 2006 county season. Khan is still a good bowler but at 29 age is fast catching up with him. 2. Shantakumaran Sreesanth Sreesanth is one bowler who has been very impressive in both forms of the game. Although injuries have affected him, he has provided India with timely wickets and breakthroughs. Sporting an impressive average for a fast bowler, he does manage to maintain a speed of 130-135 kmph, which is the second best recorded after Sharma. Besides injuries, controversies have dogged him, with many are of the opinion that his aggressive on-field behaviour has taken his focus away from his wicket taking ability. Sreesanth has been quite expensive in one-day cricket, but there is little doubt that India has benefited immensely from his wicket-taking ability. 3. Irfan Pathan A bowler with a big promise at the start of his career, Irfan Pathan has really not been at his best for quite a while, but he is fast regaining his form. Former Indian coach Greg Chappell's plan to transform him into a top order batsman proved costly for Pathan both with the bat and ball, and he lost his place in the team. However, Pathan has not given up and worked hard at the MRF Pace Foundation. His determination saw him make a slow return through the Twenty20 World Cup and he has once again established his place in the Indian team. A few additions to the variety of his bowling could land him with some impressive spells and boost his confidence as well. Knowing Pathan's perseverance, he is likely to remain as one of India's main strike bowler for some time. 4. Rudra Pratap Singh Rudra Pratap Singh has impressed one and all with every outing. Although he does not have the fearsome pace, there has been a marked improvement in his line and length. His ability to bring the ball into the right handed batsman is the best among all the Indian pacers. He can also swing the ball away with ease and that has made him a tough bowler to handle on any sort of wicket. But like Sreesanth, minor injuries have put on the brakes to his career too often. But the fact that Singh is only 22 and has 91 wickets from both forms of the game should be a major confidence for him. A lot will be heard about him if he is able to maintain his fitness. 5. Munaf Patel Munaf Patel arrived on the scene as India's fastest bowler but is yet to prove as the best. Faced with a series of injuries, he landed up missing a permanent spot in the Indian team as well as some valuable bowling experience against top players and in different conditions in important matches. Moreover, the layoff has interfered with his ability to add more bite to his bowling. Despite the tough times, he has mastered the perfect yorker and the art of reverse swing. Though strongly built, he has yet to expolit his potential to the fullest. Hailing from a small village in Gujarat, he has improved mainly from the help of MRF coaches T.A. Sekar and Dennis Lillee. Patel must be given continued guidance to get the best out of him. 6. Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma is considered India's finest discovery among the pacers. He has both the physique and the willingness to work hard. His biggest asset is his six foot four inches and his excellent high-arm action. Though he did impress the selectors in the home series against Pakistan, it was the Australian tour that got the best out of him. There was a huge surge in his confidence after that tour, and it didn't take him long to establish himself as the best. Sharma's ability to move the ball both ways, combined with his pace, can prove deadly on all types of wickets around the world. 7. Lakshmipathy Balaji This tall and lanky pacer was supposed to spearhead India's pace attack for a long time. He got off to an impressive start and during India's tour of Pakistan in 2005, proved a match winner. Unfortunately, a stress fracture cut short his progress. He did return with a bang in the Indian Premier League with hat-trick, but will have to work hard to impress the selectors. For sure, his yorkers and bouncers can take batsmen by surprise, but his average speed has not exceeded 120-125 kmph. Having been out of practice for nearly a year and a half, there has been a loss of pace and bite to his attack, but at 26 he still has a lot of cricket left in him. 8. Ashish Nehra Nehra began as India's finest left-arm pacer, but is struggling to regain his place in the team today. With all the required qualities of a good bowler, Nehra's late inswingers were unplayable during the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa where he had most of the best of batsmen in trouble. However, despite being a hard worker, Nehra failed to maintain his fitness. Surgery to his ankle forced him to miss series and tours at a time when he had been showing his best. Nehra had the ability to run through any batting line-up. Unfortunately, he has not played Test cricket or ODIs since 2005, and at 29 it could be an uphill task to make it back into the Indian squad. 9. Praveen Kumar This highly promising bowler is yet to play Test cricket, but has been very impressive as a one-day bowler. Praveen Kumar has shown great ability to succeed on any sort of wicket, and that is his key strength. He worked his way into the Indian team through his consistent performances, taking 90 wickets in his two first-class seasons. In the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh, he displayed his ability to destroy the top order. At 21, he should have a promising future provided he remains fit. 10. Vikram Singh Vikram Raj Singh has the second most impressive speed after Sharma with an average speed of 135 to 140kmph. His tall open chested bowling action has been very impressive in the five Test matches he has played so far. Singh was spotted by selectors during the EurAsia Cup in Abu Dhabi where he bowled well to take 11 wickets in four matches. Though he injured his landing foot and had to undergo rehabilitation, he is India's fastest improving pacer. With age on his side at 23, what Singh needs is exposure to some of the world's best batsmen to test his natural abilities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It is quite true that we have these many seamers present in India at the moment, but IMO, Balaji and Nehra are almost finished. Though we just can't be sure of anything in cricket, I don't see these two bowlers bowling for India in any format in the future. We have few bright prospects too and the main names in those are Vijay YoMahesh and Pradeep Sangwan. Both these bowlers have to work extremely hard to prepare themselves for future India caps though. Apart from these, we have Sidharth Trivedi and Ashok Dinda as well who can do an okay job in limited over matches. It'll be interesting to see hor they progress at the A level. Can you name few more? Have I missed anyone?

