Analysis: What are India's bowling options?

India's bowling currently revolves around Zaheer Khan, and work needs to be done to move away from that mould

Cricket, I believe, is a contest between the bat and ball on the outside and the players’ physical and mental skills on the inside. It is not a game to be played only by batsmen nor only by bowlers. It is a contest that thrives on balance. On the balance between the bat and the ball. A balance that must be maintained without portraying one skill as less important than the other.

The Indian team since my living memory, has been facing the same lack of balance that has always taken it to the very edge of being the best, but never the best itself. By being the best, I do not mean just being the title holders. The best team is a team that has achieved success, resounding success, all across the world, against all opponents, on all kinds of pitches and conditions, for a considerably long period of time. The West Indies held that tag for almost 15 years. Australia were at that pedestal for nearly a decade. What they had was beautiful balance. Batsmen like Richards, Sobers, Lloyd, Greenidge and bowlers like Roberts, Holding, Craft and Garner helped the Windies rule the roost while the Australians took pride in the likes of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist, Lee, Warne and McGrath. They both had the perfect balance to be the number 1 team in the world at the time of their respective peaks, sometimes so ahead of the others that the ‘match’ was such an exaggerated term used for the contest between them and others.

I dream of seeing India at that pedestal one day. Like everything else in our daily life, India has forgotten the importance of balance here. The Indian bowling department has always been spin oriented since the days of the legendary quartet comprising of Prasanna, Venkataraghavan, Chandrasekhar and Bedi. Pace bowlers have been a rare breed in Indian cricket. They say India needs faster pitches to breed faster bowlers. No denying that’s one important ingredient, but that is not the final step. How else do you explain the seemingly limitless pool of fast bowlers from the other side of the border merely a few hundred miles away? I wonder how many ‘fast’ pitches Pakistan has!

What is needed, is meticulous planning and honest execution. The reason for Pakistan’s young pace batteries is almost the same reason we have the limitless pool of batsmen. One needs role models. Young Indian cricketers have Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Gavaskar to emulate. Pakistanis have their own heroes in Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.

Currently, Indian pace attack revolves around Zaheer Khan, with Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma the next in hierarchy in ODIs and Tests respectively. After these 3, there are really no good bowlers to look upon. Sreesanth remains as erratic as ever, Nehra’s body continues to be unreliable on the wrong side of the 30s and Munaf Patel is only an ODI specialist who increasingly becomes a liability with his lethargic movement which quickly negates whatever good is done by his wicket to wicket slow medium pace. Having 3 formats, one also needs to look at who are the bowlers who will be a part of the longer format and who will don the coloured clothing, to make sure ample time is available to recover from fatigue as nobody else goes through the same physical grind that is the essential part of pace bowling.

Tests :

1. Ishant Sharma – The ankle operation after the Australian tour will keep him out of cricket for close to 6 months. India needs him back urgently as he remains the next best thing after Zaheer that happened to Indian bowling in the recent years.

2. Praveen Kumar – He showed in the helpful West Indian conditions that he can be a force to reckon with in the longer format of the games despite his slow pace. Swing is his forte and he is a tireless cricketer. Only if he masters the art of swing as Zaheer has, he will take India to new heights.

3. Umesh Yadav – Being the more ‘experienced’ of the two express pacers that the country is so obsessed with these days, he should be tested at the highest level. His main strength is his pace and his wide angle bowling in to the batsmen. Will have to be kept away from injuries.

4. R Ashwin – He is one of the most exciting talents to look forward to in Indian cricket. A regular these days in the shorter formats, he has the skill to beat the best in the business in the longer form of the game too. Being a ‘mystery spinner’ that he’s so often called, he will learn from the example of Ajantha Mendis about how once the mystery unfolds, the going gets really tough.

5. Abhimanyu Mithun – Making test debut on the dead Sri Lankan pitches, tailor-made for making scores in excess of 500 isn’t easy. Still, what caught the eye was his consistent probing line and the stomach to bowl long spells. He needs more exposure in the longer format in much more helpful conditions.

6. S Sreesanth – He is the only bowler who has the ability to change his ranking in this list just by making adjustments mentally, for Sreesanth really is a great talent. The image of Kallis leaping in air, bending his back to tackle that bouncer in Durban as it kissed his glove and lobbed up in the air, is still fresh in my mind. But in the quantum state, it is the erratic Sreesanth that has the probability of existing 95% of the time than the magical one. The equations need to change if he plans on becoming the leader of the attack alongside Ishant Sharma.

7. Pragyan Ojha – Often neglected and quite an underrated bowler. He has the proven ability to build on the pressure in the longer format by drying up scoring opportunities but needs to enhance his wicket taking abilities too to succeed at the highest level.

8. Amit Mishra – Selectors have been juggling between Ojha and Mishra for the last couple of years. Mishra, despite looking to be a more capable wicket taker than Ojha, really needs to find ways to not give away too many runs. Bowling no-balls in tests is one really irritating habit that Mishra needs to get rid of. (An ideal combination would be the economic bowling of Ojha and wicket taking ability of Mishra, as both need to learn something from each other.)

ODIs/T20s :

1. Praveen Kumar – Alongside Zak, he forms the most potent opening attack India has had in quite some time. Without Zak, PK still remains a wicket taking bowler and will need a backing from the other end to work his inswingers and outswingers to bamboozle the batsmen.

2. Varun Aaron – He is quick and he reverses the ball too. He needs more number of consistent performances in the shorter format before stepping up to the test arena.

3. Abhimanyu Mithun - He earned a call-up to the national team barely ten weeks after his first class debut, which says a lot about the buzz surrounding him. Be it the reactions he generated in the Ranji circle or the praise by Ray Jennings. He is an interesting prospect and one for the future.

4. R Ashwin – Enjoying success recently in the shorter formats, the Australian tour will determine how he responds on pitches outside the subcontinent and will undergo a stern test once the batsmen sort out the variations after the initial years.

5. Sreenath Aravind – Although his recent performance in CLT20 was not so pleasing, he did perform well under the guidance of Zaheer in IPL earlier this year.

6. Ravindra Jadeja/Pragyan Ojha/Amit Mishra – Currently Jadeja in his new avatar, capable of clearing the field with his powerful hitting, proves to be more than a match for the other two for the second spinner’s role.

7. Jaidev Unadkat – Along with Aravind, he remains another medium left arm bowler who relies on swing to work to his advantage. A recent good show in Emerging Players Tournament will further boost his credentials, at least in the shorter formats.

Although Yuvraj Singh enjoyed success with the ball in the World Cup, he is only a part time option along with Raina and Kohli, that too in subcontinent conditions while Yusuf Pathan has continuously disappointed with the ball.

I still hope that Zaheer and Nehra (but not Munaf), continue to perform for Team India, but it is time BCCI chalks out proper plans for the future and stop the knee jerk reactions and overburdening the players for short term gains.