Harsha Bhogle : Producing A Team That Can Win Away Has To Be A Major Priority

[kaptaan]

India return from South Africa with a mixed bag. The mini-series had its moments but it was clear which the better test team was and as always, it was the team that bowled better. South Africa will rejoice in the win, in the fitting send-off to one of the greatest cricketers of our times, Jacques Kallis, in the development of Faf du Plessis and the affirmation that Dale Steyn is the finest bowler in the world. Hopefully for them it will cause them to look at themselves with greater confidence and the belief that it should have been 2-0; that a phenomenal rearguard batting action was watered down by lack of self-belief at the end. So what does it mean for India? We learnt a bit about the batting; that there is grit to go with the talent, that at least three young batsmen in Pujara, Kohli and Rahane are ready to play overseas, that patience is not a forgotten virtue. Yes, we learnt a bit but I would loved another test to see if they could show resilience as the tide turned against them. It was folly to keep it to two tests, it was a mistake to let cricket suffer for a contest of another kind. Indian cricket would have benefited from another game. But it showed up India’s bowling weaknesses all over again. This is a nightmare that plays out in front of our eyes and we ignore it like we do the dream from last night. You could be forgiving and say that it was two bad innings versus one that was good and numerically, but also trivially, you wouldn’t be wrong. But the slide thereafter should be unnerving even accounting for the inexperience of two out of the four bowlers. I must admit I was very excited by the return of Zaheer Khan. And he showed why he can raise the bar for Indian bowling in the first innings at Johannesburg. But thereafter, India failed to convert a margin of 458 into victory and, had it not been for South African reluctance, should actually have conceded defeat. By Durban, just the second test, the sting in the seam attack was already gone. And Zaheer was no longer running in hard, in the field he was trotting after the ball. Maybe we need to space him out, maybe back to back tests are now beyond him, maybe he had to bowl too many overs in Johannesburg but it didn’t look good at all in Durban. And Ishant Sharma continues to do the bowling equivalent of a half century ever four innings to stay in the side. A career haul of under three wickets per test at an average that a batsman should contemplate cannot be sufficient to virtually guarantee a place. Playing for Delhi might have been the route to New Zealand, if at all, for when you bring a player back too quickly, you actually do him harm; you tell him that playing for your country is easy, you don’t allow him to seek higher goals. After more than fifty test matches, Ishant Sharma must realise that what he is now doing will never make him a top bowler and he must take a call on whether he is willing to do what it takes. India needs a match-winner while Mohd Shami develops and Ishant Sharma should have been that person but sadly isn’t. But there is a deeper issue that was highlighted by some of the pitches that were prepared for the last round of the Ranji Trophy. Poor tracks to win games is a short term, damaging decision. It means you are telling bowlers that pitches will take wickets for you and so we will produce limited bowlers who, when pitch plays accomplice look fine but are a bit marooned when, in a manner of speaking, subsidies are taken away. There is also the issue of fast bowlers which, like many political issues, stares at us and which we happily ignore. The two game changing bowlers in world cricket in 2013 were Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn. They don’t come everyday but they won’t come if you don’t create the environment for them either. Sanjay Manjrekar has a theory that seems more acceptable with every passing day; that India does not understand fast bowling and so cannot provide the right assistance to young kids who want to charge in. And so we produce line and length bowlers of amiable pace. For two years Wasim Akram kept saying that Mohd Shami should be picked. He has an interesting insight, as you might think he would! Wasim says pace cannot be taught, swing and seam can. So the search criterion has to be pace but we are a nation comfortable with medium pace bowlers! It doesn’t mean though that pace cannot be found. It is just a question of trying hard enough to find bowlers and then, creating the atmosphere for them to flourish in. And that is not just pitches, but coaches, physios and selectors who understand speed. And I am not sure the BCCI is doing enough here. If they are, it is invisible at the moment. Unless we are obsessed with producing match winning bowlers, we won’t produce them. But far too much time in the BCCI is spent in courts and fighting administrative fires. A corporation has to define its purpose and then be guided by it. It cannot have its energies spent, its resources wasted, in litigation, in flexing muscles, in courts. This is a moment in history where Indian cricket has so much going for it, and the BCCI can take some credit for it, but far too many opportunities are wasted in chasing other priorities. Producing a team that can win away is a major priority. India have lost 9 out of the last 10 tests (I will insist it should have been 10 out 10!) in three different countries. That is a greater worry than a diminishing bottom line in a balance sheet. Umesh Yadav not playing, Munaf Patel disintegrating, Irfan Pathan vanishing, Sreesanth lost…these should be greater concerns than fighting for state associations to be put in their place or ensuring there are enough proxy votes. Our choices determine our outcomes and if India’s batting flourishes overseas, it might cover up cracks but till India makes it a priority to produce bowlers who can win matches, India will never be a major strength overseas.

