Faster they come, faster they go = Indian 'Pace' Battery

[Guest Hiten.]

NEW DELHI, December 8: It was just waiting to happen," he says with a conviction in his voice that grips you. In most cases he is a pessimist, but this time around this member of Indian cricket team's think-tank had no sense of triumph at being proved right. He was just worried that his worst fears have come true. The tinge of sadness was natural because India's best chance of remotely thinking of even springing a surprise in Australia in the four-Test series beginning later this month has just been blown away in one go. The reason: India's first choice pace bowlers are injured making them more than just doubtful starters ten days before they will be boarding the flight to Australia. India's big dream of finally putting together a pace attack of note has been blown to pieces. The dream which began some five years ago with Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, was taken forward by L Balaji and Irfan Pathan and was further firmed up when Sree Santh, RP Singh and Munaf Patel promised that much extra as India counted its pace bowling riches. But as 2007 draws to a close it's back to square one for India as almost all its pace bowlers are in the sick bay waiting for a doctor's appointment. The cupboard's suddenly bare and the question in everybody's mind is where is India going to find somebody to operate the new ball? The real problem, according to this key member of Indian think-tank, is the fact that the decision makers at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) never really applied their minds while planning schedules. "It's just too much cricket. The board was just not bothered as they kept organising meaningless One-day games. The BCCI puts the blame on ICC, but don't we have control on off-shore games and number of matches in a bilateral series. Look at the Aussies. They do it so smartly and will be fresh when they play us," this member rues. "The result is that fast bowlers have become the first casualties. They burn out because they bowl so much more at every level. There are no gaps between any two series, a fortnight's rest is a must for bowlers especially to recover from one series. But who cares about that? No cricketer's view is asked when the schedules are drawn," adds this source. The BCCI's response to these cries is simple: rotate the players. But do we really have enough muscle in domestic cricket to push players through? "No, we don't. Because the quality of domestic cricket is really poor. But then, again the bowlers will be tested only if you have them playing the best. And the best are only playing for India all the time. That's not the case in Australia. So they have high standards," complains another member of the think-tank. The other problem, if you believe the buzz, is that the bowlers too are to be blamed to some extent. It is learnt that pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, for instance, was offered a chance to rest from some of the One-day games against Australia and Pakistan. But Zaheer turned it down because he believes the more he bowls the better rhythm he is in. So, it's a circle really leading to the same problem: breakdown of fast bowlers. What follows next is injury management, but here again sports science is a relatively new stream in India. No wonder, most of the injured bowlers complain of poor detection and treatment. "Shaun Tait, Glen McGrath and others have similar injuries but they come back in five months. For us there is no one to take care after we are out. Treatment is also very poor leading to longer rehabs," complains a bowler who till recently was India's biggest hope. The best solution to avoid future crisis would be to put all the prospective bowling stars in one centre like the National Cricket Academy (NCA), to train and expose them to the best possible expertise. But the NCA at Bangalore is also just about springing back to life now. Here again we may have just got the right men in the wrong places. While NCA's director of operations Dav Whatmore was ideally suited to coach the national side, India's next guru Gary Kirsten would have been perfect at the finishing school. There is also a need for a full-time bowling coach at the NCA who is likely to come soon, or else talents will just keep slipping away. Source : TOI Finally a better read on TOI.

[Chaos]

blue please dont add different color shades man lol

[Guest Hiten.]

blue please dont add different color shades man lol

saaale... i am pointing out important stuff, unless you wanna read the whole article :cantstop::finger: