Cramped series hits pace bowlers hardest
MANCHESTER: Five Tests in 42 days, this series was always going to take a toll on the bowlers. No surprises that the two teams are reeling under injuries to key pacers.
India looked toothless at Southampton after Ishant Sharma was ruled out, and are sweating over the fitness of Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of the fourth Test. England suffered their first casualty when Liam Plunkett was ruled out of the series. NOT SURPRISED Experts are not surprised, saying the schedule is too cramped. “When we played the five-Test Ashes and one-dayers in 1986, the tour lasted almost four months. These guys are playing five Tests in 42 days. The pressure is more because the players have to be peaking all the time,” said former England fast bowler Gladstone Small, who helped England win the 1986 Ashes with a five-wicket haul in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne.
“Earlier, players had ample time to refresh and recover. Then we had tour games to work our way into form,” added Small.
India are at a greater disadvantage as they are not used to playing five-Test series. MS Dhoni, the senior-most member, has only played four-Test series.
It is for this reason that the Indian selectors picked seven pacers. The team has already been forced to use a reserve — Pankaj Singh. Varun Aaron and Ishwar Pandey will be on standby for the next two Tests.
THE PRESSURE IS MORE BECAUSE THE PLAYERS HAVE TO BE PEAKING ALL THE TIME
Small observed that on such gruelling assignments, the bigger challenge is to stay mentally fresh. “The pressure and intensity is tremendous and recovering mentally in a short time is not easy.”
Visualising the scenario, England gave their players a break from domestic cricket after the Sri Lanka series. Yet, they have not succeeded in managing stress levels. Plunkett was England’s most impressive bowler at Lord’s, before picking up the injury. There is little respite for India. Plunkett’s replacement, Steve Finn, is rated highly. During a discussion, Rahul Dravid had remarked that he was so impressed with his bowling in the 2011 ODI series that he had told people in the dressing room, “It couldn’t get any worse than losing the Tests 0-4, but if Finn would have been playing it actually could have been worse.”