Real change for India: the rise of fast bowlers
When Rahul Dravid retired in 2012, there was a lot of concern about who was going to fill his big boots at that crucial No. 3 position for India. I remember tweeting at the time that more than finding another great No. 3, if we could find three world-class bowlers, India would win more Test matches overseas.
Through the ’90s, when I was part of the India team, we won frequently at home but, unlike Pakistan, really struggled to make a mark overseas. We were labelled tigers at home, lambs overseas. Deep down, we players agreed with that description. During that time we struggled on most fronts, starting with temperament. The team’s confidence in itself just nosedived when we set foot on foreign land. Especially when it came to the West Indies and Australia, we had lost the series in the head already.
India’s batting was skilled but it wasn’t “global” in nature — most batsmen had excellent abilities but these abilities were restricted to sub-continental conditions. When the ball moved or bounced, these batsmen struggled, barring rare exceptions such as Sachin Tendulkar.
Our bowling was potent too, but again, designed to excel in Indian conditions, on turners. In overseas Tests, the opposition piled on the runs and made us bat twice before beating us.
In 1990, when Graham Gooch got 333 at Lord’s, India had three seamers: Kapil Dev, still a great bowler but no longer in his prime; Manoj Prabhakar, a great trier, but not a match-winner; and Sanjeev Sharma, a newbie. England declared at 653 in the first innings. I don’t think we bowled a single bouncer in that time!
This was the period when Indian fans looked to celebrate and take solace in individual feats rather than team wins.
After 2000, in the era of the Fab Four (Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dravid and VVS Laxman), India were blessed to have some really top-class batsmen — critically, they had the technique to handle swing and bounce and the attacking shots off rising balls to score runs on foreign pitches. But the bowling remained the same — big names, but mostly spinners whose potency wasn’t adequate on overseas pitches. India desperately needed at least three high-quality seamers. It had one, Zaheer Khan.
When India managed to gain three seamers bowling well in tandem, with some support from spinners, they were able to win a few matches overseas, but wins weren’t enough to get the sceptics to regard India a great Test team.
Until India start dominating the world like the West Indies did in the ’80s and ’90s and like Australia has after that, they will remain a great Test team in the making. But the graph today may be heading in the right direction. Because what India have now is what I dreamt of when Dravid retired — at least five seam bowlers who, if called upon to bowl in an overseas Test, will get you wickets. I include Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur in this, after watching them bowl in Australia earlier this year.
Now the India team is a bit similar to the Pakistan team of the ’90s in this respect. For the first time in my recollection, we have a team whose strongest suit is seam bowling. Overseas cricket is all about pace and seam and finally India have the ingredients that get you overseas Test wins consistently.
What’s happening in Indian cricket that we are seeing so many quality seamers coming through, even more than spinners? Test skills give you a sense of deep satisfaction and pride but do not make you rich. Finger spinners are almost redundant in the T20 format, so I don’t see too many kids today wanting to bowl the plain old off spin, despite R Ashwin’s success in home Tests. Seam bowling is viable in both Tests and T20s and so the supply of seamers will only increase.
The other, perhaps more important, reason is that excellence in fitness has become the norm. Smart, hard work at the gym shows instant results with pace and longevity for a fast bowler.
Also, a 12-year-old aspiring cricketer can now set his sights on becoming the next Jasprit Bumrah or Mohammed Shami, just like dead pitches in Pakistan did not stop kids from taking up fast bowling, because they had Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis to look up to.