Another fast bowler is moving ahead

The election season is ahead in the most populated state in the country. And this is now a fashion to poach a cricketer to join politics. We have seen Sreeshant some days back at Kerala, Sidhu pajji has recently announced a new political party, although he is veteran as he is in the political arena for quite some times.

This time another promising swing bowler from Meerut who has has started very promisingly & bowled brilliantly - Praveen Kumar has swung it big this time as he has joined Samajwadi Party(a regional political party in Uttar Pradesh) today.

But this time, the news about Praveen's new assignment is quite a bit shocking. He has bowled well in the recently concluded IPL where he was one of the very important member of Gujrat Lions. And he has bowled well in the domestic tournaments too. But all went in vain. He never got a call back from Indian selector's after that shoulder injury of 2011. Sreeshant had replaced him in the World Cup of 2011 which India won.

Praveen Kumar will be remembered for his swing bowling & his death bowling was very critical too. During the good days, he was Dhoni's go-to-man & in some games, we had seen him bowling long spells. His heroics of 2008 VB series in Australia was very impressive too. Still he is India's one of the best economical bowlers. A bowler of his stature should have played more. He has played only 6 Test matches, 68 ODIs & 10 T20s for India. His example also shows that still Indian selectors want to hear 'yes sir' from players. Only statistics doesn't speak for getting selected in Indian team.

Indian selectors Should have opened their eyes more widely as Praveen Kumar was & is very vividly visible because of his incredible performances in domestic tournaments.

Apathy of Indian pace bowlers

There is always a concern about the pace attack of 'Men in blue' & this gets more exposed when India plays in the pace friendly decks of England, Australia, South Africa & New-Zealand. It is not like that India never produced quality fast bowlers. They come into the team with fierce actions & great statistics. But soon after some matches, their average pace came down & many a times, they faded away.

India has produced Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aroon, Umesh Yadav, VRV Singh, Md. Shami. Many of them were, are match winners. Hope you remember that spell of Ishant against Ricky Ponting in an Australian wicket in 2008. He had speed, he had aggression. But soon after he was injured & his speed came down. Although he is still one of the spearhead of Indian attack now. Same story goes with Munaf who took seven wickets in his debut test against England. But now? Remember Irfan Pathan? Many were speaking that India has got a Wasim Akram in him. Wasim was also very positive about him, started his career with a bang, took a test hattrick. Then slowly he has disappeared. How many fast bowlers India has changed in last 2-3 years time? 

The neighboring country Pakistan is producing one after another fast bowlers & they have a tradition of that. Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoib Akhtar & these days Md. Amir, Juniad Khan - all are classy fast bowlers. Is this more about the environment where a person born? May be, yes. In Pakistan, they play more with tennis balls where you can't do much with the technique. Only the pace can help to beat the batsman. 

Kapil Dev was the highest test wicket takers for a long time.But whenever there is a discussion among the parents, they want to make their children Sachin, Saurav, Virat & very few will speak about Kapil Dev or Glenn McGrath or a Brett Lee or Wasim Akram. In India, children can imagine about becoming a great batsman. This is a phobia. And the obvious reason is the glamour around a batsman is more than of a bowler in India. Batsman is like a national obsession in our country. Every child gets inspiration to become a batsman. Because he/she is visualizing the glamour quotient of a batsman in our country. I have heard people of speaking about facility. But I don't think if we really provide high class facility also, great bowlers will born. This is more about the mindset, the environment. 

And another very important factor is the wicket. Indian wickets are more batting friendly. And the fans want that too. They want to see more 4s & 6s. This is entertainment. How many of us really want to see a game where a bowler is continuously bowling great swings & troubling the batsmen? 

Need of the hour is a long term plan. BCCI is the richest cricket body in the World. They have to identify the raw talent at a very early age. They have to bring these kids under one roof, have to prepare them, inspire them to become a great pacer. Domestic tournament wickets should be a bit more bowler friendly. Hard bouncy tracks should be prepared. Then definitely things will change & India will also see great pacers who will be bowling fast, swing the ball in both ways & in no time bowlers also will help us to win matches more frequently.