Focus on planning of pace bowlers’ schedules

BCCI must consider spending money to implement systems that monitor the fitness of fast bowlers constantly, writes Makarand Waingankar

August 07, 2014 01:26 am | Updated 01:26 am IST

Mumbai, 22/04/2012: Picture for cricket column -- Photo of Makarand Waingankar. --  Special arrangement

Mumbai, 22/04/2012: Picture for cricket column -- Photo of Makarand Waingankar. -- Special arrangement

The series between India and England appears nicely balanced at 1-1 after three Tests. However, Ishant Sharma has already been ruled out of the fourth Test. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has put in much effort during the series and by the third Test he looked tired. He is now, quite predictably, nursing an injury.

Strategies prove ineffective when players who are supposed to implement them are injured. One can understand the predicament of skipper M.S. Dhoni. It is clear that three frontline pace bowlers for India are Ishant, Bhuvaneshwar, and Mohommad Shami with Pankaj Singh, Ishwar Pandey and Varun Aaron picked as back-up bowlers. Perhaps the lack of experience in overseas conditions does not inspire confidence in the management to include them into the team at once.

The case of R. Ashwin is a curious one. On the 1971 tour of England, E.A.S. Prasanna could not fit into the ‘scheme of things’ of the skipper Ajit Wadekar and manager Hemu Adhikari. The strategy was to dry up runs from the end of Venkatraghavan and attack with Bishan Singh Bedi and B.S. Chandrasekhar from the other end with Solkar, Abid Ali and Venkat in the close-in for bat-pad. The strategy worked. Venkat not only bowled well but took some sharp catches.

Dhoni’s strategy is intriguing. Ravindra Jadeja has bowled defensively even when the English pitches have offered some assistance for the spinners; with that the workload of fast-bowlers to pick wickets has only increased.  In contrast to the Indian spinner, English part-timer Moeen Ali is one of the leading wicket-takers in the series so far with 15 scalps. These, along with the three left-handers in the England top batting line-up, make a convincing case to include Ashwin in the team. Why is it then we are witnessing the sight of Ashwin reading novels on the bench?

Let’s not forget playing a five-Test series requires a bowler to be fit for at least 60 of the 75 sessions. However, the predicament of the Indian captain presently is not a new one and has repeatedly plagued Indian teams in overseas tours; especially in a five-Test series. Fast bowlers are the hardest working components of any cricket team and are prone to injury. The focus then, perhaps, must be on the domestic set up and the systems in place.

The Chief of the Pitch and Grounds committee of the BCCI, Daljeet Singh, repeatedly organises lengthy workshops at the National Cricket Academy for curators. However, the curators are pressurised by the respective associations to prepare tracks as per the requirements of their teams. The pitches in India are not as per the standard procedure and this affects fast bowlers.

IPL effect

IPL is another culprit. T20 variations, and demands, affect the bowling actions and rhythms of fast bowlers. Also the number of T20s and ODIs played by India does not help the cause as their workload exceeds that of their counterparts from other countries.

Hence the BCCI must consider pending money to implement systems that monitors the fitness of the fast bowlers constantly.

The responsibility of remaining fit in the off-season must be shared by both the BCCI and the players. It’s time the BCCI planned schedules of contracted pace bowlers.

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