What is it with Indian "fast" bowlers?

By Rajadhyax

Former Pakistan pace man and now a cricket commentator, Wasim Akram got it absolutely right. Taking Ishant Sharma as the latest example he stated that Indian fast bowlers come into the international arena with fire and genuine pace but by the end of their first international season their pace dwindles. Ishant struck the international scene with pace that consistently reached over 145 km/h and now trundles in the 120s, reaching a high of 136-137 sometimes.

Gone are the days when India could not get a genuine fast bowler. Now we get a regular crop of young guns reaching the middle 140s – of course a tear-away guy going beyond 150 km/h is still awaited. But the problem being that once they come into Tests and ODI scene, they focus exclusively on line and length by sacrificing their speed, feels Akram. I completely agree with him, but would like to add some more of analysis. For some readers who may be uninitiated, guys bowling at speeds from about 140 km/h upwards are considered to be true fast bowlers. 150 and above makes you an express bowler. Anything below 140 must hence be considered a medium-fast bowler. The slow-medium kinds go below the 130 mark.

Pace bowlers create fear in the mind of a batsman more by their pace and bounce than the movement of the ball. Medium pace bowlers are feared for their movement in the air and off the pitch; they are not known for lethal bounce or pace. Batting against a medium pace bowler you are scared more of losing your wicket but against a genuine fast bowler you are scared of both, losing your wicket as well as physical injury. Lower order batsmen lose their wicket more to avoid the risk of a bad injury against them. Effectively, both can be dangerous but the true pace bowler is lethal even in batsman friendly conditions while the medium pace bowler often depends on the natural conditions to support him in taking wickets. Hence if a team has one tear-away bowler, like Bret Lee or Shoaib Akhtar, then the team can afford to harbour medium pace bowlers. Such variation of speeds in your bowling line-up can be disconcerting for the batting side. In fact, at times the medium pace bowlers may pick up more wickets since the batsmen cannot hit against the speedsters and take risks against the other bowlers.

Since the days of Salil Ankola and J. Srinath, India has been blessed with a stream of players consistently hitting the 140 km/h mark. The MRF Pace Foundation has a lot to do with this development. State associations have put their best foot forward in encouraging budding talent. Right now among the Ranji Trophy teams there is a clutch of five to six bowlers who bowl serious pace. They are young and eager and willing to bend their backs. But if they hit the international jackpot will they also come down like the Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel brigade or will they develop into Peter Siddles and Dale Styns of India? That is the million rupee question!

Indian pace bowlers do not come down in pace simply due to the needs of international cricket but there are other more complex reasons for this as well. Coaches / captains who force bowlers to focus on line, length and movement rather than raw pace are more in numbers. They pressurise young bowlers to scale down the pace.

Indian muscle fibre, food habits, ‘built’ and genetic structure is not the most conducive for bowling over 140 km/h for a career spanning nine and ten years. To elongate the careers, bowlers knowingly or unknowingly run in slower, conserve energy and lose pace. Indian cricket culture also encourages a lot of defensive tactics. So sometimes even before hitting international circuit, bowlers cut down on the pace factor.

Bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev have never been express-speed bowlers and have yet picked up scores of wickets in Test cricket. So this article does not seek to suggest that only tear-away speedsters pick wickets. But it is true that the bowling combination gets more teeth with at least one bowler clocking over 150 km/h. Putting tail enders back in pavilion also becomes easier. Plus, getting twenty wickets on a flat deck is not possible with trundlers. That is where guys like Venkatesh Prasad and Karsan Ghavri of yore or Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan of present fail.

I think we need more coaches and captains who will tell young speedsters to bowl at high speeds…. it does not matter if a few fly away from the stumps. Physio-therapists must follow suit and develop routines to make them stronger. Strength training right from 15 years of age is advisable. Diet regimen must be given in close consultation with nutritionists. And very importantly coaches need to concentrate on the bowlers’ attitude. Tell the guys that it’s quite alright to be aggressive on the field and they must back themselves with all the speed that they can bowl.