http://www.starsports.com/cricket/columns/columnist=126/articleid=1299246/index.html#producing-team-that-can-win-away-has-major-priority-for-bcci

[kaptaan]

PACE OFF: INDIA ON ANOTHER OVERSEAS TOUR WITHOUT A BOWLING ARSENAL THAT CAN RETALIATEWhile subtlety is a wonderful aspect of sport, and deception and guile bring a smile to the lips, fear is quite a different, dare I say more decisive, weapon altogether. I had seen Shane Shillingford, Ravi Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha work on a batsman’s indecision, luring him towards temptation and that was fun to watch. But to see Mitchell Johnson charge in, to see fear in the England batsmen is just so raw, so unequal. You can withstand subtlety and temptation with determination and self-control but when you are afraid, what do you call upon? Singlehandedly he has changed the course of the Ashes and I say that carefully. Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke and David Warner have made runs but without the fury of Johnson, I believe those runs would have been countered. And when a fast bowler runs through a side, it is like a boxer landing a couple on the chin; everything about the opposition starts to stutter and maybe that is why batsmen tend to find form when the bowlers are demolishing the opposition! Ryan Harris slogs a quick fifty for example. Or George Bailey hits an invisible half-century. With Johnson, it was always about rhythm. You might say that is true of all fast bowling (the great Michael Holding said he bowled at his quickest when he wasn’t trying to!) and I often wonder if rhythm comes from a settled mind and a conducive body or whether there are deeper causes. But to see Johnson bowl this summer in the IPL was an eye-opener and there is little doubt in my mind that he was the key to the success of the Mumbai Indians. By bowling three overs, fast, at the start he allowed them to bowl Lasith Malinga where they most liked him to bowl; at the death. To give credit to Johnson’s renaissance to the IPL would be grossly self-indulgent but sometimes a change of environment just settles the nerves. Whatever it was, Johnson has provided us with one of the great sights of 2013.If he can retain that going into 2014 and to South Africa, we will have the greatest fast bowler of modern times, Dale Steyn, arrayed against him and that will be an encounter to arouse the most gladiatorial instincts in cricket. Will South Africa throw up the kind of surface they did at the Wanderers against India aware that Johnson will be charging in to thump the ball on it? Will they back their batsmen to counter him and provide something for Steyn and Morkel? It will be a good series but I am not sure the ball will be flying by the batsman’s nose! It was an easier decision for South Africa against India, aware as they were that there was no one remotely close to Steyn within the opposition. And his first spell was cricket of the highest class. In doing so he told the world yet again, and the opposition in particular, that great teams can only address themselves so if they have incisive bowling attacks. It is something that I suspect India haven’t thought about consistently. Or maybe, India just do not have the know-how to produce fast bowling. In the last few years the odd bowler has come up; more swing than pace admittedly but capable of delivering in overseas conditions. But like the flowers of the evening, they haven’t been around when the sun rose again. RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma (now he has been around but you know what I mean!), Praveen Kumar and the most gifted of them all, Sreesanth. But they either dropped pace, or fitness, or equilibrium and so, India go on yet another overseas jamboree without an arsenal that can retaliate. There is potential in Umesh Yadav and most certainly in Mohd Shami but the mind always puts caution ahead of optimism. Indeed, Pakistan have shown that if you have a strong bowling line-up it can occasionally overcome inconsistent batting. But batting can only overcome indifferent bowling in limited overs cricket. And even that, not every day! India will always produce spinners, some better than others. Post Kumble and Harbhajan, Ojha and Ashwin have got to a hundred wickets as quickly. But to win overseas, you need pace; maybe not a tearaway Johnson or a thoroughbred Steyn, but at least someone who will cause the opposition to wonder what kind of surface to offer. If Johnson stays fit, you know what to expect at Perth. And beyond!

http://www.starsports.com/cricket/columns/columnist=126/articleid=1296064/index.html#pace-off-india-another-overseas-tour-without-bowling-arsenal-that-can-retaliate

[Soorma_Bhopali]

http://www.starsports.com/cricket/columns/columnist=126/articleid=1299246/index.html#producing-team-that-can-win-away-has-major-priority-for-bcci

At last , a leading Indian sports commentator has written something which is being observed for a decade but the home victories , where pacers are glorified ball shiners only ,pepper over these deficiencies ..BCCI and selectors must pay heed ot these

