This blog first appeared in my old blog, http://balltempering.blogspot.com on 13 February, when India was touring Pakistan and was written in that context.
With Shoib not playing this oneday match and the news that he will not take any further part in the ongoing oneday series between India and Pakistan, it takes my mind to magical moments that have gotten imprinted on our collective minds.
There are some moments that get stuck in history and in ones conscious and define things from that moment onward in that respective feild. Some also get stuck in the national consciousness and form or help form the future course of actions.
There are few such moments in our cricketing history that have had a similar impact and have been stuck in our common consciousness and that has changed the national outlook of the country and how we perceive cricket. Shoib Akhtar had couple of such moments that have influenced many decisions and controversies after that, and obviously Shoib has been at the centre of them all.
The first such recognizable moment between India Pakistan games happened in April of 1986 in Sharjah, a game which India had bossed from the start and were the more obvious winners changed in spate of few seconds. Chetan Sharma bowls low full toss, in an effort to bowl a yorker, Javed Miandad makes room and puts it over deep midwicket boundary for a six to win the tournament and setting in motion a superiority that engulfed a full decade of matches between India & Pakistan. Waqar & Wasim created many a victory against the arch rival following that.
That Indian team could not shed that six out of its collective consciousness, or any Indian cricket follower for that matter, for the next 15 years or so.
Before that fateful afternoon, India and Pakistan had played 16 matches and India winning the majority of them, 9 to be precise, with win ratio of 60%, although, in seventies Pakistan One day side was much better, but from 83 world cup onwards, India hardly lost anything. From Australasia cup 1986 in Sharjah, with Miandads last ball win, the game and never say die attitude of Pakistan had such demoralizing effect on Indian team that in next ten year, they won only 10 games and actually just one in Sharjah.
Between 1986 and 2003, India and Pakistan played each other 78 times, all over the world, with Pakistan winning 47 times with four no results, a winning ratio of 60%. That was the impact one hit had on the collective psyche of the Indian team, India started to win more games after 1996 Banglore quarterfinal, turn around also happened after almost all the members of that 86 team were gone, except Azhar, and with Sachin coming up the order and with players like Ganguly and Jadeja India's fortunes in one dayers started to change especially in places like Toronto and Dhaka. But still they were beaten more often then not.
The next two moment came through two individuals involved in one day and a test match. Shoib Akhtar was a young rookie when Pakistan toured Indian in 1999, he played in the third test of the tour, classified as the first match of the Asian test championship. All through the tour he had been bragging that he will get Tendulkar, who at that time was at the peak of his game, 95 till 2000 was the most productive time of Tendulakr's career and he was at his most dominating and punishing self.
The game took became the deciding game of the tour, although classified as Asian test championship game rather then bilateral, but previous two tests had been one by each team, so the third game became a final of sorts. This was Shoib's first test against India and Pakistan had been bowled out for 185 on day one and India looked like taking a big lead, India were 147 for 2 when Shoib started his blistering run from closer to the boundary, packed Eden Garden noisy and full of anticipation, Rahul batting at 24 having spent 108 minutes at the crease and having faced 93 balls. Shoib runs in and balls a fast straight one, the ball crashes uproots Rahul's stumps, a wonderful Yorker. Although India has just lost a wicket but Eden Garden become even noisier, as this brings their genius to the wicket. This is what test cricket is all about, a young cocky pacer who has been bragging to his team mates that he will finish Tendulkar, full of confidence after taking a wicket and the best batsman in world at the top of his game, in his country in front of 100,000 spectators chanting his name.
The powerful, frightening, stamping run of Shoib starts again, Tendulkar looks up, bat lifts upwards in in its customary fashion, feed move just a little across the crease, heart pumping in anticipation the ball is hurled down by Shoib, Tendulkar goes back and across but the ball is too quick and in a flash the stumps are disturbed for the second time in two deliveries, the stadium goes absolutely silent, they can not believe that it has happened, their hero has to go back.
This was the first golden duck of Tendulkar's career, Pakistan went on to win that match by 46 runs, the last 7 wickets of the first innings lost for 76 runs. People rememberr this delivery and Tendulkar's running into Shoib accidentally in the second innings, that started a riot from this game, no one remembers the sublime 188 that Saeed scored with wickets going down around his and being the first Pakistani to carry his bat through in India, also Javagal Srinath taking 13 wickets in the match, 8 of them in the second innings, Shoib took 8 wickets in whole match, but the cast has been set. After that every India Pakistan game became Tendulkar-Shoib billing. This series was also the one where people started questioning Tendulkar's ability to win matches for India rather him taking on the responsibility of taking his team through when really needed, he dismissal in the first match of the series triggered a collapse that resulted in India loosing by 17 runs.
The next defining moment also involved these two, but this time Tendulkar came on top, well at least to the team cause. A broken and divided Pakistani team taking on India in Centurion, the occasion, as big as it gets, world cup. Pakistan needed to win this after their heart breaking loss to Australia & unexpected defeat to England. Team still full of talent albeit aging.
Pakistan has scored a defendable total of 273 with Saeed Anwar scoring his last century of his career. India open with Sehwag and Tendulkar, the original and his clone, Waqar decides to use Wasim and Shoib to open the bowling rather then taking the new ball himself, hoping for the magic again, well magic did happen, but Pakistan were on the receiving end. Second over of the innings, so far its settling the nerves and sizing each other up, no flashes of brilliance or foolishness.
