Tuesday, November 8, 2011

New Stars in Making?

Diwali: Over. England: Gone. F1: Done: Metallica: Finished
What’s next??? For a cricket fan its West Indies next.
Bring on the white’s is what I would say. Before discussing what’s next, I would like to discuss what India got from the just concluded ODI Series against England.
After a disastrous England tour specially a forgettable test series in England, this ODI series was very important for India, it was a chance to try out young talent and check bench strength and it was also a chance to win back their lost morale and confidence and also win the fan’s confidence who have doubted the team. In India fans forget the wins and achievements of the team but never forget the loss and poor performances. Which I feel is very disheartening as I feel we should support the more even more if they are down and out. So coming back to the England ODI series, performance of the team have been nothing short of brilliant. India have outplayed England in all the departments of the game be it fielding, batting and bowling most heartening being the fielding as we are considered to be a little poor in that department.
After the poor England tour the selectors were brave enough to rest and drop a few of the seniors which proved that even the selectors are looking at the future and looking for better options. The most important outcome for me from this series was 2 young bowlers who have the ability to bowl at 145 KMPH consistently, they have been the 2 bright spots of this series and look like the future stars, What they have got to this Indian team is Pace which was never there, the two are Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav. At last all the prayers for a real quick bowler from Indian’s have been answered, inform of Yadav and Aaron. Fast bowlers in India are endangered species. Either there are not any quick bowlers in India, the reasons for not having enough fast bowlers in Indian domestic cricket would require another post which I will discuss some other time and 2nd reason being the amount of cricket they play at international level make them military medium pace, Munaf Patel being the prime example of it, he burst onto the international circuit as a tear away fast bowler but he is only a medium pacer now. We have seen many a games been turned around with just genuine pace, West Indies did it in the 70s and 80s and did it consistently, even Pakistani team have been doing it since a long time, they have been the breeding house for real quick bowlers since a long time.  I wish Aaron and Yadav continue to bowl fast and not sacrifice pace. Another aspect about both of them which is very heartening is that they both are supremely fit and athletic, so it does not look like they would sacrifice their pace for line and length and would continue to remain fit for International circuit. It’s not that pace is very important but you do need a little bit of pace to ruffle the batsmen and specially the tailenders, they find it most difficult to face genuine pace.
In 4th ODI at Mumbai it was so heartening to see when Aaron who was brought back in final over’s to rattle the tail and dismiss England tail for low score, haven’t ever seen a Indian fast bowler do this to oppositions, it’s always been India at the receiving India of such lethal bowling, one delivery that I still remember bowled by Aaron is the one when he  clean bowled Alistair Cook in 5th ODI at Kolkata, the delivery isn’t anything special its pitched outside the off stump coming into the left hander with the angle, he was clearly beaten with pace, this is what genuine pace get to the table, even in 1st ODI at Hyderabad Yadav was made to bowl in the death over’s to dismiss the tail and he did it very well by dismissing the tail quickly. This is the benefit of pace, which Indian cricket have never had. Sometimes there’s nothing of the pitch and the conditions isn’t favoring the swing at that time genuine pace comes in and helps the bowling team. This is where these 2 will benefit and serve India for the time to come.
It will be considered too early to talk about them, but I feel the next series that they play would be the acid test for them, as they will be judged according to their follow up performance until then everyone would believe and they would fear that they would sacrifice their pace for line and length. I just wish Indian cricket nurtures this natural talent and looks after them, as I feel fast bowlers require special care and attention, which Indian cricket should provide them. But honestly Indian cricket isn’t used to taking care of fast bowlers as they have not had any real quick bowlers, it’s very important for Indian officials to find right people and correct balance to take care about them, fast bowlers require right people to help and advice. Just wish these 2 serve Indian cricket for a long time to come and bring a lot of smiles on fans of Indian cricket.
Other players who have also contributed to this fantastic performance are: R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, R.Jadeja and A.Rahane.
Just wish that these players continue the good work done by their seniors over the years.
Indian Cricket looks safe in the hands of these Youngsters.
Ricky Singh for DieHard Cricket Fans

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