Thursday, November 30, 2006

Is bowling training up to snuff

What turns an ordinary talent into batsmen’s nemesis. I say the training that he gets to bowl the ‘other’ 4 or 5 deliveries. Every bowler who is playing international cricket is expected to have enough talent to bowl at least 1 potential wicket taking delivery every other over. With that, maintaining the right line and length during the other 4 - 5 deliveries not only gives him control as he is not giving away runs but also lets him use his talent of swing or seem movement etc to its full lethal potential as he’s already practiced enough to bowl in the corridor of uncertainty. A good experiment fetches you maximum dividends in the corridor of uncertainty.


During last few years of Shrinath’s career, he was bowling consistently in the corridor of uncertainty; he was most dangerous then thus. He, however, learned it himself and it took him all his experience to do that. You look at any new bowler in Australia, you will find him doing the same but not at the end of his carrier- Nathan Bracken, for an instance is not hugely talented or experienced but is a force to reckon with within a few years of his playing international cricket. He may not have potential to take a wicket on every delivery but he sure wont give you easy runs.

We are not short of talent. We are lucky to have Irfan Pathan, who is able to swing the cricket ball dangerously, we have bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, who with an amazing wrist action can generate serious pace, swing the ball and bowl whistling Yorkers at death. What these two have, they thwart in the ‘other’ (in their case) 3-4 bawls that they bawl.

Shrinath, just before retirement, was acting as the spear head of our pace attack, we could see his consistency visibly getting brushed on to the other two bowlers- Zaheer an Ashish, and the trio formed an attack which was a pleasure to watch. He was probably acting as the bowling coach of the team unknowingly at that time. We all saw, how Waseem Akram's guidance had turned Irfaan from a raw talent into a finished product. Our bowlers are direction less right now. They need guidance, thats it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We all seem to know what the issue is , dont we. What we we dont get, however is why people who matter dont get it.