Shoib runs in from the boundary, it take ages for him to reach the bowling crease, you can feel the tension in the air and nervous energy is running through both Tendulkar and Sehwag. Shoib pitches the ball short but little wide, Tendulkar gets under the ball and cuts it fiercely through point for six, and right there and then every one knew that something specials was going to happen. Suddenly India breathed easy, Tendulkar did not look back after that, he got his 50 of 37 balls and 98 of 75 balls, getting out to a fantastic ball from Shoib. The ghost has been buried, Shoib never looked threatening to Indians after that and they steam rolled Pakistan in next years' test and one day series. The aura of invincibility is gone and respect bordering fear, a result of personal inadequacies have been lifted as well, and did I tell you the clone also hit a similar six of Shoib and then took him to the cleaners in the next series, scoring the first triple century by an Indian in the process.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Fast Bowling Recources in India & Pakistan
This piece was originally written about six months ago for my previous blog, that I am unable to access due to technical glitches, http://balltempering.blogspot.com and was also self published on www.chowk.com
Fast Bowling Resources in India & Pakistan
It must rank right up there with the mysteries of the world, that two countries with same race, similar people, resembling culture and almost equal fervor for sport of Cricket, the mystery being, how come Pakistan has and continues to, produce fast bowlers where as India is yet to produce even one quality fast bowler. Javagal Srinath was fast in the initial stages of his career but later on he also became medium pacer, Kapil was a medium paced swing bowler from day one although India has over 1 billion people, about six times more then Pakistan, and equally passionate about their cricket but still not a single fast bowler.
It is an interesting and intriguing study to compare these two countries and the reasons that have contributed to such anomaly.
There are no apparent reasons for that; no one has been able to put a finger on any such element that can explain this oddity. Many theories have been mooted by many an expert and respected players, ranging from Geoff Boycott to Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz and Aqib Javed, have all tried to explain this phenomenon in some detail. Some of these theories have some substance and make sense but still do not explain the vast difference in its totality.
Before dissecting these theories, let us put certain things in perspective.
India has only produced two pace bowlers of any significance, by that I mean bowlers who bowled quick or quicker then spinners and could be compared to other international bowlers rather then Indian slow medium pacers who only bowled to get the shine off the ball.
The most successful Indian pacers, by no means fast, has been Kapil Dev with 432 wickets in an 18 year career and Javagal Srinath has 236 wickets in 11 years of international cricket. That is significantly less then Imran 362 test wickets, Waqar Younis 373, Wasim Akram 414 test wickets, all these were genuinely fast bowlers and match winners. It is not only about wickets either, it’s about speed, serious speed that Pakistan has been able to produce and India has not. Even before Imran there was Sarfaraz with his 177 test wickets, arguably the founder of reverse swing, Asif Masood in 60’s with only 77 wickets and before them all Fazal Mahmood, not express pace but enough to disturb the best batsman with 139 wickets in his illustrious career.
Also in the over all comparison, especially in the last 25 years Indian cupboard looks bare, where as Pakistan, and as such many other countries, had to leave out really good fast bowlers, India failed to produce any genuine fast bowler. Once again reiterating that Kapil was a medium pacer and Javagal Srinath was the only genuine quick, although for a brief period, produced by India. General mark of quick bowling being someone who bowls in high 80’s mile per hour speed category or around 140 kmph range, if not in the 90’s. Let us just have a look at the names that come to mind from the last 25 years, even if some of them did not play for much longer due to lack of positions in the team or injury. Apart from Srinath and Kapil here are some of the other names that come to mind from Indian fraternity, Prabhakar (medium pacer) Chetan Sharma (although very skilled but still medium pacer) Sandhu, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Ankola, Abbey Kruvilla, Dave Johnson, Bhupinder Singh, Debashesh Mohanty, Tinu Youhanan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Balaji etc. of these only Sunil Ankola, Tinu Youhanan and Agarkar had good raw pace and would touch 140-145 Kmph range where as Zaheer and Irfan both had the potential to bowl fast but have slowed down with time, although still quite young.
From Pakistan point of view if you exclude the obvious five fast one i.e. Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Shoib and Sami, you are still left with genuine fast bowlers like Azeem Hafiz, Tahir Naqqash, Fazle Akbar, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Zahid, Shahid Nazir, and to an extent Aqib Javed (he was quicker then any of the Indian bowlers but was classified as medium due to relative comparison with two W’s) Mohsin Kamal the list goes on (we have not included Medium pacers like Siknadar Bakht, Wasim Haider, Rashid Khan, Jalaluddin, Azhar Mahmood, Abdulrazzaq etc.)
Well, what are the reasons for such difference, although India also has had MRF pace academy for the last 20-years or so with the sole remit of producing fast bowlers where the legendary Lillee works with youngsters, but, so far the academy has produced nothing of substance.
There are four theories that prevail in the Pakistani cricket circles that outline the reasons for Pakistan producing fast men consistently rather then India. Rahul Bhattachariya outlines these in his book, Pundits from Pakistan, in his interview with Aqib Javed, the theories have been put forward by many people in Pakistan cricket at different times, including Imran Khan, but Aqib has put them together in his role as academy coach and under 19’s team coach in the last four years.
The four theories are based on four elements of fast bowling. To be a fast bowler you need to have, it goes without saying, speed, but in order to generate speed you generally need to have a physique suitable for bowling fast, aggression i.e. the mental make up of a bowler, willingness to bowl fast, once again mental side of things and stamina and desire, and culture and a system of grooming fast bowling. So we understand that most of these four factors, if not all of them, make up a fast bowlers along with the natural ability or talent, which is a given for any sport. A closer inspection of these factors one by one reveals the reasons for them being in an individual or not and its impact on the ability to bowl fast consistently.
Physique; no one can argue that you need a certain kind physical shape to be successful fast bowler; big broad shoulders, long legs and long arms make the art of fast bowling much easier. Lillie, Thomson, Holding, Garner, Roberts even Imran and Wasim had these qualities. Imran for long advocated that if Pakistan cricket authorities can extend the game into NWFP, especially the “agencies like Waziristan” then they will have a never ending assembly line of fast bowlers, as Pathan tribesmen living in those areas are physically very strong and bloody minded (literally that is the area where Osama Bin Ladin is arguably hiding and those tribesmen, or some of them, have been fighting US and Pakistan forces for years, they also fought USSR and eventually resulted in its collapse) and physical strength comes naturally to them. Cricket has seen a urbanized version of that in Shahid Afridi, who is a tribesman by origin but lived in Karachi for most part of his life, as a spinner he bowls his faster delivery at almost 80 mph. ( in one game against South Africa couple of years ago, his quicker delivery was quicker then Shaun Pollock’s average speed, he also bowled a quick bouncer to Brian Lara in 2005 in Wes Indies and in second innings of Faisalabad test in the recently concluded series, he took the new ball as the match was heading towards a draw and consistently bowled at 130 kmph albeit with a non coherent action) Shahid Afridi encompasses the brute force that tribal people can bring to cricket. But, tribal areas have not contributed any fast bowlers to Pakistan cricket so far, although it seems like a good plan for future, but so far their contribution is nil, and what about bowlers like Waqar, Shoib Akhtar, Sami and Malcolm Marshal none of them were very tall or big, but, quick nonetheless. On the Indian side, the fastest bowler to emerge in India for the last ten years is Agarkar, not a physical specimen of typical fast bowler shape. Although being tall and big helps, but is not necessarily the only reason for being a fast bowler. Lets not forget that Abbey Kuruvilla, Venkatesh Prasad and Debashish Mohanty were all tall and had the build of fast bowlers but could only bowl medium pace.