[Holysmoke]

You missed Gony. I also like the look of Dhawal Kulkarni.. but he has time... he needs to beef up/add pace. Talent is there.. And what about Agarkar?:haha:

[flamy]

The pacemen cometh By K.R. Nayar, Senior Reporter Published: June 20, 2008, 00:08 After years of relying on spinners to bring them victories, India suddenly have a band of fast bowlers ready to take on the world's best batsmen.. [snip] ..... 8. Ashish Nehra Nehra began as India's finest left-arm pacer, but is struggling to regain his place in the team today. With all the required qualities of a good bowler, Nehra's late inswingers were unplayable during the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa where he had most of the best of batsmen in trouble. However, despite being a hard worker, Nehra failed to maintain his fitness. Surgery to his ankle forced him to miss series and tours at a time when he had been showing his best. Nehra had the ability to run through any batting line-up. Unfortunately, he has not played Test cricket or ODIs since 2005, and at 29 it could be an uphill task to make it back into the Indian squad.

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite...... :hatsoff:

[printex]

and my dream of a white-wash win over pakistan in pakistan is a real possibility under Kumble in the up coming series against at arch-rivals...we can't let the chance go away...

Ind cudnt white wash Pak even at home on dust bowl pitches....

[Dravid]

Ind cudnt white wash Pak even at home on dust bowl pitches....

who took home the cup?

[Feed]

Is the fitness programme of bowlers faulty? More... Is the fitness programme faulty? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quality pacers shouldn’t be subjected to meaningless exercises, writes Makarand Waingankar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do the pace bowlers in India have frail bodies which can’t take the load of matches or is their fitness programme faulty? Old-timers feel workouts in the gymnasium have had adverse effect on the pacers. Their logic is that during their days there were no gymnasiums, but they forget that then there were no international quality pace bowlers in India either. The cricket structure has changed drastically and with the advent of Twenty20, no player can be hidden in the field. With the international cricket calendar packed, there is hardly any time for the pace bowlers to recover. In domestic cricket, they are required to run on hard grounds and bowl on docile pitches. This certainly affects their fitness level. Not many old-timers are willing to consider that the present generation began playing at the age of 10, unlike the cricketers from the 60s to 80s who were getting into inter-state competitions around the age of 15. Mistakes by parents Not knowing the consequences of playing too much cricket at the age of 10, the parents exacerbate the mistake by pushing children to get stronger either through drugs or doing weight-training. The BCCI seems to have studied the problems and has scrapped the under-15 category, replacing it with the under-16 category and an inter-school tournament to be held by each association. The domestic tournaments require a re-think if we want to keep quality pace bowlers from fatigue. Doing away with the Duleep Trophy could be the solution. From 2002, the format of the Duleep Trophy has been changed repeatedly to make it more interesting, but results have been negligible. Chance for hopefuls The tournament gives a few more opportunities to hopefuls to perform as the Indian selection process still relies on performances. There was a move to play the Duleep Trophy in the beginning of the season, but that wasn’t possible because the basis of selection is performance in the Ranji Trophy. A zonal team can only be picked on the basis of performances for the state. Also, the quota system in the zonal selection hasn’t changed. Sunil Gavaskar and Ashok Mankad, though the opening pair for the country, were dropped by the zonal selectors against the South Zone in 1974. Nothing seems to have changed. Less load If the Duleep Trophy is replaced with the Twenty20 inter-State tournament which didn’t have a slot last season, there will be less load on the pace bowlers. Not many are aware that the majority of the young pace bowlers are employed with the Public Sector Units (PSU) which not only demand participation in the tournaments that they play but also promote players directly based on their performances. In fact, when one of the India medium pace bowlers ignored the requirement of the PSU where he was employed, he was asked to resign. BCCI must ensure quality pace bowlers are not subjected to meaningless exercise in playing tournaments which are of little consequence. International matches are won by pace bowlers. We need to nurture them so that they can be effective when the team needs them.

[King]

Ideally about 5 overs is what is prescribed for young cricketers to bowl in a day. Anything more may mean overuse of bowling muscles resulting in injuries when they grow up. It is found that strength training for particular muscles don't really help cricket. Movement of body (biomechanics) is what should the bowlers be training. Weight training (with fairly small weights) when done right can help immensely but it has to be done under good supervision. Other than strength training, resistance training, yoga, pilates, medicine ball and gym ball training can help a growing bowler. As much as you practice bowling, you also need to work on physical conditioning involving a range of fitness training to be injury free in the long run. Of late the open chested front on bowling is being considered as less injury prone. Usually injuries are caused due to bad bowling actions and overuse. Bad bowling action can cause a lot of problems when a promising bowler grows up. The bowling biomechanics is one heck of a subject and cannot be explained in a single post. There's more to bowling and injury management than just reducing the work load or stopping training in the gym.

[The Outsider]

People get paid to write stuff like this? No chain of thought, no build up, no analysis, no conclusions!! Just some random one liners strung together - I have no idea what the writer's point is here.

[King]

People get paid to write stuff like this? No chain of thought' date=' no build up, no analysis, no conclusions!! Just some random one liners strung together - I have no idea what the writer's point is here.[/quote'] Some of the cricket writers are like that Shwetabh, they don't understand these technicalities but they hear a one liner and they come up with something to fill the column.

[The Outsider]

And as I criticize the writer, Ravi comes up with an excellent post covering more than the writer would have in 10 different "articles". Looking forward to your coaching blog, mate!

[Chandan]

Ideally about 5 overs is what is prescribed for young cricketers to bowl in a day. Anything more may mean overuse of bowling muscles resulting in injuries when they grow up. It is found that strength training for particular muscles don't really help cricket. Movement of body (biomechanics) is what should the bowlers be training. Weight training (with fairly small weights) when done right can help immensely but it has to be done under good supervision. Other than strength training, resistance training, yoga, pilates, medicine ball and gym ball training can help a growing bowler. As much as you practice bowling, you also need to work on physical conditioning involving a range of fitness training to be injury free in the long run. Of late the open chested front on bowling is being considered as less injury prone. Usually injuries are caused due to bad bowling actions and overuse. Bad bowling action can cause a lot of problems when a promising bowler grows up. The bowling biomechanics is one heck of a subject and cannot be explained in a single post. There's more to bowling and injury management than just reducing the work load or stopping training in the gym.

This was my point of posting the article. I was getting confused at what Waingankar was trying to convey. And doing away with Duleep trophy? One criticism we have of our domestic cricket is our players get to play just 6-7 Ranji matches every season. Few blessed ones get to play 2-3 more FC matches and the writer wants to remove that too? It is very strange. Secondly how is bowling at 10 years related to bowling in domestic cricket, ie, FC matches as well as one dayers and Twenty20s? I just failed to understand that and thought few knowledgeable ones will give their views! But one thing is certain. If a budding bowler is not guided at every step by good coaches, he'll become injury prone as most of the Indian bowlers are today. Does this show the failure of coaching at grass root level?

[theguyinallblue]

the problem with our grass root level coaching is that...coaches there are not qualified... any one who even played one Ranji match...can claim to be a batting coach..and start his school.. and not only junior level coaches...even coaches at Ranji level..i am sure would not know more about Body management and mechanics... Unless the coaches under go extensive training or unless there is specialized bowling coaches with extensive monitoring of work...injury..rehabilitation..there will be cases of injury prone bowlers.. and at young age of 14-15..kids don't know...how to go about in this regard... we need more MRF academies in all the mojor states to oversee the development of budding bowlers... and here BCCI should understand its responsibility and develop infrastructure for bowling..fielding ..in all the catchment areas..

