cricketjoshila
Test Captain
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Runs
- 47,084
- Post of the Week
- 1
With Umran Malik, India has found its first express fast bowler, but they need to change their mentality and policy.
For decades, Indian cricket has been about world Class batsmen and spinners. The mentality has adapted to it and policies have been framed accordingly.
This made the Indian team formidable team at home but lack of quality fast bowlers made them poor travellers. Ofcourse there were quality swing bowlers like Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan, and a young Srinath was quick, but on the whole the fast bowling scenario was not fast enough.
Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron were the first to bowl regularly over the 140 kph mark and hit 150 sometimes.
Jasprit Bumrah too would bowl above 140 or 145 kph.
But no one before Umran Malik would bowl at 150 plus KPH regularly. He is undoubtedly India's first express fast bowler and arguably the fastest bowler in the world currently.
A unique player in Indian cricket history has arrived and the cricketing mentality needs to be reshaped and policies needs to be changed accordingly.
The policy of making players play seasons of Ranji and A tours before giving them a international cap wont work here. These things work brilliantly with batsmen and spinners as it lets them mature before coming to the international scene. But this wont work with express fast bowlers.
Umran is 22. He will bowl at his express pace for may be 10-11 years. Some of that will be lost to injuries. So its 9 to 10 years thats the maximum limit. He cannot be wasted in the domestic cricket for 2-3 seasons. I am afraid, he may not get a chance in the playing 11 or if he gets a chance and is expensive in a match he may be discarded for someone like Bhuvi or Patel or Arshdeep. Umran is a wicket taker and not a control bowler. He will provide breakthroughs in the mid overs. He cannot be expected to play the role of a medium pacer. Look at Mohammad Shami, brilliant wicket taking bowler in ODIs but he got sidelined in the 2015 WC for a more controlled Bhuvi. Results were seen in the semis.
Umran should also not get the Siraj treatment. Anyone who has seen Siraj bowl in tests will tell you he is good. But he is already 28 and has played only 12 tests. For years he was made to toil in Ranji trophy and A tours. Discarded after he proved to be expensive in T20s.
There is no dot ball, better than a wicket taking ball. India needs to change its policy of making all players toil in FC matches before playing them in T20s and then waiting years to give them a test cap. This policy doesn't work with even fast bowlers, let alone a express bowler. These policies are fine for Batsmen, Spinners or medium pacers, who have longer careers.
Fast and express bowlers need to be handled differently, they have short careers compared to other bowlers or batsmen. They need to gelled in the national team earlier and will learn on the go.
The recent team selection for the T20Is gives me little confidence that the policy will change.
Selectors selected 5 fast bowlers, 3 of the same medium pace variety. Bhuvi, Arshdeep and Patel. Patel justifies his selection with 18 wickets this season in IPL. He was the highest wicket taker last season. But selecting both Bhuvi and Arshdeep makes no sense,. One has 12 wickets and another 10. They are control bowlers, they fit the policy. Who will take wickets? The onus will invariably fall on the spinners in the middle overs.
I expect India to fail miserably in Australia in the T20 WC should they take such medium pacers there. Their 20 variety of slower balls wont grip on hard true aussie pitches and the ball doesn't swing much either.
Will the policy and mentality change? Only future will tell, but it doesn't look that way.
For decades, Indian cricket has been about world Class batsmen and spinners. The mentality has adapted to it and policies have been framed accordingly.
This made the Indian team formidable team at home but lack of quality fast bowlers made them poor travellers. Ofcourse there were quality swing bowlers like Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan, and a young Srinath was quick, but on the whole the fast bowling scenario was not fast enough.
Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron were the first to bowl regularly over the 140 kph mark and hit 150 sometimes.
Jasprit Bumrah too would bowl above 140 or 145 kph.
But no one before Umran Malik would bowl at 150 plus KPH regularly. He is undoubtedly India's first express fast bowler and arguably the fastest bowler in the world currently.
A unique player in Indian cricket history has arrived and the cricketing mentality needs to be reshaped and policies needs to be changed accordingly.
The policy of making players play seasons of Ranji and A tours before giving them a international cap wont work here. These things work brilliantly with batsmen and spinners as it lets them mature before coming to the international scene. But this wont work with express fast bowlers.
Umran is 22. He will bowl at his express pace for may be 10-11 years. Some of that will be lost to injuries. So its 9 to 10 years thats the maximum limit. He cannot be wasted in the domestic cricket for 2-3 seasons. I am afraid, he may not get a chance in the playing 11 or if he gets a chance and is expensive in a match he may be discarded for someone like Bhuvi or Patel or Arshdeep. Umran is a wicket taker and not a control bowler. He will provide breakthroughs in the mid overs. He cannot be expected to play the role of a medium pacer. Look at Mohammad Shami, brilliant wicket taking bowler in ODIs but he got sidelined in the 2015 WC for a more controlled Bhuvi. Results were seen in the semis.
Umran should also not get the Siraj treatment. Anyone who has seen Siraj bowl in tests will tell you he is good. But he is already 28 and has played only 12 tests. For years he was made to toil in Ranji trophy and A tours. Discarded after he proved to be expensive in T20s.
There is no dot ball, better than a wicket taking ball. India needs to change its policy of making all players toil in FC matches before playing them in T20s and then waiting years to give them a test cap. This policy doesn't work with even fast bowlers, let alone a express bowler. These policies are fine for Batsmen, Spinners or medium pacers, who have longer careers.
Fast and express bowlers need to be handled differently, they have short careers compared to other bowlers or batsmen. They need to gelled in the national team earlier and will learn on the go.
The recent team selection for the T20Is gives me little confidence that the policy will change.
Selectors selected 5 fast bowlers, 3 of the same medium pace variety. Bhuvi, Arshdeep and Patel. Patel justifies his selection with 18 wickets this season in IPL. He was the highest wicket taker last season. But selecting both Bhuvi and Arshdeep makes no sense,. One has 12 wickets and another 10. They are control bowlers, they fit the policy. Who will take wickets? The onus will invariably fall on the spinners in the middle overs.
I expect India to fail miserably in Australia in the T20 WC should they take such medium pacers there. Their 20 variety of slower balls wont grip on hard true aussie pitches and the ball doesn't swing much either.
Will the policy and mentality change? Only future will tell, but it doesn't look that way.