The next factor is aggression, how do you become aggressive and cut an intimidating picture in the field. Certainly many factors contribute to that and so far there has not been any conclusive research or psycho analysis done on fast bowlers’ mentality and origins of their aggressive behavior and nature, but Pakistani fast bowlers have pointed to one factor when speaking about Indian fast bowlers aggressiveness or lack of it. It is suggested that the reason why Pakistan produces aggressive, intimidating fast bowlers and India does not, is that Pakistanis consume lot of red meat, where as most Indians don’t. Proteins can be acquired from other sources as well, but it is said that red meat gives you a certain kind of aggressiveness and that is why bowlers like Waqar and Shoib can skittle out wickets on the basis of their presence. Once again a glance around the cricketing world gives some credence to this theory, most, traditionally, fast bowler producing countries are all red meat eating countries like Australia, South Africa and West Indies. Two of the recently aggressive Indian bowlers are both Muslims, presuming red meat eating, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan.
Going by this, India has almost 150 million Muslims and many other ethnicities that eat red meat, Sikhs and Christians included, yet they have not produced fast bowlers, the only genuine fast bowler actually came from South India, generally a vegetarian region, although he did have the physique. Speaking about aggressive behavior and intent, what about Greg Chappel (a vegetarian), Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble, although not fast bowlers but they have aggression aplenty.
The first two aspects raise an important question, if we assume both of the afore mentioned theories to be true, including Imran’s view on tribal Pathans being suitable to fast bowling, where can India find their next real fast bowler.
Both Imran and Aqib have said many times that the best chance of Indians finding a genuine fast bowlers lies in there northern areas, mainly Punjab, where the vast majority is of Sikhs, generally physically stronger and aggressive in nature, much like there counterparts in Pakistani Punjab that has almost exclusively produced fast bowlers in last 25 years or so, the only exception being Mohammed Sami. Sikhs eat red meat and growing in vast planes and farms makes them used to hard work and physically stronger, a pre requisite for fast bowling. But, as opposed to Pakistani Punjab, India has produced, aggressive, stylish, good looking and cunning players in the shape of Bishen Singh Bedi, Maninder Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Yuvraj Singh. But none of them ever bawled fast. This is where the third theory comes into its own. Desire and willingness to bowl fast, it emanates from the basic principle of hard work, fast bowling is the hardest job in cricket along with wicket keeping. But, what makes people work hard, there are as many answers to this question as there are reasons for it not happening. But, what really encourages youngsters to work hard and take up something, which is as difficult and tiring as fast bowling. It is the urge to emulate your idols, to be some one you see in action and want to be like them. Images in a youngsters mind pretty much determine which way the kid will go. Although the Indian Punjab has all the elements of Pakistani Punjab, but, what they lacked is the critical aspect, an Idol. When every one in Pakistan wanted to run in like Imran Khan and bowl those lovely in swingers, imagining a lithe body, fair complexion, high jump and the ability to not only bowl over batmen but also women and cricket administrators, youngsters in the Indian Punjab were watching Bishen Singh Bedi weaving his web with flight and subtlety of spin bowling. Imran Khan, as much for his ability to bowl fast and his glamorous looks, proved to be a huge influence on how fast bowling was perceived in this region, which only produces mud baked heartbreaking batting tracks.
It is not wonder then that since the inception of satellite T.V with diminishing boundaries and commercialized cricket in the sub continent, it also made fast bowling look “ sexy” in India, especially left arm fast bowling of a certain Pakistani great. Interestingly where as Pakistanis greatly appreciate and love Wasim Akram’s left arm magic but kids’ hearts have fallen more for Burewala express i.e. Waqar Younis, resulting in, Shoib, Yasir Arafat and Mohammed Irshad, you can clearly see semblance of Waqar’s action in them. But on the other hand in India, Wasim was the real deal, because he made their batsmen suffer for so many years. Although hardly any bilateral cricket was played between India and Pakistan through out the 90’s but TV did the job. And results are there for every one to see, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, R.P Singh all have burst onto the Indian scene at a young age and admittedly idolizing Wasim, hence Wasim’s popularity in India.
Where the traditional Indian cricketing heroes have been batsmen like Punkaj, Vinoo Mankad, Nawab Patuadi, Nari Contractor, Ajit Wadekar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath and the list goes on. Is it any surprise that India has produced Sachin, Rahul, Yuraj, Dhoni and Sehwag but TV is doing the job and they should be able to find an express bowler soon, they already have one in Munaf Patel playing first class cricket.
But still, all of the new brigade is medium pace, Zaheer was quick when he came on, so was Nehra and every one expected Irfan to get quicker but all of them have become medium pacer with the passage of two to three years in international cricket. But none of them were as quick as the new bowlers bursting onto Pakistani cricket scene, Rana, Asif and Razzq all consistently bowl faster then their Indian counter parts but all are categorized as medium pacers, at least three current fast bowlers in Pakistani first class cricket are bowling over 90 mph regularly and still have not been able to get into the national side, Najaf Shah, Yasir Arafat and Mohammed Irshad.
The answer probably lies in the cricketing culture and system, but wait a minute system and Pakistan cricket cannot be together in one sentence?? But the system and culture has nothing to do with Pakistan cricket administration, it is more to do with the cricketing culture on the streets.
Although not as internationalized but still, equal in significance to the other two contributions of Pakistan to the international bowling scene in the last 15 years, reverse swing and “doosra”. The third element to that is “tape ball cricket”. A country where vast majority lives in poverty or near poverty, where there are hardly any playgrounds available for kids in urban centers, the masses had to come up with an easier and cheaper way of satisfying their cricketing hunger and be entertained. And boom, tape cricket happened. It is simple, take a tennis ball and mask scotch tape around it to give it more weight and make it bounce similar to real cricket ball. It is heavy enough to be bowled properly and it behaves similarly to normal cricket ball, where as a normal untapped tennis ball does not, get a bat and that is it. No pads, gloves, helmet, abdominal guard or in some instances even stumps required. Bricks, chairs, empty cartons, impression of stumps on walls, anything will do. What it did was, kids could bowl like their idols in streets without worrying about, equipment which most of them could not afford, vast spaces and injuries and just bowl like Imran, Wasim, Waqar or who ever they fancied. Tape ball is lighter then the real ball so that requires the bowler to exert extra force on it to send it down quickly in the process helping develop, arm, forearm, back, thigh, stomach and shoulder muscles, all essential for bowling fast. It also teaches them how to swing the ball and other variations. By either leaving a small slit on one side of the ball the ball starts to behaves on the principle of reverse swing, or by making a seam by wrapping extra tape in the middle, and you have a apparatus as real as you will get to develop bowlers. Because space is cramped and boundaries smaller and less over available, the batsman are their to hit every thing out of the ground, so the bowler learn to ball quick Yorkers and short balls because that is the only way to escape punishment. This does not happen in India, in India cricket is played with a normal tennis ball on the streets and although it encourage stroke making, fast bowling becomes futile.
In my opinion it is the two later factors that are major reason for the disparity in fast bowling resources in India and Pakistan. Although having a good build certainly helps and once you have the skill, attitude either comes with it or becomes irrelevant, Steve Harmison is a genial chap, but O boy can he bowl fast. Tino best of West Indies is very aggressive but can he bowl in international matches? And the next big problem in India’s lack of fast bowlers is the development of fast bowlers or their education about fast bowling, Nehra, Agarkar, Balaji and Zaheer were all much quicker when they came into the Indian side then now and Irfan looked like a genuine heir to Wasim Akram’s throne, but have all either gone down or stopped growing, in terms of speed of bowling, in the last couple of years.
And Pakistanis need not worry, the grass is still green in the land, PCB and Pepsi recently conducted fast bowling clinic in a bid to unearth the fastest young bowler in land. From eight zones they picked the two fastest bowlers, below the age of 20, 16 bowlers assembled and then were reduced to 8 once again on the basis of sheer pace, all eight bowled well over 90 mph. And Wasim Akram and Imran Khan, who both knew a thing or two about fast bowling, say that the peak of a fast bowler is from the age of 24 till 29 when the body has filled up and bones strengthened, meaning this is the time when fast bowlers are at their quickest and more recently Anwar Ali and Jamshed Ahmad shone in the under 19 world cup final, incidentally against India, by successfully defending 109 rungs.
Fast Bowling Resources in India & Pakistan
It must rank right up there with the mysteries of the world, that two countries with same race, similar people, resembling culture and almost equal fervor for sport of Cricket, the mystery being, how come Pakistan has and continues to, produce fast bowlers where as India is yet to produce even one quality fast bowler. Javagal Srinath was fast in the initial stages of his career but later on he also became medium pacer, Kapil was a medium paced swing bowler from day one although India has over 1 billion people, about six times more then Pakistan, and equally passionate about their cricket but still not a single fast bowler.
It is an interesting and intriguing study to compare these two countries and the reasons that have contributed to such anomaly.
There are no apparent reasons for that; no one has been able to put a finger on any such element that can explain this oddity. Many theories have been mooted by many an expert and respected players, ranging from Geoff Boycott to Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz and Aqib Javed, have all tried to explain this phenomenon in some detail. Some of these theories have some substance and make sense but still do not explain the vast difference in its totality.
Before dissecting these theories, let us put certain things in perspective.
India has only produced two pace bowlers of any significance, by that I mean bowlers who bowled quick or quicker then spinners and could be compared to other international bowlers rather then Indian slow medium pacers who only bowled to get the shine off the ball.
The most successful Indian pacers, by no means fast, has been Kapil Dev with 432 wickets in an 18 year career and Javagal Srinath has 236 wickets in 11 years of international cricket. That is significantly less then Imran 362 test wickets, Waqar Younis 373, Wasim Akram 414 test wickets, all these were genuinely fast bowlers and match winners. It is not only about wickets either, it’s about speed, serious speed that Pakistan has been able to produce and India has not. Even before Imran there was Sarfaraz with his 177 test wickets, arguably the founder of reverse swing, Asif Masood in 60’s with only 77 wickets and before them all Fazal Mahmood, not express pace but enough to disturb the best batsman with 139 wickets in his illustrious career.
Also in the over all comparison, especially in the last 25 years Indian cupboard looks bare, where as Pakistan, and as such many other countries, had to leave out really good fast bowlers, India failed to produce any genuine fast bowler. Once again reiterating that Kapil was a medium pacer and Javagal Srinath was the only genuine quick, although for a brief period, produced by India. General mark of quick bowling being someone who bowls in high 80’s mile per hour speed category or around 140 kmph range, if not in the 90’s. Let us just have a look at the names that come to mind from the last 25 years, even if some of them did not play for much longer due to lack of positions in the team or injury. Apart from Srinath and Kapil here are some of the other names that come to mind from Indian fraternity, Prabhakar (medium pacer) Chetan Sharma (although very skilled but still medium pacer) Sandhu, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Ankola, Abbey Kruvilla, Dave Johnson, Bhupinder Singh, Debashesh Mohanty, Tinu Youhanan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Balaji etc. of these only Sunil Ankola, Tinu Youhanan and Agarkar had good raw pace and would touch 140-145 Kmph range where as Zaheer and Irfan both had the potential to bowl fast but have slowed down with time, although still quite young.
From Pakistan point of view if you exclude the obvious five fast one i.e. Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Shoib and Sami, you are still left with genuine fast bowlers like Azeem Hafiz, Tahir Naqqash, Fazle Akbar, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Zahid, Shahid Nazir, and to an extent Aqib Javed (he was quicker then any of the Indian bowlers but was classified as medium due to relative comparison with two W’s) Mohsin Kamal the list goes on (we have not included Medium pacers like Siknadar Bakht, Wasim Haider, Rashid Khan, Jalaluddin, Azhar Mahmood, Abdulrazzaq etc.)
Well, what are the reasons for such difference, although India also has had MRF pace academy for the last 20-years or so with the sole remit of producing fast bowlers where the legendary Lillee works with youngsters, but, so far the academy has produced nothing of substance.
There are four theories that prevail in the Pakistani cricket circles that outline the reasons for Pakistan producing fast men consistently rather then India. Rahul Bhattachariya outlines these in his book, Pundits from Pakistan, in his interview with Aqib Javed, the theories have been put forward by many people in Pakistan cricket at different times, including Imran Khan, but Aqib has put them together in his role as academy coach and under 19’s team coach in the last four years.
The four theories are based on four elements of fast bowling. To be a fast bowler you need to have, it goes without saying, speed, but in order to generate speed you generally need to have a physique suitable for bowling fast, aggression i.e. the mental make up of a bowler, willingness to bowl fast, once again mental side of things and stamina and desire, and culture and a system of grooming fast bowling. So we understand that most of these four factors, if not all of them, make up a fast bowlers along with the natural ability or talent, which is a given for any sport. A closer inspection of these factors one by one reveals the reasons for them being in an individual or not and its impact on the ability to bowl fast consistently.
Physique; no one can argue that you need a certain kind physical shape to be successful fast bowler; big broad shoulders, long legs and long arms make the art of fast bowling much easier. Lillie, Thomson, Holding, Garner, Roberts even Imran and Wasim had these qualities. Imran for long advocated that if Pakistan cricket authorities can extend the game into NWFP, especially the “agencies like Waziristan” then they will have a never ending assembly line of fast bowlers, as Pathan tribesmen living in those areas are physically very strong and bloody minded (literally that is the area where Osama Bin Ladin is arguably hiding and those tribesmen, or some of them, have been fighting US and Pakistan forces for years, they also fought USSR and eventually resulted in its collapse) and physical strength comes naturally to them. Cricket has seen a urbanized version of that in Shahid Afridi, who is a tribesman by origin but lived in Karachi for most part of his life, as a spinner he bowls his faster delivery at almost 80 mph. ( in one game against South Africa couple of years ago, his quicker delivery was quicker then Shaun Pollock’s average speed, he also bowled a quick bouncer to Brian Lara in 2005 in Wes Indies and in second innings of Faisalabad test in the recently concluded series, he took the new ball as the match was heading towards a draw and consistently bowled at 130 kmph albeit with a non coherent action) Shahid Afridi encompasses the brute force that tribal people can bring to cricket. But, tribal areas have not contributed any fast bowlers to Pakistan cricket so far, although it seems like a good plan for future, but so far their contribution is nil, and what about bowlers like Waqar, Shoib Akhtar, Sami and Malcolm Marshal none of them were very tall or big, but, quick nonetheless. On the Indian side, the fastest bowler to emerge in India for the last ten years is Agarkar, not a physical specimen of typical fast bowler shape. Although being tall and big helps, but is not necessarily the only reason for being a fast bowler. Lets not forget that Abbey Kuruvilla, Venkatesh Prasad and Debashish Mohanty were all tall and had the build of fast bowlers but could only bowl medium pace.
The next factor is aggression, how do you become aggressive and cut an intimidating picture in the field. Certainly many factors contribute to that and so far there has not been any conclusive research or psycho analysis done on fast bowlers’ mentality and origins of their aggressive behavior and nature, but Pakistani fast bowlers have pointed to one factor when speaking about Indian fast bowlers aggressiveness or lack of it. It is suggested that the reason why Pakistan produces aggressive, intimidating fast bowlers and India does not, is that Pakistanis consume lot of red meat, where as most Indians don’t. Proteins can be acquired from other sources as well, but it is said that red meat gives you a certain kind of aggressiveness and that is why bowlers like Waqar and Shoib can skittle out wickets on the basis of their presence. Once again a glance around the cricketing world gives some credence to this theory, most, traditionally, fast bowler producing countries are all red meat eating countries like Australia, South Africa and West Indies. Two of the recently aggressive Indian bowlers are both Muslims, presuming red meat eating, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan.
Going by this, India has almost 150 million Muslims and many other ethnicities that eat red meat, Sikhs and Christians included, yet they have not produced fast bowlers, the only genuine fast bowler actually came from South India, generally a vegetarian region, although he did have the physique. Speaking about aggressive behavior and intent, what about Greg Chappel (a vegetarian), Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble, although not fast bowlers but they have aggression aplenty.
The first two aspects raise an important question, if we assume both of the afore mentioned theories to be true, including Imran’s view on tribal Pathans being suitable to fast bowling, where can India find their next real fast bowler.
Both Imran and Aqib have said many times that the best chance of Indians finding a genuine fast bowlers lies in there northern areas, mainly Punjab, where the vast majority is of Sikhs, generally physically stronger and aggressive in nature, much like there counterparts in Pakistani Punjab that has almost exclusively produced fast bowlers in last 25 years or so, the only exception being Mohammed Sami. Sikhs eat red meat and growing in vast planes and farms makes them used to hard work and physically stronger, a pre requisite for fast bowling. But, as opposed to Pakistani Punjab, India has produced, aggressive, stylish, good looking and cunning players in the shape of Bishen Singh Bedi, Maninder Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Yuvraj Singh. But none of them ever bawled fast. This is where the third theory comes into its own. Desire and willingness to bowl fast, it emanates from the basic principle of hard work, fast bowling is the hardest job in cricket along with wicket keeping. But, what makes people work hard, there are as many answers to this question as there are reasons for it not happening. But, what really encourages youngsters to work hard and take up something, which is as difficult and tiring as fast bowling. It is the urge to emulate your idols, to be some one you see in action and want to be like them. Images in a youngsters mind pretty much determine which way the kid will go. Although the Indian Punjab has all the elements of Pakistani Punjab, but, what they lacked is the critical aspect, an Idol. When every one in Pakistan wanted to run in like Imran Khan and bowl those lovely in swingers, imagining a lithe body, fair complexion, high jump and the ability to not only bowl over batmen but also women and cricket administrators, youngsters in the Indian Punjab were watching Bishen Singh Bedi weaving his web with flight and subtlety of spin bowling. Imran Khan, as much for his ability to bowl fast and his glamorous looks, proved to be a huge influence on how fast bowling was perceived in this region, which only produces mud baked heartbreaking batting tracks.
It is not wonder then that since the inception of satellite T.V with diminishing boundaries and commercialized cricket in the sub continent, it also made fast bowling look “ sexy” in India, especially left arm fast bowling of a certain Pakistani great. Interestingly where as Pakistanis greatly appreciate and love Wasim Akram’s left arm magic but kids’ hearts have fallen more for Burewala express i.e. Waqar Younis, resulting in, Shoib, Yasir Arafat and Mohammed Irshad, you can clearly see semblance of Waqar’s action in them. But on the other hand in India, Wasim was the real deal, because he made their batsmen suffer for so many years. Although hardly any bilateral cricket was played between India and Pakistan through out the 90’s but TV did the job. And results are there for every one to see, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, R.P Singh all have burst onto the Indian scene at a young age and admittedly idolizing Wasim, hence Wasim’s popularity in India.
Where the traditional Indian cricketing heroes have been batsmen like Punkaj, Vinoo Mankad, Nawab Patuadi, Nari Contractor, Ajit Wadekar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath and the list goes on. Is it any surprise that India has produced Sachin, Rahul, Yuraj, Dhoni and Sehwag but TV is doing the job and they should be able to find an express bowler soon, they already have one in Munaf Patel playing first class cricket.
But still, all of the new brigade is medium pace, Zaheer was quick when he came on, so was Nehra and every one expected Irfan to get quicker but all of them have become medium pacer with the passage of two to three years in international cricket. But none of them were as quick as the new bowlers bursting onto Pakistani cricket scene, Rana, Asif and Razzq all consistently bowl faster then their Indian counter parts but all are categorized as medium pacers, at least three current fast bowlers in Pakistani first class cricket are bowling over 90 mph regularly and still have not been able to get into the national side, Najaf Shah, Yasir Arafat and Mohammed Irshad.
The answer probably lies in the cricketing culture and system, but wait a minute system and Pakistan cricket cannot be together in one sentence?? But the system and culture has nothing to do with Pakistan cricket administration, it is more to do with the cricketing culture on the streets.
Although not as internationalized but still, equal in significance to the other two contributions of Pakistan to the international bowling scene in the last 15 years, reverse swing and “doosra”. The third element to that is “tape ball cricket”. A country where vast majority lives in poverty or near poverty, where there are hardly any playgrounds available for kids in urban centers, the masses had to come up with an easier and cheaper way of satisfying their cricketing hunger and be entertained. And boom, tape cricket happened. It is simple, take a tennis ball and mask scotch tape around it to give it more weight and make it bounce similar to real cricket ball. It is heavy enough to be bowled properly and it behaves similarly to normal cricket ball, where as a normal untapped tennis ball does not, get a bat and that is it. No pads, gloves, helmet, abdominal guard or in some instances even stumps required. Bricks, chairs, empty cartons, impression of stumps on walls, anything will do. What it did was, kids could bowl like their idols in streets without worrying about, equipment which most of them could not afford, vast spaces and injuries and just bowl like Imran, Wasim, Waqar or who ever they fancied. Tape ball is lighter then the real ball so that requires the bowler to exert extra force on it to send it down quickly in the process helping develop, arm, forearm, back, thigh, stomach and shoulder muscles, all essential for bowling fast. It also teaches them how to swing the ball and other variations. By either leaving a small slit on one side of the ball the ball starts to behaves on the principle of reverse swing, or by making a seam by wrapping extra tape in the middle, and you have a apparatus as real as you will get to develop bowlers. Because space is cramped and boundaries smaller and less over available, the batsman are their to hit every thing out of the ground, so the bowler learn to ball quick Yorkers and short balls because that is the only way to escape punishment. This does not happen in India, in India cricket is played with a normal tennis ball on the streets and although it encourage stroke making, fast bowling becomes futile.
In my opinion it is the two later factors that are major reason for the disparity in fast bowling resources in India and Pakistan. Although having a good build certainly helps and once you have the skill, attitude either comes with it or becomes irrelevant, Steve Harmison is a genial chap, but O boy can he bowl fast. Tino best of West Indies is very aggressive but can he bowl in international matches? And the next big problem in India’s lack of fast bowlers is the development of fast bowlers or their education about fast bowling, Nehra, Agarkar, Balaji and Zaheer were all much quicker when they came into the Indian side then now and Irfan looked like a genuine heir to Wasim Akram’s throne, but have all either gone down or stopped growing, in terms of speed of bowling, in the last couple of years.
And Pakistanis need not worry, the grass is still green in the land, PCB and Pepsi recently conducted fast bowling clinic in a bid to unearth the fastest young bowler in land. From eight zones they picked the two fastest bowlers, below the age of 20, 16 bowlers assembled and then were reduced to 8 once again on the basis of sheer pace, all eight bowled well over 90 mph. And Wasim Akram and Imran Khan, who both knew a thing or two about fast bowling, say that the peak of a fast bowler is from the age of 24 till 29 when the body has filled up and bones strengthened, meaning this is the time when fast bowlers are at their quickest and more recently Anwar Ali and Jamshed Ahmad shone in the under 19 world cup final, incidentally against India, by successfully defending 109 rungs.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Fletcher Favourites
The stats for Fletcher Favorites, as they stand at the end of second test in Australia.
Geraint Jones
He has scored 11 runs in the second test, took three catches and dropped one, in the closing stages of Australian chase.
Ashley Giles
He scored 27 runs in two innings, including a duck - if ever a superior number 8 batsman was needed to score it was the second inning of the second test- and has bowled 52 over, conceded 149 runs and taken 2 wickets.
The superiors fielder also dropped Ricky Ponting when he was on 35 in the first innings costing the team another 107 runs.
1st Test
Geraint Jones scored 52 runs in 2 innings and took 1 catch.
Ashley Giles scored 57 runs in two innings and bowled 30 overs, conceded 113 runs for 1 wicket.
Combined together, FF (Fletcher Favorites) have scored 137 runs for 7 seven dismissals to achieve an average of 19.57 for the batting positions of 7 & 8, combined, have dropped two catches and between them have contributed to 7 dismissals.
Ashley Giles has so far taken 3 wickets @ the cost of 87.33 runs per wicket with a strike rate of 164 balls per wicket i.e. 27.3 over of bowling per wicket, he on average bowls 25 overs per day. This means for Ashely to take a 5 for, he will need to bowl 136.65 overs in a match, as he bowls on average of 25 over per day, he will needs five and a half days to get half of the Australian side out.
Harmison, Anderson and Ashley Giles between them have taken 6 wickets for 853 runs at an average of 142.7, this is 60% of England's bowling attack and their performance, you through in a skipper just coming back from Injury and it will not surprise anyone that England are loosing. Still, the coach blames the batsmen, speak of a blinkered vision.
Geraint Jones
He has scored 11 runs in the second test, took three catches and dropped one, in the closing stages of Australian chase.
Ashley Giles
He scored 27 runs in two innings, including a duck - if ever a superior number 8 batsman was needed to score it was the second inning of the second test- and has bowled 52 over, conceded 149 runs and taken 2 wickets.
The superiors fielder also dropped Ricky Ponting when he was on 35 in the first innings costing the team another 107 runs.
1st Test
Geraint Jones scored 52 runs in 2 innings and took 1 catch.
Ashley Giles scored 57 runs in two innings and bowled 30 overs, conceded 113 runs for 1 wicket.
Combined together, FF (Fletcher Favorites) have scored 137 runs for 7 seven dismissals to achieve an average of 19.57 for the batting positions of 7 & 8, combined, have dropped two catches and between them have contributed to 7 dismissals.
Ashley Giles has so far taken 3 wickets @ the cost of 87.33 runs per wicket with a strike rate of 164 balls per wicket i.e. 27.3 over of bowling per wicket, he on average bowls 25 overs per day. This means for Ashely to take a 5 for, he will need to bowl 136.65 overs in a match, as he bowls on average of 25 over per day, he will needs five and a half days to get half of the Australian side out.
Harmison, Anderson and Ashley Giles between them have taken 6 wickets for 853 runs at an average of 142.7, this is 60% of England's bowling attack and their performance, you through in a skipper just coming back from Injury and it will not surprise anyone that England are loosing. Still, the coach blames the batsmen, speak of a blinkered vision.
Spear Heads and how they come now adays
Now consider this. A bowling spearhead, allegedly, runs in to bowl the first delivery of one of the most anticipated series in the world and looses it completely. No need to mention who the culprit was, but, have a butchers about these numbers.
In the last 15 test matches, away from home, the Spear Head, lets call him SH. averages 47 away from home, if you reduce the criteria to 12 tests, that is after 2004 test series against West Indies then the average goes up to 52.58 with a strike rate of 70 plus.
SH is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers in the world, how & why, is beyond me. SH has only taken tow 5 wicket halls, home or away, in the last 15 months. S.H has not taken any five wicket halls away from home since 2004, that is 25 innings without a 5 for. A five wicket hall is equated to a century by a batsman, generally. This means a premium batsman, who is supposed to carry the batting of the whole team and set the tempo for the team has gone 25 innings without scoring a century away from home. The most talked about run drought for a leader was that of Mark Taylor and he only went century less for 18 months and 22 test innings, but, he was too valuable as a captain to be dropped and his team was still winning. Our SH has gone for much longer then that, against all kinds of opposition. This is like Ricky Ponting, Mohammad Yousaf, Inzimama, Rahul Dravid or Jacque Kallis not scoring a century for two years and 25 innings and yet remains to be the lynch pin of his teams batting. Can it really happen in today's media.... how come no one is focusing on this.
Just to put things in perspective SH's figures are worse then those of Mohammad Sami, probably the biggest disappointment of modern cricket.... worse then Mohammad Sami.. with his built and with the team faith that is placed on him, is mind boggling. I mean we are talking about being worse then Sami, it hardly gets any worse then that.
Needless to say, SH also stand for Steve Harmison and I am sure no one will put Sami, Agarkar and Harmision in the same bracket of fast bowlers, but, whether you like it or not, Sami and Agarkar have better record then Harmison's record away from home. Both of them have better bowling records in Australia then Steve,he averages 77.80, none of them have, at least publicly, admitted to being " frozen" in the face of the biggest series of their careers. So is it really such a big surprise to see England suffer in Australia. May be some people need to get the recognition they deserve like Hoggard and some ether's position in the team needs to be questioned.
In the last 15 test matches, away from home, the Spear Head, lets call him SH. averages 47 away from home, if you reduce the criteria to 12 tests, that is after 2004 test series against West Indies then the average goes up to 52.58 with a strike rate of 70 plus.
SH is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers in the world, how & why, is beyond me. SH has only taken tow 5 wicket halls, home or away, in the last 15 months. S.H has not taken any five wicket halls away from home since 2004, that is 25 innings without a 5 for. A five wicket hall is equated to a century by a batsman, generally. This means a premium batsman, who is supposed to carry the batting of the whole team and set the tempo for the team has gone 25 innings without scoring a century away from home. The most talked about run drought for a leader was that of Mark Taylor and he only went century less for 18 months and 22 test innings, but, he was too valuable as a captain to be dropped and his team was still winning. Our SH has gone for much longer then that, against all kinds of opposition. This is like Ricky Ponting, Mohammad Yousaf, Inzimama, Rahul Dravid or Jacque Kallis not scoring a century for two years and 25 innings and yet remains to be the lynch pin of his teams batting. Can it really happen in today's media.... how come no one is focusing on this.
Just to put things in perspective SH's figures are worse then those of Mohammad Sami, probably the biggest disappointment of modern cricket.... worse then Mohammad Sami.. with his built and with the team faith that is placed on him, is mind boggling. I mean we are talking about being worse then Sami, it hardly gets any worse then that.
Needless to say, SH also stand for Steve Harmison and I am sure no one will put Sami, Agarkar and Harmision in the same bracket of fast bowlers, but, whether you like it or not, Sami and Agarkar have better record then Harmison's record away from home. Both of them have better bowling records in Australia then Steve,he averages 77.80, none of them have, at least publicly, admitted to being " frozen" in the face of the biggest series of their careers. So is it really such a big surprise to see England suffer in Australia. May be some people need to get the recognition they deserve like Hoggard and some ether's position in the team needs to be questioned.
Shoib & Asif acquitted of Drugs Ban
I have had mixed feelings ever since I heard about Shoib & Asif's acquittal. I am relieved, sad, frustrated, unable to comprehend and actually understand the whole affair.
Relieved as purely a selfish person who wants to see Pakistan cricket team excel and do well. They have got their best fast bowling pair back, along with Shabbir's come back in January and Umar Gul' growth throughout the season, not minding the mixed form of Rana and " no form" of Sami, the fast bowling department looks impressive.
Sad because only PCB can make such a mess of an affair like this. New chairman comes in, promises accountability, transparency - a word almost abused in Pakistan politics and administration- of strengthening the system or in other word taking control away from the players. Every thing that every single chairman of PCB has said in their opening addresses.
Punish the bowlers, rightfully so, although bit severe especially against Shoib apparently for his active sex life and consumption of Alcohol, and now lets them scotfree. what has really changed since the first verdict, there is a new committee headed by the very able justice Fakhrudding G. Ibrahim, Captaincy has come back to Inzimam from Younis, Pakistan lost miserably in Champions Trophy, Inzi came back and won a series against WI, elections in Pakistan are coming closer, Opposition is bringing people on the streets. May be a lot has changed.... but really has there been a fundamental change to Shoib & Asif's case?
Justice Ibrahim, lets keep in mind, was the person who passed a verdict in mid 90's clearing Saleem Malik of any wrongdoings to fix matches or affect their result apart from by playing the game. That enquiry was set up after accusations from Basit, Rashid, Waugh and Warne... so I guess it is no surprise that this verdict has been given. Three weeks ago the Chairman of PCB said that the tests were conducted internally & out of competition and neither ICC nor WADA had any jurisdiction on the case.... people in the know how knew that the sentence will be reduced, but, no one expected acquittal, not without a suspended ban or fine or any other form of punishment. But then, Chairman PCB is a minister of state and does not want to provide fuel to the raging opposition parties in Pakistan against his boss, and the patron of PCB, the president of Pakistan.
Although, it does make me wonder that a player who had been banned for suspect action, questioned over his commitment to the team cause ( even before he started his international career his work ethic was questioned), charged and found guilty of ball tempering twice and found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs can still be considered a national hero and a role model, without even going into his debonair lifestyle. And in the same country, Meherullah Lassi and Faisal Karim, two of the best boxers in their categories have been banned for LIFE... yes LIFE... only days before the traveled to Doha for Asian Games for using canopies. They were serious contenders of medals for Pakistan...... what glamour, what star power and politics can do... one wonders.
Relieved as purely a selfish person who wants to see Pakistan cricket team excel and do well. They have got their best fast bowling pair back, along with Shabbir's come back in January and Umar Gul' growth throughout the season, not minding the mixed form of Rana and " no form" of Sami, the fast bowling department looks impressive.
Sad because only PCB can make such a mess of an affair like this. New chairman comes in, promises accountability, transparency - a word almost abused in Pakistan politics and administration- of strengthening the system or in other word taking control away from the players. Every thing that every single chairman of PCB has said in their opening addresses.
Punish the bowlers, rightfully so, although bit severe especially against Shoib apparently for his active sex life and consumption of Alcohol, and now lets them scotfree. what has really changed since the first verdict, there is a new committee headed by the very able justice Fakhrudding G. Ibrahim, Captaincy has come back to Inzimam from Younis, Pakistan lost miserably in Champions Trophy, Inzi came back and won a series against WI, elections in Pakistan are coming closer, Opposition is bringing people on the streets. May be a lot has changed.... but really has there been a fundamental change to Shoib & Asif's case?
Justice Ibrahim, lets keep in mind, was the person who passed a verdict in mid 90's clearing Saleem Malik of any wrongdoings to fix matches or affect their result apart from by playing the game. That enquiry was set up after accusations from Basit, Rashid, Waugh and Warne... so I guess it is no surprise that this verdict has been given. Three weeks ago the Chairman of PCB said that the tests were conducted internally & out of competition and neither ICC nor WADA had any jurisdiction on the case.... people in the know how knew that the sentence will be reduced, but, no one expected acquittal, not without a suspended ban or fine or any other form of punishment. But then, Chairman PCB is a minister of state and does not want to provide fuel to the raging opposition parties in Pakistan against his boss, and the patron of PCB, the president of Pakistan.
Although, it does make me wonder that a player who had been banned for suspect action, questioned over his commitment to the team cause ( even before he started his international career his work ethic was questioned), charged and found guilty of ball tempering twice and found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs can still be considered a national hero and a role model, without even going into his debonair lifestyle. And in the same country, Meherullah Lassi and Faisal Karim, two of the best boxers in their categories have been banned for LIFE... yes LIFE... only days before the traveled to Doha for Asian Games for using canopies. They were serious contenders of medals for Pakistan...... what glamour, what star power and politics can do... one wonders.
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