[Feed]

NCA conducts correction camp for bowlers : Venugopal Rao in BCCI’s list of chuckers The BCCI's National Cricket Academy (NCA) has conducted a camp for 20 bowlers, who were identified with suspect action during the previous domestic season, and has handed over to the players and their state coaches individual reports on areas to focus on before the next season starts this year. More... Venugopal Rao in BCCI’s list of chuckers Amol Karhadkar, Hindustan Times Mumbai, July 15, 2008 First Published: 23:48 IST(15/7/2008) Last Updated: 00:05 IST(16/7/2008) Y. Venugopal Rao was one of the very few good men in Hyderabad's disastrous campaign in the inaugural Indian Premier League. While Hyderabad were about to end their forgettable stint in the tournament, Rao had a lot to ponder even beyond the IPL. The Andhra player, who led Maharashtra's Ranji Trophy campaign as a professional last season, featured in the list compiled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of 20 bowlers with a suspect action. As a result, the 26-year-old, whose off-spinners are useful especially in the shorter versions of the game, was asked to attend the three-week rectification camp for all the 20 bowlers that started at the end of the IPL. “Since the first stint was clashing with the IPL, he (Rao) was exempted from the camp,” BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said. “But he will have to get cleared by the NCA staff before the beginning of the next season.” Rao, however, had “no clue” that he had to visit the academy where his skills were groomed in the early days for the clearance. “But if I am told to be present there, I would be happy to be there anytime,” Rao told the HT on Tuesday evening. Rao was the only player in the list to have had a taste of international cricket. Interestingly though, the off-break bowler, who is primarily a middle order batsman, did not bowl a single delivery in the 16 one-dayers that he played for India. Meanwhile, the list of 20 bowlers - a copy of which is with HT - is expectedly dominated by off-spinners. It may be recalled that on February 6, HT had reported that the list of bowlers with suspect actions was being compiled and 13 bowlers had been identified till then. The bowlers, who were identified by former India captain and the head of BCCI's umpires' wing S Venkataraghavan, underwent a three-week rectification programme under the vigilant eyes of Venkataraghavan and NCA director Dav Whatmore. While some of the bowlers have been cleared, those who still needed assistance are currently stationed in Bangalore. Gujarat's Mohnish Parmar, whose bowling action resembles Muttiah Muralitharan's, was cleared before he was selected for India A's ongoing tour to Israel. The full list: Offspiner Y Venugopal Rao (Mah), Ankit Bawne (Mah), Mohnish Parmar (Guj), Hemal Watekar (And), Aditya Angle (Goa), Shivakant Shukla (UP), Charanjit Singh (Pun), Ashish Mohanty (Oris), Shamsher Singh (Raj), Kamlesh Makvana (Sau), Saurasish Lahiri (Beng), Priyankar Mukherjee (Beng), Jayanta Debnath (Tri) Mediumpace Amit Singh (Guj), Sumit Singh (Bar), Murtaza Ali (MP), Wahid Sayyed (Mah), Sankalp Vohra (Bar, left-arm) Left-arm spiner Ankur Kakkar (Punjab), Legspiner Rajesh Banik (Tri). From Cricinfo : July 16, 2008 The BCCI's National Cricket Academy (NCA) has conducted a camp for 20 bowlers, who were identified with suspect action during the previous domestic season, and has handed over to the players and their state coaches individual reports on areas to focus on before the next season starts this year. The NCA's expert team that worked with the bowlers included S Venkataraghavan, the former India captain and offspinner, Bharat Arun, the academy's bowling coach, and Javagal Srinath, the former India fast bowler, according to Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the Indian board. The players and the coaches will return to the NCA before the next domestic season for a follow-up, Shetty said. "During the off-season, a bunch of bowlers from across the country assembled at the NCA to undergo rectification in their bowling action, which was deemed to be suspect. The NCA's expert team worked individually with the 20 bowlers and each of them has been given a specific report [on areas] that he needs to work on before the domestic season begins," Shetty said. Most of the bowlers who were identified with suspect actions "were marginal cases, except for one or two," he said. "Along with the bowlers, their state coaches were present at the camp, too, as they are the ones who look after the boys for most of the year. The coaches, too, needed an understanding of what the experts suggested," Shetty said.

