THE RECURRING ‘F’ IN TEAM INDIA’s REPORT CARD

THE RECURRING ‘F’ IN TEAM INDIA’s REPORT CARD

Imagine an old bridge with wooden planks, stranded on loose ropes and is the only passage from one dangerous point on a mountain to another. Apparently this is the path walked by every Indian pace bowler to remain in the team, each time they step on the field. The unstable fast bowling department of India has been scrutinised now and then for its inconsistency and this is one of the major concerns for the current World Champions, who will be defending their title next year at Australia & New Zealand, where the wickets support pace and bounce more than anywhere else in the world.

MS Dhoni at the press conference after losing the 4th ODI and the series to New Zealand, lashed out at the fast bowlers for under performing. When facilities such as the National Cricket Academy and MRF Pace Foundation are here in the country, What is the reason for these fast bowlers to be ineffective most of the time?

Growing up as a cricketer in India, the one thing that I had to accept was that bowlers were given less importance than the batsmen. This approach where a particular discipline is preferred over the others was etched into the brains of every person involved with this game and is still is. This has given rise to pitches that are batsman friendly and run yielding. The flat wickets that are provided for the local and domestic matches in India are a nightmare for the bowlers, especially fast bowlers. The over abundance of such ‘paata’ wickets (as we call ‘flat’ wickets in cricket slang) all around India has put the fast bowlers here in the defensive mode. Discouraging fast bowling at the grass root level, a bowler when enters the MRF pace foundation or NCA and starts working under giants like McGrath and Lillie, has already developed a style of bowling that will save him from getting thrashed at the wickets available in India. These bowlers when play for India and tour abroad, take time to adapt to the bounce and pace. The shift from defines to attack outside India, makes it hard for them to adjust and just as they are in India on flat wickets, our bowlers look perplexed on pace helping wickets as well.

Let’s talk about the current Indian team now,  

After losing consecutive series in South Africa and now in New Zealand, the Indian team seems to be in disarray mainly because of their weak pace attack that leaks too many runs and fails to curb the same during the death. Ishant Sharma, Jaidev Unadkad, Mohit Sharma, R.Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Zaheer Khan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohd. Shami and Ishwar Pandey are the 10 quick bowlers who are currently being shuffled in and out of the team to find the best possible combination for the future. Apart from Bhuvaneshwar and Shami, everyone else have been out of the team more than they have been in. 

Injuries, inconsistency and the gradual loss of pace are some of the main dispositions of these pace bowlers. Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Zaheer Khan are prone to injuries more than the others in the lot. Vinay Kumar started off his career well but his sporadic phases of good form showed him the door quite often. Ishant Sharma has been under the scanner for a long time now, after an abysmal series against Australia he was excluded from the team for the West Indies series but call it his lucky stars, the fast South African wickets required a bowler who can utilise the bounce that was there to be exploited, so a tall Ishant Sharma was the only option left for Team India. He did prove his worth there in the 3rd ODI but his performance in New Zealand will again allow experts around the world to criticise his monotonous bowling. Mohit Sharma is fairly new to the team, though his lack of inexperience at the domestic level was conspicuous at the international level, his initial inclusion into the team was aided by his performance at the IPL last year but exposing a young fast bowler without any experience back fired for him. Jaidev Unadkad has been impressive on the domestic circuit, the left arm fast bowler is quick and has the ability to tie down a batsman, but has squandered the few chances that he has got at the international level and will have to work on his skill when it comes to the bigger level. Ishwar Pandey has been around the domestic circuit for a while and is yet to be tried at the international level.

The two prospects of Indian bowling, Mohd. Shami and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar are currently the ones which stand out from the above lot. Bhuvaneshwar has the ability to swing the ball both ways. Though he becomes ineffective during the death, the introduction of a new ball from both the ends in ODI cricket allows him to take advantage of his strength more. Mohd. Shami on the other hand is a great find for India. He is probably the only fast bowler from the current group who can reverse the ball in death overs. His exceptional ability to swing the ball in sharply into the bowler has been very effective and he is being rewarded for the same as well. Though Zaheer Khan is another bowler who can bowl well in death but his woes with injuries and loss of pace has waned his importance in the team.

Indian fast bowlers have shown a bit of hope, but that hope has never lasted for too long. India, if not no.1, is currently dominating the world cricket in all three formats (in top three) and the predictability shown by these fast bowlers has been a matter of concern for them. If we analyse the report card of Indian team, the only subject that brings the percentage down is this, the recurring ‘F’ in India’s bag.