Am I the only one who is not convinced about the Aaron hype?
How often have we jumped up at the sign of a bowler who gets deliveries beyond the 140+ mark?How often has that euphoria lasted? And how often has that bowler sustained that pace? We have been on this road before haven’t we?
The same script is rewritten time and again (Think it’s time to outrage against plagiarism in this regard). Ishant, Pathan, Sreesanth, Agarkar, Nehra, RP Singh, Munaf, Mithun, Unadkat, VRV Singh, Yohannan, Harvinder Singh, Mohanty (The last 4 names ring a bell or hunting for them on Wikipedia/Cricinfo?)
Here goes the script: A bowler comes to limelight from a few matches and bowls a few 140+K deliveries. The stage is set – the media, experts and fans go ga-ga on how we have found our answer to the Donalds, Akrams, Ambroses, McGraths, Akhtars, Lees, and Steyns of the world. We have found our Destiny’s Child – Let’s celebrate! Then the Destiny’s child never grows up, the dream lasts for a match, at max a series, never a season – so forget an entire career. There are interim spurts of brilliance – like Agarkar in Adelaide 03, Ishant on that 3rd morning at Lords or in the WI ‘11, Pathan Vs Pak ‘04 and Zim ‘05, RP Singh at Lords ‘07. Those moments are sporadic and rare.
All the names mentioned above were to be the long awaited solution to our pace bowling problem but barring Zaheer not one has lived up to the hype – for that matter even Zaheer who hit the scene as 21 year old has had his self-doubting moments before his resurgence on the 2007 Eng tour.
Agarkar and Irfan were claimed to be Kapil and Akram clones respectively. Agarkar’s prodigious outswing and Irfan’s impressive yorkers – What happened?
The perennial problem in my opinion has been our management of our pace bowlers. We take them out of their comfort zone and put them against the big guns expecting wonders. When they fail, we throw them away and forget and begin our hunt for someone new. We fail to nurture and cultivate them. We have not solved the equation – not even after the failures we have seen. I wish someone conducted a study of the identification, development and sustenance of fast bowlers in India. It’s a project most consultants should strive for; it will be worth every penny if we find the answers to this puzzle. We seem to get the first bit right but screw up on the important last 2 bits.
Zaheer Khan’s injury concerns are well-known; I can almost sense bets being placed around me on whether he will last the entire Aus series or not. Name the last crucial series abroad in which he did not breakdown either at the start or midway. My hopes for Aus are not too high having seen him limp off from Lords on Day 1 – I was there damn it and it hurt.
I’m not convinced of our bowling prospects hitting the international scene having spent only a year or two on the domestic scene and now the IPL hype is adding to this mess. Aaron and Unadkat are the products of the latter hype. 4 overs at 140+ compared to 20 overs at 140+ , does that look sustainable if both have played 10 or less First Class games? We all know how well it went down with Unadkat.
Now go ahead – sell me Aaron as a hope. Just how awesome has his domestic record been? Has he set the scene on fire? Has he run through batting line-ups? Has he represented India-A in the longer version?
26 wickets in 12 First Class matches (before his test debut) at 41.50 apiece at a SR of 77 is not my definition of “eye-ball popping” figures; and they don’t make me scream “Why is this bloke being wasted on the domestic scene and not playing against the biggies?”
Here is what I dug up from the archives – first class records of all the “pace bowling hopefuls” before their respective test debuts. Are you surprised that Aaron has the worst figures of the lot?