[diegovegaz]

agarkar must come back in the side though i used to hate him early on, but now i want him to play for india once again munaf hasn't been used since his stint with shane warne an attitude change has been observed in munaf rpsingh n zak should b used only for competitive teams sreeanth too should be used judiciously ishant is a very delicate prospect he must be handled with xtreme care praveen kumar, gony, irfan, should be used frequently nehra, balaji can be recalled though irfan has lost his bowling skills, he can be used when a premiere bowler is rested and yusuf pathan must be there to compensate for irfan's bowling someone has to score 80 runs in 10 overs, which irfan just gifts away i would want india to have a test only bowler, something like south africa's dale steyn

[Fontaine]

agarkar must come back in the side though i used to hate him early on, but now i want him to play for india once again

Why? He has no room for improvement and is far too inconsistent against good teams to merit any consideration. What has he done to earn a place in the side? Apart from your lesser hate for him of course.

munaf hasn't been used since his stint with shane warne an attitude change has been observed in munaf

Explain, do you have a link?

ishant is a very delicate prospect he must be handled with xtreme care

Ishant has probably bowled more overs for the international team in the last 7 months than any other Indian bowler, and yet is the least injured. I don't see where you base your judgement of Ishant being delicate?

praveen kumar, gony, irfan, should be used frequently nehra, balaji can be recalled though irfan has lost his bowling skills, he can be used when a premiere bowler is rested and yusuf pathan must be there to compensate for irfan's bowling someone has to score 80 runs in 10 overs, which irfan just gifts away i would want india to have a test only bowler, something like south africa's dale steyn

Sorry, I can't decipher the rest of this. Stuff doesn't make any sense.

[Guest Hiten.]

Why? He has no room for improvement and is far too inconsistent against good teams to merit any consideration. What has he done to earn a place in the side? Apart from your lesser hate for him of course.

Agarkar can be out best bet whenever we play (ODI's) in the subcontinent. ATM, we don't have any bowler who can act as workhorse on the flat pancakes of Asia. Agarkar's achievement has been underestimated and now he deserves a stint of (say atleast...) 6 months. I would think 3-4 times before picking him in the playing XI if India is not playing in the subcontinent, but I wouldn't think even once before including Aggy in playing XI in the subcontinent.

[Fontaine]

Agarkar can be out best bet whenever we play (ODI's) in the subcontinent. ATM' date=' we don't have any bowler who can act as workhorse on the flat pancakes of Asia. Agarkar's achievement has been underestimated and now he deserves a stint of (say atleast...) 6 months. I would think 3-4 times before picking him in the playing XI if India is not playing in the subcontinent, but I wouldn't think even once before including Aggy in playing XI in the subcontinent.[/quote'] A workhorse? Seriously man, if India need a 30 year old Agarkar to come back to the bowling side then the side is truely messed up. Unless you can point to some recent awe inspiring performances in the subcontinent by Agarkar then you're just living off the fumes of some nostalgic past that died years ago. At one time Agarkar had something, I agree with you, but given how we have so many young bowlers with great ability in Sharma, Sreesanth, Patel, RP, etc I would be loathed to give any ODI bowler a chance who's not going to be around for the next world cup, like agarkar.

[amits]

zaheer khan & sreesanth should be made test only bowlers in tests the bowlers should be zaheer, ishant, rp singh, pravin kumar, sreesanth in odis - ishant, rp singh, pravin kumar, sangwan, dinda goni is way too easy to be hit for 4s & 6s. got smashed for over 8 an over by bangladesh. and munaf has lost his pace

[msb1991]

i would want india to have a test only bowler' date=' something like south africa's dale steyn[/size']

Dale Steyn does not play in ODIs because he has been poor in the ODIs in which he has played so far. An average of 35.33 and economy rate of 5.52 is hardly worthy of a permanent place in a strong ODI team.

zaheer khan & sreesanth should be made test only bowlers

Why Sreesanth? He is young and a good ODI wicket taker with a strike rate under 30 in the past two years.

in tests the bowlers should be zaheer' date=' ishant, rp singh, pravin kumar, sreesanth[/quote'] Let's not jump the gun on Praveen Kumar, he is yet to prove potent with the old ball even in domestic cricket.

in odis - ishant' date=' rp singh, pravin kumar, sangwan, dinda[/quote'] You want only four pace bowlers to be India's ODI pool:omg:. Sangwan could not even take consistent wickets or keep the runs down in the U19 World Cup to play ODIs?! He is 17 and doesn't even have a whole season of domestic cricket behind him. Dinda has not even played one List A game and you want him to play ODIs:omg:.