Quest For Pace..!!!!!

India
February 14, 2011 1:10am CST
India has a population of about 1.6 billion. We have 28 States and 7 Union Territories. Yet we do not have a single bowler any where, who can clock 90 miles consistently. I wonder why that is??? Take Pakistan, Australia, Srilanka, England, South Africa, all these countries have fast bowlers. And by fast bowlers, I mean really fast. And these countries seem to produce them at will. The fastest bowler that we may have produced is Ashish Nehra. That was during the world cup season of 2003. And in the one match against England, where he took something like 6 for 23 or something, he ended up vomiting. But that was it. We have produced some great batsmen in the likes of Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar Sehwag etc. We have even produced some great spinners too. But I still wonder why we cannot produce a Bowler who can beat the batsmen for sheer pace from this population of 1.6 billion??? Where are we going wrong?? What should we do to produce some FAAASSSST BOWLERS??? Where should we look?? what should they eat??? :P Share your views...!!!! Balu.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@raj7shot (838)
• India
14 Feb 11
We dont have the bowler who bowl at 90 miles per hour but we have best bowler who can perform at most pitches in the world.. Reason for not producing such kind of bowlers is the way of pitch we are having and we are producing.. First we want to prepare our pitch llike the countries in SA, AUS,NZ...
1 person likes this
• India
15 Feb 11
Dear Raj, I am afraid I would have to disagree with you on this. If pitches were the case then, in the recent tour of South Africa, where the pitches were fast and bouncy, I do no think that any of our bowlers touched 140 at any time. Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Lasith Malinga are all products of similar sub continent pitches. And they all have bowled in 140's and 150's on Indian pitches. I simply believe that it is more of a mind set thing or, it is a case of most players wanting t be batsmen. Share your views... Balu
1 person likes this
• India
23 Feb 11
Dear Raj, Everything needs practice. Batting needs practice. Fielding needs practice. Walking, talking, writing, eating, drinking, cycling... you name it, everything needs practice.....!!! Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Lasith Malinga, They all bowl on subcontinent pitches. Conditions similar to Indian pitches. All these mentioned bowlers have bowled here,on Indian pitches, time and again above 140 and 150.... The pitch does not decide if one should release the ball at 140 or 150 or 120 or 130 kms/hr....Sooo... I still believe that it is just a physical and mental aspect of a player...!!!! Share your views...!!! Balu
@raj7shot (838)
• India
15 Feb 11
Thanks for your comments.. You cant able to bowl at 140 km/hr without practice.Will you agree this?.. For bowling at 140 or more km/hr consistent one should need practice.. Here our pitches are not designed so.. Why they (malinga,wasim akram,lee) are bowling due to their pitches and practice... In our pitch is very tough to produce ...
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (45543)
• India
14 Feb 11
May be you are forgetting that Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath earlier and Zaheer Khan now, while not express fast have had quite good successes in both test matches and One day internationals. Zaheer Khan was quite fast earlier and so was Sreesanth. However, overall success is what I think matters more. One reason could be that we have very high (40+) temperatures in summers in most of India. This added with batsman and spinner friendly tracks in India is not conducive for fast bowling. I think such energy sapping conditions do not help making of express fast bowlers.
• India
15 Feb 11
Dear Trikha, No one can forget Kapil Dev or Srinath. But with all due respect to Kapil, he was a swing bowler. And I must say he was one of the best at that art. Srinath was quick when he came in but, let us say he was never express. He had it in him, but he never bowled to his maximum speed. I know age does bring the pace down. But in India people don't wait till you are old. They just bowl within their limitations. That is also alright as long as you can crank it up when needed. Zaheer Khan is a very good bowler. His pace has surely come down, but he is getting wiser. which is good enough. but I do not agree with the excuses put on the pitches. Then Pakistan should never be producing bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, or Umar Gul, or Waqar Younis or a Wasim Akram. Srilanka has people like Lasith Malinga and had a couple of others who could touch 90 miles... consistently. Preserving and using energy wisely is another issue. I am talking about some one who can beat the bat with pace, And for that pitches don't really matter. Share your views... Balu.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (45543)
• India
21 Feb 11
Hi balu, I do understand your feelings. However, If I were the captain of a cricket team, I would prefer a medium pacer bowling at medium pace and ghaving figures of 3 for 30 rather than an express pace bowler, breaking records of speed with figures of 1 for 48. I remember Salil Ankola, who played a few matches, and used to bowl quite fast, yet he did not last long in team. And comparing between a Shoaib Akhtar and Zaheer Khan- I believe that it is Zaheer who has beenmore successful.