By and large, the bowling has almost always been the bigger problem inIndian cricket, and the scenario today, pertaining in particular tothe squad touring England, is not very different
Partab Ramchand21-Jun-2002By and large, the bowling has almost always been the bigger problem inIndian cricket, and the scenario today, pertaining in particular tothe squad touring England, is not very different. As the team preparesto take on the hosts and Sri Lanka in a tri-series, to be followed bya four-Test series against England, there are question marks over thebowling even as confidence reigns that the experienced and giftedbatting line-up will come good even with the problems at the verytop of the order.
© CricInfoEnglish conditions, as a rule, favour seam bowlers, but it has beenproved time and again that even a good spinner can be among thewickets. This is true in the case of Indian bowlers as well. Over thelast 70 years, the list of Indians who have done well in England makesfor interesting reading. Among those who have operated the new ball,Mohammad Nissar, Amar Singh, Lala Amarnath, Raman Surendranath, KapilDev, Roger Binny, Chetan Sharma, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasadhave enjoyed a fair share of success. Given the strong tradition ofIndian spin, it is always on the cards that bowlers giving the ball ahealthy tweak will be just as successful, as proved by the exploits ofVinoo Mankad, Ghulam Ahmed, Subash Gupte, BS Chandrasekhar, DilipDoshi and Maninder Singh.So, on the face of it, at least some of the six principal bowlers inthe current squad seem to have a reasonable chance of success. Theyare four seamers Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and TinuYohannan – and two spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Infact, with spin being India’s forte, it may even seem a gamble to tourEngland with just two such bowlers. But as I pointed out in a recentcolumn, spin to win may no longer be the Indian mantra overseas.The last three Test victories abroad in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and theWest Indies were all principally shaped by the fast men. The truth ofthe matter is that the overseas record of Kumble and Harbhajan doesnot inspire confidence. Given this, the bulk of the work could well bedone by the four seam bowlers. And while no one can deny that they areall game triers and will not be short on stamina, they are certainlyinexperienced. All of them are making their first full tour ofEngland, and Agarkar alone has some experience of bowling ininternational matches in England, having been a member of the 1999World Cup team. For inspiration, though, they need look no furtherthan Venkatesh Prasad, who made his Test debut in England in 1996 andtook 15 wickets in three Tests.Kumble, on the other hand, is making his third full tour of England,besides being a member of the 1999 World Cup side. He has also had acouple of seasons with Northamptonshire in the county championship,and the astonishing fact is that while he has performed commendablyfor the county enough for him to be selected as Wisden Cricketer ofthe Year in 1996 his deeds for the country have been a letdown.In 1990 he was a rookie, making his debut in the second Test atManchester. By 1996, however, he was very much the lynchpin of theattack. But he still had a nightmarish series, finishing with justfive wickets in the three Tests at an average of 66.80. Despite hisimpressive overall record 319 wickets from 70 Tests at an average offractionally under 28 Kumble has continued to remain an enigmaoverseas, and it can only be hoped that he makes the most of theopportunity the current tour gives him to prove that he can be aneffective bowler abroad.
© CricInfoMuch the same fears abound as far as Harbhajan is concerned. The offspinner is a class act at home, but overseas he has been reduced to abowler of near club standard. He and Kumble did tie up the Englishmenin knots in the home series six months ago, but it will be a whollydifferent – and much more difficult – proposition in England. Twice in 1951-52, and again 30 years later English batsmen have flounderedin India, only to turn the tables on them a few months later in homeconditions.Given the inexperience of the seam attack and the ineffectiveness ofthe spinners, perhaps Sourav Ganguly will have to do a lot of bowlinghimself. He is the kind who may be able to make the ball talk inEnglish conditions. Not many may know that in his memorable debutseries six years ago, besides heading the batting figures, he alsotopped the bowling averages – six wickets in two matches at an averageof 20.83. He was also fairly successful during the World Cup threeyears ago.Given this background, as well as his skill and experience, it may notbe a surprise if he fancies himself as almost a frontline bowler. Wemay well see him bowl fairly long spells, though how many wickets willfall to him is open to question.All in all, it is not a bowling line-up to inspire confidence,especially after what the England batsmen have just accomplishedagainst Sri Lanka, scoring 500-plus in three successive innings, thefirst time they have achieved this feat in 125 years of Test cricket.The onus will again fall on the batsmen to run up the kind of totalsthat would ensure at least a draw. For, at the moment, India winningthe Test series is just as uphill a task as it was for England to winin this country six months ago. They didn’t have the bowlers to win inIndia, and we don’t seem to have the bowlers to win in England. Afterall, as is well-known, it is sharp bowling and not tall scoring thatwins matches.