Cricket India and the Bouncer fetish

Amidst all the controversies surrounding the lackluster performance of the Indian team in the T20 WC, one reason that looms out is the bouncer. But is the ability to play the bouncer mandatory in the shortest form of the game? Can’t the players duck from the one bouncer that is allowed per over and score of the remaining 100 deliveries? Are the all time greats, experts in playing the perfume ball? Is the BCCI at fault? Or is it the Indian young brigade that threw it away? Can there be more answers for this eternal predicament?

Domestic bowlers

When was the last time that the Indian team produced a fast bowler? There were talks of David Johnson being a tear away fast bowler but he lasted just 2 matches. Munaf Patel who started with a lot of promise ended up as a medium pacer. The talented young Indian batsmen, who work their way to the top, get to face all the lollypop medium pace bowlers in the domestic sides and score heavily. It is not that the bowlers don’t try the short stuff, but the batsmen are quick enough to get on top of them and pull it to the boundary. This gives the batsmen the much needed confidence to face the quickies in the international arena. But now, when Murali Vijay gets to face the fiery Kemar Roach who bowls at 150 kmph, he is found wanting. He puts on his dancing shoes and jumps like a fish out of water. Can the batsman held responsible for this scenario? The quality of the domestic bowlers needs to improve for our batsmen to fair well against the bowlers in the international arena.

The domestic Pitches

NS Sidhu tells that “Pitches are like wives, you never know how they are going to change”, but in the Indian subcontinent we can be sure that the pitches may or may not turn but will never bounce. Creating a bouncy track like the one in Mysore needs lot of time and effort and an effective curator. Above all this, the state cricket associations need to get the proper funding to get the right soil and adequate amount of time to prepare the new wicket. In a country where the national cricketers play for 200 odd days, the various state associations aren’t ready to put in the effort to create a sporting track. The faster bowlers love it, when the ball passes near the batsman’s nose. But to create bowlers who can bounce it to the batsman’s chin, we need more sporting wickets. So it takes us to the perpetual scenario of chicken and egg, with the bowlers and the pitch.

The International pitches

Cricketainment may be a new word, but the game is undergoing a metamorphosis, since the 1996 WC which came to India. The spectators want to see more runs and hence the pitches have become more batsmen friendly. The bat has undergone so much evolution (the mongoose being the latest) but the Cricket ball has not been altered to provide any extra edge to the bowlers. The shorter boundaries are yet another catalyst which has helped to change the paradigm which was accepted long back. The contest between the bat and the ball has reduced so much that the contest has now become something between the batsmen of the two teams. The pitches being the main culprit produce very less bounce and carry and do not change its color during the match. The concrete tracks used in International Cricket just marked the beginning of the end.

International bowlers

Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were deadly with the ball. The innings in which the English were bowled-out for 46 under 20 overs serves as a testimony for this pair’s class. Wasim and Waqar was yet another deadly pair. They could virtually run through any batting line-up. But when these greats retired in the early 2000s, they left a huge void in the game which is yet to be filled. The prime bowler in the last 10 years was Glenn Mcgrath, who was more of a disciplined bowler than being express fast. Allan Donald had all the ingredients of a fast bowler and rocked the batsmen for quite some time. But the other bowlers who ruled this era were the Pollocks and McGraths. The bouncer is not a wicket taking delivery by any means, but the international batsmen were not even tested with that in the last generation. With Tait, Nannes and Johnson bouncing the opponents in Barbados, the focus is back on this stuff. The reasons are many and hence blaming the Indian youngsters may not be the right thing to do.

Some like it short?

The classy Sourav Ganguly, who scored over 11,000 ODI runs or the tenacious Steve Waugh who scored close to 11,000 runs in test matches never played the hook shot comprehensively. They elevated themselves from good to great with this disability. Their examples just reiterate the point, that one shot less in your arsenal doesn’t handicap you.

Ricky Ponting, one of the best players of the hook and the pull, had an extended honey moon from 2001 and 2006 and averaged nearly 70. But, his average hovered in the low 40s for the first 5 years of his career. His honeymoon concurring with the retirement of the fast bowling legends of the previous generation is not a mere coincidence. The Australian Captain was found wanting against Kemar Roach’s speed and accuracy in Perth. He danced to young Ishant Sharma’s tunes in the same venue a couple of years back. But still, he is the best in the current generation when it comes to the hook and the pull. The bottom line is nobody likes it, when the ball is short and fast.

The young Indians disability is due to many factors which can be worked out over a period of time. With constant practice and decent oppositions, the younger generation, not only the Indian batsmen but the Sri Lankans and Pakistanis, may all get to play the bouncer well and provide us with some fabulous display of the hook and the pull and not some chin music in the future.

MAY 21, 2010