Player | FC Span before debut | Test Debut | Mat | Inns | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Ave | Econ | SR | Balls Bowled |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
> 15 matches | ||||||||||||
IK Pathan | Mar01 - Nov03 | Dec-03 | 30 | 48 | 905.3 | 190 | 2793 | 90 | 31.03 | 3.09 | 60.37 | 5433 |
MM Patel | Oct03-Feb06 | Mar-06 | 24 | 43 | 688.5 | 152 | 1855 | 88 | 21.08 | 2.69 | 46.97 | 4133 |
S Sreesanth | Nov02-Mar06 | Mar-06 | 23 | 37 | 617.1 | 136 | 1968 | 61 | 32.26 | 3.19 | 60.70 | 3703 |
U Yadav | Nov08-Nov11 | Nov-11 | 20 | 34 | 564.4 | 119 | 1788 | 69 | 25.91 | 3.17 | 49.10 | 3388 |
10 - 15 matches | ||||||||||||
Z Khan | Nov99 - Nov00 | Nov-00 | 10 | 18 | 378.4 | 73 | 1282 | 40 | 32.05 | 3.39 | 56.80 | 2272 |
I Sharma* | Nov06 - Nov07 | Nov-07 | 15 | 27 | 512 | 129 | 1467 | 59 | 24.86 | 2.87 | 52.07 | 3072 |
AB Agarkar | Oct96-Mar98 | Oct-98 | 13 | 19 | 267.3 | 52 | 904 | 40 | 22.60 | 3.38 | 40.13 | 1605 |
RP Singh | Oct03-Oct05 | Jan-06 | 13 | 22 | 374.1 | 66 | 1042 | 45 | 23.16 | 2.79 | 49.89 | 2245 |
VR Aaron | Nov08-Nov11 | Nov-11 | 12 | 16 | 334.5 | 68 | 1079 | 26 | 41.50 | 3.23 | 77.27 | 2009 |
A Nehra | Oct97-Feb99 | Feb-99 | 11 | 20 | 328 | 67 | 940 | 41 | 22.93 | 2.87 | 48.00 | 1968 |
A Mithun | Nov09-Jul10 | Jul-10 | 11 | 21 | 367.1 | 58 | 1351 | 53 | 25.49 | 3.68 | 41.57 | 2203 |
< 10 matches | ||||||||||||
JD Unadkat | Jun10-Nov10 | Dec-10 | 8 | 14 | 278.1 | 52 | 841 | 31 | 27.13 | 3.02 | 53.84 | 1669 |
VRV Singh | Nov04-Feb06 | Jun-06 | 8 | 16 | 233.5 | 30 | 810 | 35 | 23.14 | 3.47 | 40.09 | 1403 |
I’m not making a case against Aaron or saying that he is not an interesting prospect or that he will do not do well; but I’m dreading the hype surrounding him. I’m still not sold onto his inclusion in the test squad, not yet, not even after seeing him bowl in the Mumbai test or the ODIs. Call me a skeptic, but I guess we have been hurt so much in the past that this skepticism is justified.
This obsession with pace scares me, one tends to lose sight of the real essence of fast bowling – ability to bowl the right length, hit the deck and constantly probe the batsman. Play with the batsman’s psyche and keep him guessing. We’ve seen what happened to Lee and Akhtar in their pursuit for pace. Their fear was momentary when they hit the scene, later the best batsman had them figured out. Then think of what McGrath, Walsh, and Steyn achieved – constant fear in the batsman’s mind.
If there is anyone we should be looking forward to it is Umesh Yadav and not Aaron. They both have had the same time in domestic circuit but to Umesh’s fortune and Aaron’s misfortune (given that he represents Jharkand who can go only so much far in the Ranji trophy), Umesh’s domestic figures reflect a far better performance than Aaron.
Of the little I’ve seen the two bowl – Umesh inspires more confidence, he looks a finished product, ready for the big stage, unnerved by the opponents he faces. Aus will be his acid test. If he comes good, let’s hope he lasts a few more seasons (I’m not even getting on the hope bandwagon of what a career he has in front of him and all that jazz)
To justify Aaron, don’t throw Cummins and Pattinson at me cause then I’ll throw the McGraths, Gillespies, Lees and even Mitchell Johnsons of the world at you and make you find me their equivalent Indian counterparts. Let’s not get into that game. Don’t even get to Pak – they have a gold mine of bowlers; my last hope is that a search team is appointed with the mission to locate the gold mine and maybe raid it as a last resort.
Our bowlers are not built the same way. They need different management – of their bodies and their careers. The difference in our domestic cricket and international cricket is still huge and the transition has to be smooth, uninterrupted. Once they hit the scene they need to be trained to first strengthen their bodies – so that the pace does not drop and the injuries don’t hit them frequently. They need to be used judiciously and this is possible when you have identified 3-4 bowlers who will be your future attack, rotating them then makes it easy to play them in 2-2 or 3-1 combinations. It will ensure a good balance, keep them in match rhythm and help them get appropriate rest.
To end, I had written this post on Shane Bond on The SightScreen and in one comment Aditya had shared a lovely snippet on Steyn and his fitness regime:
“I’d love to share what Evans Speechly(RCB physio) made of Steyn during IPL-3.He was amazed by his fitness levels and he said he had no doubts what-so-ever that he’d one day go on to be a great of the game! He bowled a few in the late 150′s during the course of the tournament and Speechly thought he was capable of adding a few yards more! Completely attributed to Steyn’s fitness and conditioning.”
Fast bowlers are a rarity – talented fast bowlers are a gift. We in India including that gifted person do not know how to take care of that gift. All that we do know very well is to create an unnecessary hype!
