Not long ago, India bowling coach Bharat Arun, with captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, had developed a potent pack of match-winning fast bowlers — Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Siraj. They helped battle fire with fire against the biggest of opponents — Australia, England and South Africa.
With the rare ability to take the pitch and conditions out of the equation, the pace group could consistently take 20 wickets.
Bumrah is fit and firing, Shami and Yadav are out of favour as they reach the end of their careers while Siraj, very much in the mix, has battled issues with his form.
This is a period of struggle for the Indian teams. In their last Test in Sri Lanka, the inability of the pacers to take the conditions out of the equation was glaring. On a fifth day Sinhalese Sports Club pitch, there was no reverse swing or awkward bounce as Sonal Dinusha with the lower order demoralised the Indian bowlers by holding out the entire day to force a draw.
The pacers have also struggled in the ongoing white balls series against West Indies. With the ICC ODI World Cup in southern Africa next season, teams with good pace units are likely to have an advantage.
As the Ranji Trophy kicks off on Sunday, finding speedsters with potential will be high on the India think tank’s wishlist, those who can add teeth to the Test and white-ball bowling attacks.
Looking at the hammering the bowlers have received against West Indies, former India pacer and selector, Madan Lal, feels the overall quality of bowlers has dipped, blaming it on the influence of T20 cricket, which is tailor-made for batters.
“As it is with T20 cricket the quality of bowlers has gone down. Even the West Indies bowlers are bowling at 130kph, the odd ball is at 140,” says Lal. “Test matches are tough work, a bowler sends down 25-30 overs to get three-four wickets. If a bowler takes four wickets in 10 overs means he is going to win the game for the team.”
The success of the previous batch acting as a catalyst to spark a pace revolution hasn’t really materialised. In between, IPL saw tearaways Umran Malik and Mayank Yadav touch 150kph, but their careers have not taken off due to fitness and form issues.
The BCCI is seized of the problem. Apart from looking at fresh talent, its Center of Excellence in Bengaluru is looking to build the pace pool. Mukesh Choudhary, Mohsin Khan, Karthik Tyagi, Praful Hinge and Nachiket Bhute are being monitored by CoE’s pace unit. The result was seen in the Irani Cup where Choudhary picked five wickets in the first innings in the win over Ranji champions Jammu and Kashmir. But India need more speedsters from the premier red-ball tournament.
“If you look at the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Dale Steyn, Brett Lee, or any fast bowler who has gone above 400 wickets, they all moved the ball. This is missing,” said a seasoned former BCCI bowling coach who didn’t wish to be named.
This is likely to be the challenge for the national selectors this season. Former India pacer Subroto Banerjee, who watched many Ranji games in his recent three-year tenure as a selector, said the panel looks for bowlers who do well in tough conditions.
“You can only take bowlers who can have an impact and those who have the potential to serve for five years. The bowler has to clock at least 135kph-plus so that the batter has less time to decide where to play. At international level, the batters are used to 150. If you bowl at 130, he has a lot of time,” says Banerjee, among the initial batch that trained under Australia fast bowling guru Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation.
Those bowling well on tracks that don’t really aid pacers get noticed. “If in Ranji there are three or four good pitches, in Test cricket nine pitches will challenge you. So, do you have the ability to raise the quality of bowling?” says Banerjee.
“I used to look at the consistency of a bowler, and how many top order wickets he is taking,” he says.
Most pacers focus on taking wickets besides the tactical bowling backed by field placements. For the former BCCI bowling coach, the intent to bowl fast was a key differentiator.
“Fair wickets are needed. On flat pitches, they tend to bowl hard lengths as they are trying to save runs rather than take wickets. It becomes difficult to develop fast bowlers with that mentality. I am saying it (pitch) should be fair — good, hard bouncy pitches which support fast bowlers also. That is very important.”
