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.   

Soft spoken guys outperform - Ravichandran Ashwin's another feat

The son-in-law of superstar Rajnikanth has achieved something which many big names in the world couldn't do - that too in less than 5 years after debut for India in Test cricket. Sachin, Sehwag, Saurav - name as many greats you remember, almost all of them has taken longer time to achieve this feat. 

This all-rounder has received his 6th Man of the Series(MoS) award. And this is at the completion of 13 series & 36 test matches!! In the recent test series at Caribbean, he has scored 235 runs & took 17 wickets. The important innings in this test series was his partnership with Wriddhiman Saha when India lost their top order in the first innings of third test with just 100 odd runs in the board, which could have been changed the scenario of the game & series as West Indies were confident after a great display with bat in the last day of the second test match when they had saved the game. 

Very interestingly he scored all his four centuries against West Indies only!! In this test series he has become the first Indian to score two test hundreds & scalped two five wicket hauls! A great experimenter with the ball, off late is becoming a better batsman day by day which will give Anil Kumble & Indian think tank a chance to play with one extra bowler if needed depending on the wicket conditions. Many critics said that Indian spinners don't get wickets overseas. Earlier this happened with Kumble too. But this performance will keep their mouth shut. 

Although the fourth test was finished almost without playing & Pakistan went to the top of the Test match ranking table after a splendid performance in England this Summer. Still India will cherish this series win in the Caribbean soil. And India has got another good batsman - Wriddhiman Saha who scored an important Test hundred too. Now let us all wait for the T20s in Florida.

Anil Kumble - New team India Coach

So finally the selection committee comprising of Sachin, Saurav & Laxman has chosen the new team India coach for next one year - the name is Anil Kumble. Until Kumble had applied for the coveted job, it was almost sure that Ravi Shastri will get that high profile post. But once, Kumble had come into the picture, the equation has changed. An Engineer has engineered his presentation in such a way that the legendary selectors were happy to nominate him. He has mentioned that the interview was 'nerve wrecking' & the blue print of Indian cricket was great to present in-front of his colleagues. A legend during his era is known for his work ethic & discipline which he will inculcate among the youngsters & this will surely help team India in the long run. Entire cricketing fraternity is very happy to see Kumble as the coach.

Rather than playing competitive cricket, Kumble will also inculcate the 'Indianness' among them - mutual respect, trust. And during the 5 days training at Bangalore prior to the travel to the Caribbean, he is a happy man as the young folks have accepted him & accepted his ideas with openness.

Team India under John Wright had brought laurels for this cricket frenzy nation & Kumble was a key member during that period. After that also, Kumble has worked with Mr. Wright during IPL stints for Mumbai Indians. So he will surely bring some key positive influences of  John Wright. He has understood the philosophy of a cricket coach well. And so he has categorically mentioned that he wants to be an enabler for things to happen good for team India. His approach to the players will be good to watch for as he wants to create the more leaders.

The team under him has flown to West Indies. Now as a cricket lover, you shouldn't forget the day when Kumble had bowled 14 consecutive overs with broken jaw at Antigua & dismissed legendary Brian Lara!!

India is going to play a lot many test matches this season along with ODIs & T20s.He feels that this is the best time to get this job as he also can run along with the young lads of the team. Hope his work ethic, discipline & passion brings the best out of each & every player of men in Blue & his legendary tale should continue in years to come.

Pink ball day night test cricket at Eden Gardens!!

Eden Garden is going to host the first ever day-night four days test cricket match at Eden Gardens from 18-21st June'2016. The normal local club cricket match is now the talk of the city. And there is an obvious reason for that. The match will be played with Pink Kookaburra ball - first ever to be played in India under the lights. There is a lot of noise about this game in the 'city of Joy'.Pictures are getting shared among the cricket fans on different social media platforms & fans across the country in watching such posts & they are showing real interest about the game. The another obvious reason is there will be live telecast of the match in Star Sports 2 & Star Sports HD2! CAB president & former Team India captain has done this miracle. Brand Saurav Ganguly is just amazing.  Such enthusiasm among the cricket fans was never seen before for a club cricket match in India. And this is probably going to be the first club cricket match which is going to be broadcasted live by such a big prominent sports channel. Harsha Bhogle, VVS Laxman, Dean Jones will be the commentators for the game! And if you are at Kolkata, you should visit Eden Gardens - tickets are at free of cost! There is a talk going on in the cricket fraternity that Eden Garden is going to host the first ever International day-night Test match with the pink kookaburra ball sometime later in the year between India & New Zealand. 

The game will be played between two very good sides among the cricket clubs in the city- Mohunbagan vs Bhawanipore. Both of the sides have some good players who are consistently performing well for their respective clubs. Cricketers of both the teams are very excited & hope they will not disappoint their fans. This will be the beginning of new era in Bengal cricket. 

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Jasprit Bumrah - a new sensation for India

India has a history of producing great batsmen in world cricket. And some quality spinners too. But do you remember any great fast bowlers before 2000 rather than Kapil Dev & Javagal Srinath? There can be lot of debates on this but honestly, the bowlers who consistently performed well for the team- not many. New Indian cricket team in the new millennium has witnessed some great promising passionate bunch of bowlers - Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Shami are very few among them. But who is consistent among them?

Isn't it quite a bit easy to get picked in the Indian Cricket team if you are a pacer & perform continuously well in one domestic season?  If you look into the data, it shows that the shelf life of fast bowlers in India is very less. Since 2004, 52 of Indian cricketers have made their debuts, 25 out of them were fast bowlers! 

Jasprit Bumrah has made his debut for India in the month of January against the Aussies in Australia. And he is not a unknown cricketer though. He made his debut for Mumbai Indians in IPL'2013. And if you remember his first match, he took 3 wickets for 32 runs in 4 overs after conceding 3 fours by Virat Kohli in his first 4 deliveries. It was good for him that John Wright had spotted him in a talent hunt & for Bumrah to get picked in the star studded Mumbai Indians was great when he never played for his own state Gujrat in Ranji Trophy or in any 50-over match earlier. He might not have ever thought of sharing the new bowl with Ashish Nehra who made his debut for India long back in 1999. And this is the fun of this great game of cricket. 

A different bowling action. Match against Aus-A in 2014

India was in search of quality death bowlers. And Bumrah has just filled that hollow gap. His ability to bowl consistent yorkers in the death overs has helped the team. If you are a bowler, it is expected that you will bowl some rare yorkers in a match. But to bowl consistent yorkers is something when you should have lot of control in your bowling. And of-course this requires lot of practice. Sharing the same dressing room along with Lasith Malinga might have helped him as well. With a very different bowling action, along with variations have troubled some of the great players in recent time. Dhoni praised about him saying that he is the 'find of Australian tour'. And the maturity he has shown in this small time is commendable. It is important to keep himself fit as many former cricketers are saying that his bowling action is injury prone. 

Fans around the World have got one very interesting fast bowler to watch out for. Hope his shelf life will be far better than many other promising fast bowlers of this great nation.