[putrevus]

It is idiotic of these media fellows to put the blame on BCCI, has BCCI told Ishant Sharma whom they invested so much on to stink for ever. Have they asked bowling coaches to stop working on this guy.How is BCCI responsible for Zak not able to bowl in two consecutive tests.The very fact that this guy could walk into test eleven is a testament of lack of options. BCCI has done its best to provides these fricking players with all the facilities and A tours so that they can get used overseas conditions. This notion that BCCI president needs to know the how pace bowling works is ridiculous or he should stop his legal battles just to find fast bowlers.There is something called delegation of powers.It has delegated selectors to find bowlers and coaches to coach them.

[Soorma_Bhopali]

http://www.starsports.com/cricket/columns/columnist=126/articleid=1299246/index.html#producing-team-that-can-win-away-has-major-priority-for-bcci

At last , a leading Indian sports commentator has written something which is being observed for a decade but the home victories , where pacers are glorified ball shiners only ,pepper over these deficiencies ..BCCI and selectors must pay heed to these:icflove:

[vvvslaxman]

Harsha is a visitor of ICF i suspect. So all your grievances will fall on BCCI ears through him. It is another matter whether BCCI will do anything about it.

[express bowling]

A wonderful article by Harsha Bhogle. He has pointed out all those things that fans are constantly talking about but , surprisingly, cricket experts or prominent media personalities never bring up. :hatsoff:

[vvvslaxman]

There is no real proactive, aggressive approach to unearth pacers. No other country would have allowed a guy like Ishant sharma to play this many matches.

[putrevus]

Harsha is a visitor of ICF i suspect. So all your grievances will fall on BCCI ears through him. It is another matter whether BCCI will do anything about it.

what is BCCI supposed to do, how are they suppose to unearth fast bowlers. They are giving these guys every opportunity to succeed and yet these guys once they reach Indian team are regressing in half a season. Dhoni has all the backing in world and is highly successful as a captain and yet he has always at least in public wanted and backed bowlers he thought offered him more control than the raw pace. We need a captain to come out in public and say that he wants his fast bowlers to bowl fast and not worry about anything else anyone compromising on speed will not be tolerated. They need fast bowling culture and that has to come from the captain.

[express bowling]

There is no real proactive' date=' aggressive approach to unearth pacers. No other country would have allowed a guy like Ishant sharma to play this many matches.[/quote'] Tremendous incentives should be offered to anybody who can identify a genuine pacer and the whole country, villages in particular, should be turned upside down in search of good pace talent. BCCI has the means. Then they need to be developed and groomed. Looked after throughout their career. This is not happening in a systematic manner. The intent to unearth good, wicket taking pacers at all costs is missing.

[vvvslaxman]

what is BCCI supposed to do, how are they suppose to unearth fast bowlers. They are giving these guys every opportunity to succeed and yet these guys once they reach Indian team are regressing in half a season. Dhoni has all the backing in world and is highly successful as a captain and yet he has always at least in public wanted and backed bowlers he thought offered him more control than the raw pace. We need a captain to come out in public and say that he wants his fast bowlers to bowl fast and not worry about anything else anyone compromising on speed will not be tolerated. They need fast bowling culture and that has to come from the captain.

Not knowing which guy should go be given a long rope is either ignorance or favoritism.

[Raghav_12]

80% of the cricket is played at home or home-like situations. Why doing good in just 20% matches should be our top priority.

[express bowling]

what is BCCI supposed to do, how are they suppose to unearth fast bowlers. They are giving these guys every opportunity to succeed and yet these guys once they reach Indian team are regressing in half a season. Dhoni has all the backing in world and is highly successful as a captain and yet he has always at least in public wanted and backed bowlers he thought offered him more control than the raw pace. We need a captain to come out in public and say that he wants his fast bowlers to bowl fast and not worry about anything else anyone compromising on speed will not be tolerated. They need fast bowling culture and that has to come from the captain.

Are you joking ? What can BCCI do ? Everything that happens in Indian cricket, to the minutest point, is controlled by the BCCI. This includes Dhoni remaining captain, Ishant playing with an average of 38 etc. A lot of effort can be put in searching new pace talent from every nook and craney of the country. Only BCCI has the means. Then comes developing pacers at every stage and preparing coaches to do so The pitches in domestic matches are too flat in most cases. Very little effort has been put in to develop sporting pitches. Maintaining international talent is another important issue. All this requires massive infrastructure and a very professional system to develop pacers. Is BCCI providing this ?

