Comment

Never before have India travelled abroad with two genuinely quick bowlers. Umesh Yadav was notching up 145 kph in the Melbourne Test, and he has good control at that speed because of his uncomplicated action. Ishant Sharma, too, ratcheted it up to 150 kph, although he bowled too many short balls to get the dividends that kind of pace should have given him on a helpful pitch.

We have had good pace bowlers in the past, who have given us famous victories in Australia and England, but they relied mostly on swing and seam, like Zaheer Khan does in this team. Even Javagal Srinath, who could get the ball to rear up at the batsman, barely crossed 140 kph. With Yadav and Sharma, complemented by the crafty Zaheer Khan, and another bowler Varun Aaron on the bench who can bowl at 145 kph or more, India finally have a pace bowling unit that can make the team competitive on any surface around the world.

What is lacking, surprisingly, is intelligent planning and guidance. At least that is what it looked like from the way the young Indian pacers went about their business in Melbourne. India bowled first on a lively pitch where every batsman looked vulnerable whenever the ball pitched in the right zone, and yet Ishant remained wicketless. He kept digging the ball in short, losing out on the deviation that was available on the spongy, grassy surface when deliveries were well pitched up. In fact, most of the dismissals of the Indian top order came when the ball deviated as they played forward to defend or drive.

Things might have been worse for the Indians if the Australians, too, had not got carried away on the second day, bowling too many short-pitch deliveries, perhaps influenced by India’s well-known aversion to ‘chin music’. But all three of the Aussie pacers got their length spot on from the third day. And from that point onwards, none of the Indian batsmen could get beyond the 20s and 30s.

Batsmen on both sides have gotten used to piling up runs on flat tracks, and it was obvious their atrophied technique against the seaming ball on a grassy surface was ripe for exploitation. This became even more apparent when Umesh Yadav had Shaun Marsh caught in the gully driving to an overpitched ball on the first morning. And yet, when they came out after lunch, the Indians chose to unleash a short-pitched barrage against an out-of-form Ponting, which only helped him to get his eye in and regain some confidence. Yadav returned to his normal self in his next spell, and was rewarded with the wicket of Ponting, but Ishant just did not get it.

Both bowlers did pitch the ball up more often in the Australian second innings, and therefore had more wickets to show for their efforts. But they were still trying too many things instead of taking the cue from Zaheer Khan and sticking to a line and length to make the percentages work for them. The Australians, from the third day onwards, were pitching four or five balls up every over, whereas it was only two or three balls an over for the Indians. Apart from the inconsistency in length, Umesh and Ishant also kept switching between bowling over the wicket and round the wicket, often letting off the pressure or losing their rhythm in the process.

The Indian team has a wealth of experience but this was obviously of little use to young Umesh and Ishant who were left to figure things out for themselves, it seemed, instead of being guided — either that, or they were misguided. MS Dhoni’s inexperience in these conditions was also apparent in his defensive field settings which did not allow the bowlers to build any pressure.

India do have a bowling consultant, the South African Eric Simmons who has never played a Test match in his life. Surely our cricket board has the wherewithal to get somebody of the calibre of Australia’s bowling coach Craig McDermott who was one of the best bowlers of his time in Test cricket. It was McDermott’s intervention after the second day’s play that made the Aussie pacers correct their length and turn the first Test decisively in their favour.