Skip to main content

The hidden decline

There has been a lot of talk recently about the big hole in India's Test team that will be left by the imminent retirement of Tendulkar, Dravid, and Laxman and this article is another example of that. And while that is likely to be true in the near term, I think the batting line-up will recover far sooner than most people think. For one, in Sehwag and Gambhir there will still be two world class batsmen remaining and also the bench looks reasonably healthy with the likes of Vijay, Badrinath, Pujara, Kohli, and Rohit Sharma all fighting for spots.

What has not been talked about much and has been a problem for much longer are the bowling stocks. Despite India's improving record in Test cricket over the last 5 years, there has not been a single new bowler who has managed to establish a permanent spot in the team as a world class performer. In fact in the last two decades, India has produced only three bowlers who consistently delivered Test class performances in Kumble, Srinath, and Zaheer Khan. A little more leniency would see Harbhajan join that list but that's it. The assembly line of quicks that have all sparkled sporadically but then fallen away continues to grow by the day. Irfan, Nehra, Balaji, Sreesanth, R.P., Munaf, and now Ishant. And the spin situation is worse if anything with almost no real back-up for Harbhajan. A remarkable stat I recently found was that visiting teams in the past ten years have scored nearly 120 more runs per match than they did in the ten year period prior to that and at a higher run rate. Which essentially puts the batting under more pressure, especially if a foreign bowler has a great day.

So the real worries for the team will begin when Tendulkar and co retire but when Zaheer Khan does. The hunt for match-winning bowlers better start in right earnest!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...

First thoughts on the Ashes

The only minor surprise for me in the 2013 Australian Ashes squad announced last week was the selection of James Faulkner ahead of Moises Henriques as the second all-rounder. Minor because given  the Shane Watson shenanigans of recent times, I would have thought that Inverarity and co would have opted for a second batting all-rounder (which is what Henriques clearly is). Instead they've gone with a bowling all-rounder in Faulkner and it'll be interesting to see what happens if Watson's batting woes in Test match cricket continue in the first two Tests. As for the rest of the squad, given the way the inexperienced batting performed in India, Rogers and Haddin were always going to make it in to the team and the choice of Khawaja over Smith appears sound too given that the latter's strength is in playing spin bowling. The batting still looks as unsettled and shaky as the Indian fast bowling line-up and its here that the series will be won or lost for the Aussies. The retu...

Much ado about a run-out

Judging by the amount that's been said and written about Ian Bell's run-out-that-wasn't at Trent Bridge, you would think that it has been the most significant occurrence of the series so far when nothing could be further from the truth. Andrew Miller  and Samir Chopra seem to be of the opinion that it was the crucial turning point in the match, which I completely disagree with (the post-tea sessions on days one and two were far more critical and momentum shifting). Andy Flower says that if Tendulkar had been run-out similarly in Bombay, it would have caused an international incident. He's clearly feeling the effects of having been in the England cricket set-up for too long given that a) its very improbable that Tendulkar would do something as daft as Bell did, and b) when a controversial run-out (but within the laws) did happen to him (against Pakistan at Eden Gardens no less), Tendulkar went out to the crowd and appealed to them to calm down and let the game proceed...