Trust the "colonel" Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (former India test captain) to clearly hit the nail on the head and clearly enunciate the fear that rules the mind and heart of every Indian cricket fan about whether or not the Indian rookie pace bowling line up has the wherewithal to bowl the English batting line up twice over the course of a five day test match,,,,,,,,
For a start let's take a look at the men picked by the five supposedly wisest men (Indian Selectors) to redeem India's lost pride and glory and most importantly extract some measure of retribution for the 4-0 drubbing received by team India when they were last in England........
Ishant Sharma, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are more than likely to be the cogs in a three pronged pace attack that will be unleashed by skipper Mahendar Singh Dhoni on the English batsmen, more than a couple of whom :Robson, Moeen Ali and Ballance are still wet behind the ears and trying to find their feet in the cruel and unforgiving arena of test cricket.........
Even as we speak; Messrs Ballance and Ali have more than proved their credentials with noteworthy performances in the just concluded Lord's Test against India's sub continental neighbours, the Sri Lankans; Ballance notched up a sublime century against the Lankan bowling attack in the second innings while Ali stroked his way to a fluent forty plus run knock against the very same bowling line up in the first innings........
Coming back to matters pertaining to team India; Ishant is a pale shadow of himself and is still struggling to find his second wind for the last couple of years; to compound his misery he has also lost 5-10 kmph per hour in his bowling speeds and that could prove to be crucial in English conditions that are far more conducive to swing bowling rather than the hit the deck hard kind of bowlers a la Ishant Sharma.........
Mohammed Shami had a wretched and eminently forgettable IPL where he was dropped by his IPL franchise (Delhi Daredevils) despite being it's pace spearhead on paper; but all said and done; Shami might cause the English batsmen more than a few headaches with his nippy pace, movement both in the air as well as off the pitch and last but not the least innate ability to bowl inswinging yorkers with some regularity.........
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar seems to be the best of the lot by far as he more than eminently capable of swinging the red cherry both ways at speeds between 130-138 kmph and more importantly has the ability to slant the ball across the left handers thereby making their life a sort of living hell; alas one swallow does not a summer make and asking Bhuvaneshwar to ensnare five or more wickets every single time he marks or measures out his run up would indeed be doing him a grave injustice........
Pankaj Singh, the Rajasthan journeyman would prove to be an ideal foil for Kumar in my humble opinion as he not only swings the ball both ways at a reasonable pace but also gets the ball to rear disconcertingly many a time on account of his six foot three inch plus height as well as formidable upper body strength while Varun Aaron can prove to be more than a handful when he gets it right, but the problem is that he gets it right on very few occasions and breaks down with far more nauseating regularity..........
Spin has never been a potent weapon in English conditions unless you have the pedigree of a Chandrashekhar, Bedi or Prasanna; no true blue cricket fan will ever forget Chandra's epic spell of 6/38 that was instrumental in netting India it's first ever test win way back in 1971 under Ajit Wadekar's captaincy........
Sadly, Ravichandran Ashwin, India's chosen off spinner off late is not even a patch on his illustrious predecessors and at best would be reduced to an afterthought unless India's speed merchants create enough rough or then some kind of patch just outside the line of the off stump that can be used by him to his advantage (I.e. extract turn and bounce) or else Ashwin must just end up being a containing bowler who holds up one end while the pace trio hunts for the English batsmen from the other end of the pitch........
To sum it all up, India's success or lack of it would be directly proportional to the incisiveness and wicket taking abilities of it's medium pacers, India will be playing a five test series after almost two decades or more and the seamers will have to adapt quickly to English conditions or else team India might just find itself 2-0 down and staring down the wrong end of the barrel even before it's bowlers have begun to find their feet........
Here's hoping that both the Colonel as well as yours truly are made to eat humble pie and that team India ends up winning the series by a creditable 3-0 margin.........
For a start let's take a look at the men picked by the five supposedly wisest men (Indian Selectors) to redeem India's lost pride and glory and most importantly extract some measure of retribution for the 4-0 drubbing received by team India when they were last in England........
Ishant Sharma, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are more than likely to be the cogs in a three pronged pace attack that will be unleashed by skipper Mahendar Singh Dhoni on the English batsmen, more than a couple of whom :Robson, Moeen Ali and Ballance are still wet behind the ears and trying to find their feet in the cruel and unforgiving arena of test cricket.........
Even as we speak; Messrs Ballance and Ali have more than proved their credentials with noteworthy performances in the just concluded Lord's Test against India's sub continental neighbours, the Sri Lankans; Ballance notched up a sublime century against the Lankan bowling attack in the second innings while Ali stroked his way to a fluent forty plus run knock against the very same bowling line up in the first innings........
Coming back to matters pertaining to team India; Ishant is a pale shadow of himself and is still struggling to find his second wind for the last couple of years; to compound his misery he has also lost 5-10 kmph per hour in his bowling speeds and that could prove to be crucial in English conditions that are far more conducive to swing bowling rather than the hit the deck hard kind of bowlers a la Ishant Sharma.........
Mohammed Shami had a wretched and eminently forgettable IPL where he was dropped by his IPL franchise (Delhi Daredevils) despite being it's pace spearhead on paper; but all said and done; Shami might cause the English batsmen more than a few headaches with his nippy pace, movement both in the air as well as off the pitch and last but not the least innate ability to bowl inswinging yorkers with some regularity.........
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar seems to be the best of the lot by far as he more than eminently capable of swinging the red cherry both ways at speeds between 130-138 kmph and more importantly has the ability to slant the ball across the left handers thereby making their life a sort of living hell; alas one swallow does not a summer make and asking Bhuvaneshwar to ensnare five or more wickets every single time he marks or measures out his run up would indeed be doing him a grave injustice........
Pankaj Singh, the Rajasthan journeyman would prove to be an ideal foil for Kumar in my humble opinion as he not only swings the ball both ways at a reasonable pace but also gets the ball to rear disconcertingly many a time on account of his six foot three inch plus height as well as formidable upper body strength while Varun Aaron can prove to be more than a handful when he gets it right, but the problem is that he gets it right on very few occasions and breaks down with far more nauseating regularity..........
Spin has never been a potent weapon in English conditions unless you have the pedigree of a Chandrashekhar, Bedi or Prasanna; no true blue cricket fan will ever forget Chandra's epic spell of 6/38 that was instrumental in netting India it's first ever test win way back in 1971 under Ajit Wadekar's captaincy........
Sadly, Ravichandran Ashwin, India's chosen off spinner off late is not even a patch on his illustrious predecessors and at best would be reduced to an afterthought unless India's speed merchants create enough rough or then some kind of patch just outside the line of the off stump that can be used by him to his advantage (I.e. extract turn and bounce) or else Ashwin must just end up being a containing bowler who holds up one end while the pace trio hunts for the English batsmen from the other end of the pitch........
To sum it all up, India's success or lack of it would be directly proportional to the incisiveness and wicket taking abilities of it's medium pacers, India will be playing a five test series after almost two decades or more and the seamers will have to adapt quickly to English conditions or else team India might just find itself 2-0 down and staring down the wrong end of the barrel even before it's bowlers have begun to find their feet........
Here's hoping that both the Colonel as well as yours truly are made to eat humble pie and that team India ends up winning the series by a creditable 3-0 margin.........
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