Aaron is a classic case of the IPL hype. I think he has talent but not enough to warrant a test place but we all fall in love with our fast bowlers easily hence the chance. If you look at countries that have consistently produced fast bowlers the common thread has been diet and fitness. In Pak’s case, it seems more diet than fitness. Countries like Aus, SA put a high premium on what their athletes eat. Also the bowler friendly domestic pitches help too. As Indians we want fast bowlers but don’t want to do much to produce or cultivate them. I think at some level we(board/management) don’t treat cricketers like athletes and we need to!
Mangesh well said and that’s exactly my grievance – we don’t know how to nurture them!
Btw on a slightly unrelated note one of the Pakistani on my twitter list told me that our bowlers need to take diet tips from their bowlers 🙂 And I had to nod my head in agreement but not before adding that their batsman needed to take diet tips from ours 😉
Yep..the kind of diet that builds great wrists..they can eat whatever they want but I don’t think they will ever produce a batsmen like an Azhar or VVS!
Mangesh so true :)))
Rightly pointed out! This is the problem with Indian media/selectors, as soon as they find a bowler clicking 140+ they start hyping him. Remember Atul Sharma? They said he can bowl at 160, where is he in domestic?. Aaron looks a bit under-prepared for this level. They needed to make him play more FC matches or shorter forms and then take a decision for longer version. And Yadav definitely looks more promising with his pace and control over it.
Also what Mangesh has said is bang on. Pakistanis have great diet of their liking, Aussies/Saffers work really hard on their fitness levels. Their bowler friendly tracks help them a lot to nurture the control on the mix of fast bowling and swing plus right length.
Lets see what Aaron brings on Australian Tracks. [If he gets to play a 5 day match]
Deepak I agree with what you say and Mangesh made very valid points about Pak/SA/Aus bowlers:)
Time we took notice that we have a serious problem in the management of our pace hopes .
And I don’t remember Atul Sharma 🙂 Says it all doesn’t it 🙂
Agree with your assessment of Aaron…On first look I dont think he’s too talented…he has a hop skip..stop start action which doesnt look smooth…nor does he seem to have genuine swing…if he gets a chance to play in Australia I dont think he’ll do much
On the other hand…Umesh Yadav looks very impressive…he has a smooth action, bowls from close to the stumps..has a genuine outswinger and looks like a strong bloke…
ishant’s best chance of performing is in Oz…Add to that a fit zaheer and a fresh Umesh Yadav…we do have a chance
Sudhanshu, well said – to me what is more important is control over the ball rather than pace. Aaron is just too raw IMO and as we both agree Yadav is the one the team management needs to focus on. Somewhere I think MSD is aware of this given they way he has played with Aaron so far 🙂
Lovely post! You have nailed it with this one. The very thought of a ‘young fast bowler’ excites us to the core! We see a guy bowling consistently at speeds of above 140+ and that is it. He is tagged as the next pace sensation; a bowler who can rip apart the top order with raw pace. But what we forget is; only pace ain’t gonna help! As you correctly pointed out, as a quickie, you must be able to hit the deck hard, bowl in the right channel and keep the batsman guessing! Pace sans right line and length might as well go against the bowler. Classic example of this is Shaun Tait. He is arguably the fastest bowler going around interbnational cricket at the moment but theres hardly any batsman who gets unsettled with his deliveries. Yes, with that extra pace, he might grab a couple of wickets but more often than not he will end up leaking runs.
Aaron if nurtured well can be a bright prospect for the future but he needs to work really hard on his line and length! I personally prefer Yadav over Aaron! Yadav is accurate and works up good pace!
But to be honest, I would go with a Zaheer or Mcgrath anyday over Taits and the other lightening quicks!
Very well written! 🙂
Thanks Avi. We forget the importance of discipline in the euphoria of seeing a guy produce 140+ deliveries . It can only take you do far in the game .
Let’s hope lessons are learnt from past mistakes and the newbies are nurtured well.
I’d also take the McGraths over Taits of the world anyday 🙂
This is a really nicely put up article. Better than few I see on Cricinfo. Great stats to back your argument.
Most of you have said it all. I would like to add though is Pak do produce some great lasting fast bowlers. But even they have many good bowlers getting injured, the only thing is they don’t feel it much because there are so many. One goes and two of the same talent are ready to replace him in playing eleven.
I like the SA breed as well – Steyn, Pollock (brisk), Donald, Ntini, Morkel – They are Fast and they last.
I think the injuries have to do more with the bowling action than diet. To start off – One has to walk into the delivery stride rather than jump (like McGrath, Pollock, Akram, Steyn). Agarkar is still bowling with the same speeds, rarely injured (discipline is the problem).
With the advantage of hindsight – I prefer Umesh over Aaron (but even Umesh and PK are injured now). You are right while saying no need to hype at the start of a career (be it batsman or bowler). BTW I don’t blame myself while getting excited at watching a fast Indian bowler, answer is simple – rarity.