What slows down our fast men ?

Name : Rudra Pratap Singh
Age : 24 Years
Skill : Left-arm fast medium bowler
Debut : Sep 2005

Current Status : Out of the Indian squad. On current form, he may lose his place in the Deccan Chargers as well !



Name : Irfan Pathan
Age : 25 Years
Skill : Left-arm medium fast, Left-handed batsman
Debut : Dec 2003

Current Status : Has run out-of-favour from the International scene. The more you see him play for the Kings XI Punjab, you know why. For someone who started his career as a bowling sensation, he has now become a batsman who can be used to roll his arm over.



Name : Ishant Sharma
Age : 21 Years
Skill : Right Arm Fast Bowler
Debut : May 2007

Current Status : Keeps moving in and out of the side. Seems to have lost his way. Still remains one of India’s best hopes.



Name : S. Sreesanth
Age : 27 Years
Skill : Right-arm fast medium, Occasional Dancer
Debut : March 2006

Current Status : Can’t say. One thought it was all over, when he made a surprise comeback against Sri Lanka last year, and a brilliant one ! Since then, he has returned back to his erratic, inconsistent ways.



You may add the odd Munaf ‘Lazy’ Patel (once hailed as India’s fastest bowler ever !) or a Lakshmipathy Balaji to this list as well. All of them had shown glimpses of their capabilities at different junctures in time, and had made the cricketing world sit back and take notice. Once regarded as stars-in-the making, most of them seem to have faded away into injuries and oblivion.



What’s appalling is that it’s slowly becoming the trend. How else would you explain the dip in pace, precision and performance of these players, all in their mid-twenties, within years of their international debuts ? Almost all of them started their careers as genuine fast bowlers, bowling consistently around the 135-Kmph mark, some of them even clocking 145-Kmph at times. Each one of them has given more than one creditable performance against tough opponents, which can’t be brushed aside as a fluke. As a cricket crazy Indian, it hurts when I see Irfan Pathan, whose first wickets in International Cricket involved two bowling beauties to Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, who had once made the classy Mohd. Yousuf his bunny, being hit ruthlessly for monstrous sixes almost every time he comes out to bowl; it baffles me when I see Ishant Sharma, whose exploits in Perth are a part of cricketing folklore now, appear guileless, clueless against much-lesser mortals; it annoys me when I see India’s leading strike bowler during India’s T-20 triumph at South Africa, R.P. Singh, bowling gentle medium pacers, with no spark in his eyes and no sting in his efforts. In his twenties, when a fast bowler is expected to be at the peak of his energy and fitness level, most of our young bowlers appear content bowling slower-deliveries and leg-cutters, with the wicket-keeper standing up to the stumps, they look tired and fragile, just a leap or a dive away from the next injury.



As history suggests, India has very rarely produced quality fast bowlers, who have survived the test of times; Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath being those rarities. Perhaps that explains the excitement that surrounded these men. A nation used to the taunts “India doesn’t produce fast bowlers” had placed its hopes on this new breed of speedsters, and that could have backfired. Just a few days back, the legendary Wasim Akram had mentioned about how Jaydev Unadkat’s appearance reminds him about his early days, when he was just as lean and thin, and the next day the media and the fans start comparing the kid with the great man. Not a long time back, Irfan was called the next Kapil and Ishant the next big thing in Indian Cricket. A little too early, I guess. While these statements and expectations were not baseless, we should restrict our usage of the adjectives when dealing with young, inexperienced blood.



The World Cup next year is to be played on the flat, placid Indian pitches. Yet, that does not guarantee success for the batting-heavy Indians in such a big tournament. The shorter versions of the game, though skewed in favour of the batsmen, have an irreplaceable spot for the smart, thinking, intelligent, hard-working bowlers. While we have done fairly well in the bilateral best-of-5, best-of-7 tournaments, our performance in the ICC events in the last 6-7 years, barring the surprise triumph in South Africa, has been dismal. This further strengthens the point that the batsmen alone can’t win you trophies. There’s still time and hope. With proper training and mentoring, we can prepare a pool of fast bowlers, who are physically and mentally fit, once the big moment arrives in February next year. With due respect, if we continue to rely on the two perennially unfit left-armers who represented our fast-bowling options in the Caribbean disaster recently, we may be heading towards another year of disappointment and unfulfilled promise.