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.