[putrevus]

Not knowing which guy should go be given a long rope is either ignorance or favoritism.

I believe it is the captain who plays a vital role in development of fast bowlers and Dhoni has no clue what so ever. Dhobi lost all his credibility as a captain the way he approached the fourth innings of first test.It again reinforced how horrible he is in having a game plan and executing it. The biggest blame which can be placed on BCCI is continuing Dhobi as captain but in their defense which Indian captain has handled fast bowlers well.

[express bowling]

80% of the cricket is played at home or home-like situations. Why doing good in just 20% matches should be our top priority.

The pedigree of a team is judged by their ability to win test series abroad and winning the ODI World cup. That's why . Also, doing well in home conditions comes naturally to any decent team and requires less focus. 50% of matches are played away from home. Among 9 other test teams , 3 are from the subcontinent. So , we play 33% of our games outside the subcontinent.

[vvvslaxman]

I believe it is the captain who plays a vital role in development of fast bowlers and Dhoni has no clue what so ever. Dhobi lost all his credibility as a captain the way he approached the fourth innings of first test.It again reinforced how horrible he is in having a game plan and executing it. The biggest blame which can be placed on BCCI is continuing Dhobi as captain but in their defense which Indian captain has handled fast bowlers well.

Definitely the defensive reason for not taking new ball was really bizzarre.

[King Tendulkar]

Harsha is a visitor of ICF i suspect. So all your grievances will fall on BCCI ears through him. It is another matter whether BCCI will do anything about it.

I was thinking that:cantstop: Frankly when we leave out our fastest bowler it shows what a poor mentality we have I kid you not. If Yadav was a pak(or any other nation frankly) he would be one of first names on team sheet. And they would singing from roof tops that have a bowler who bowls 90mph and would be demansing he bowls quick and attacks. What do we do? Treat him like dirt, drop him, dont play him, toally demoralise and confuse him

[putrevus]

Are you joking ? What can BCCI do ? Everything that happens in Indian cricket, to the minutest point, is controlled by the BCCI. This includes Dhoni remaining captain, Ishant playing with an average of 38 etc. A lot of effort can be put in searching new pace talent from every nook and craney of the country. Only BCCI has the means. Then comes developing pacers at every stage and preparing coaches to do so The pitches in domestic matches are too flat in most cases. Very little effort has been put in to develop sporting pitches. Maintaining international talent is another important issue. All this requires massive infrastructure and a very professional system to develop pacers. Is BCCI providing this ?

why do you think it is not doing that, it is having NCA and see the Quotes of Varun Aaron how he was looked after his back surgery and how much support he got from BCCI. Why heck do you think it is paying foreign coaches for, they are not chopping and changing coaches at the drop of hat like Pakistanis, they are giving both captain and coach time to implement their views which is not a bad thing . The biggest problem in Indian cricket till Ganguly was constant captaincy change due to politics.Captains were changed almost series wise, nothing good is going to come out from it. They have MRF academy also , I dont know what else you need, fast bowlers don't grow on trees and in India we never had that culture. Indian play most no of A tours and under 19 cricket is a very big deal what more you want from BCCI. Continuing with Dhoni is one wrong they are doing I agree but if you view from selectors and BCCI angle this fellow Dhobi has won everything not just for Team India but also for his IPL team so this fellow is doing something right so they are reluctant to change that fellow.

[express bowling]

I was thinking that:cantstop: Frankly when we leave out our fastest bowler it shows what a poor mentality we have I kid you not. If Yadav was a pak(or any other nation frankly) he would be one of first names on team sheet. And they would singing from roof tops that have a bowler who bowls 90mph and would be demansing he bowls quick and attacks. What do we do? Treat him like dirt, drop him, dont play him, toally demoralise and confuse him

What do we do ? Our captain, upon his arrival to South Africa, announces that as we do not have any bowler who can bowl 145 k or 150 k, we can forget about pace and bounce. Did he forgot about Umesh or was he trying to tell him that you are not in my scheme of things ? It was a ridiculous and demeaning statement which speaks about his intent. Infact, even Shami can bowl 145 k. Most captains would have promoted the presence of two 140 k+ bowlers in their attack if they had Umesh and Shami.

[The Outsider]

50% of matches are played away from home. Among 9 other test teams , 3 are from the subcontinent. So , we play 33% of our games outside the subcontinent.

One of them is Zimbabwe. WI and NZ are pretty weak, so it's possible to win there even without fast bowlers. Pitches in WI favor spinners as well. That just leaves 3 countries - why bother?