The Hindu : Sport : India needs to re-work its bowling attack

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 01, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

India needs to re-work its bowling attack

S. Dinakar

The attack came up short against a powerful Australian line-up

The Indians are unlikely to deviate from the five-bowler theory
The think-tank is bound to explore the possibility of playing two spinners

Bangalore: Paradoxically, bowlers could hold the key in a one-day series likely to be dominated by batsmen. Amidst the big blows, the difference between the two sides could be one precise spell.

On the evidence of Saturday’s play at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here, India needs to re-work the composition of its attack.

Save the early breakthroughs, the home bowling came up short against a powerful Australian line-up in the first Future Cup ODI.

India played four specialist bowlers and all-rounder Irfan Pathan. Three of the bowlers were left-arm pacemen, with S. Sreesanth’s right-arm pace and Ramesh Powar’s off-spin providing the variety.

When probed about the monotony of three left-arm pacemen in the attack, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni pointed out that Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh were different.

“R.P. Singh brings the ball into the right-hander, while Zaheer essentially takes it away,” said Dhoni.

The skipper was mostly right although Zaheer can straighten the delivery into the right-hander. The talented R.P. Singh can nip it back sharply.

Special ability

However, this special ability also lands R.P. Singh in trouble on occasions.

On the days he is humming, the left-armer gets the ball to swing in from just around the off-stump.

And on those periods when he is searching for rhythm, his swing begins from the middle stump and is easy picking for the right-hander on the leg-side.

The Indians are unlikely to deviate from the five-bowler theory, particularly since the pitches are likely to assist strokeplay.

Here, the non-regular bowlers could be fodder for batsmen. In any event, an additional batsman might not be required on these flat tracks.

But then, the think-tank has problems. Zaheer and Sreesanth form a left-right pair of contrasts and can strike with the new ball. However, once the shine and the early assistance from the surface disappear, the Indian pacemen struggle.

Skipper Dhoni admitted this much. On seaming tracks, the Indian pacemen hit the right areas. On tracks that offer little, they are unable to extract life.

Greater air speed

The answers lies in greater air speed and swing from a fullish length; after the initial phase, the length balls are likely to get clobbered on the sub-continental tracks. And the slower ball has been overdone and its importance exaggerated.

Strangely, the Indian pacemen who unleashed probing yorkers in the past — Zaheer, Munaf Patel and Ajit Agarkar — appear to have lost the art.

Munaf and Agarkar are not a part of the current side for varying reasons.

And Zaheer’s strengths are different from the time he began his Test journey.

Pathan, now, is being looked upon as a batsman with a flexible slot and a stump-to-stump medium-pacer in these conditions.

Pathan has straightened his action and comprehended his limitations, but the sizzling yorker that breached Adam Gilchrist’s defence down under four years ago is distant memory.

Bowling yorkers requires relentless practice and the Indians could imbibe much from the Pakistan bowlers here.

In the ICC World Twenty20, the Pakistanis had the impressive Umar Gul operating as a specialist yorker bowler at the death.

It can be argued that the mandatory ball change in the last phase of the innings would have an adverse impact on reverse swing and yorkers.

However, sending down a lethal yorker is, perhaps, more about getting the length right — into the block-hole — than swing. And this length could vary from batsman to batsman.

The think-tank is bound to explore the possibility of playing two spinners on the sub-continental tracks.

Powar and Harbhajan Singh are very different off-spinners and one of them can be used at the end of the innings.

Spinners, who deny the batsmen pace, can be hard to get away in the end overs. Again much hinges on how effectively they vary their length.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail