Kingston: India's first series win of note outside the sub-continent in 20 years — the win against Zimbabwe in 2005, while important, can't be slotted in the same category — was achieved on the back of some very good seam and swing bowling in conditions that weren't always the most amenable.

With the combined experience of four Tests going into the first game at Antigua, Munaf Patel and S. Sreesanth, would have given few West Indian batsmen much to ponder over their `ackee and saltfish' or `roti and jerk chicken', depending on which island they come from. Things were to change.

And change enough to cause men of poise, reason, and knowledge such as Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid, Ian Bishop, and Brian Lara to aver that here was promise, potential, perhaps even the whiff of something that could, with time, turn special.

Main strike weapon

In a little over a month, Munaf has evolved into Rahul Dravid's main knife-thrust, a fast bowler about whom Ramnaresh Sarwan said: "if allowed to bowl successive deliveries at you, he will usually get the better of you," a man who ended the four-Test series with 14 wickets. Sreesanth's progress wasn't as smooth as his opening bowling mate's. But, he did pupate two special deliveries — one that snorted off a length at Lara and an outswinging yorker to Daren Ganga — and did get the dangerous Chris Gayle for a pair at Sabina Park.

Besides breaking open the first Test just before lunch by dismissing Sarwan and Lara for one run between them.

"That's the biggest learning experience of the tour for me — being patient," Sreesanth told The Hindu. "You might bowl a great spell and not get any wickets. And suddenly you get two. I always run in believing I can take a wicket with that ball, but cricket is a game of percentages. You've got to be patient."

Talk inevitably turns to his partner in crime, both drawn from non-traditional cricket centres: Munaf, 22, from Ikhar, Gujarat, and Sreesanth, 23, born in Kothamangalam, Kerala. Tango and Cash were more alike! While all Munaf lets on is the half-tea-pot with hand and hip, Sreesanth goes through a theatrical `Kathakaliesque' routine.

"We were at the MRF Pace Foundation together where we got very close," says Sreesanth. "We would go for movies and dinner together. It was the first time I had seen anyone bowl so fast with the batsmen running away. We used to tell each other that we would both play one day for India.

"Even when I was out of contention, nowhere in the picture with an injury, I used to call him and say, `Muna don't let this chance go', when he was getting in contention. I keep joking that we are Jeff Thomson and Denis Lillee.

Chalk and cheese

"Munaf keeps it very simple; you know how Munaf is, he is very simple. Whereas I tend to complicate it. I look at a batsman, look at videos, and plan on paper how I will get him out. I sometimes over-complicate it — that's where Munaf helps me.

"For example, Brian Lara — I just bowled full to him outside off stump, trying to shape it in a little bit, which is what I naturally do. I hold it on the seam — I don't go cross seam to make it go straight — and sometimes by God's grace one just straightens, and can surprise him. Simple."

Munaf hits the deck, and skids on with his round-arm delivery style. He can ping it in to disconcert as well, though he tends to throttle back on pace through a day, he can hit the mid-140 kmphs, and sustain it for a spell.

Despite his arm being lower than convention — it helps him with pace though — his six-foot-three inch frame ensures bounce isn't a commodity beyond him.

Sreesanth's jump at delivery suggests he can hit the track if needed; he tends to bowl fuller. "I wouldn't call myself a swing bowler, but I move it away in the range of 135-140 kmph. That is the range when it moves at pace."

If the two can keep their minds and bodies in order, India, will be well-served abroad.

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