Seam, Swing, Bounce-Gone!!!

For a normal office goer 136/9 in 38.1 overs would have been the expected return gift from the Indian batsmen on a bouncy Centurion track, the only problem however is that such gifts were usually served during an Alan Donald led bowling attack in 1996/97 and for the records India were not the first ranked team in the world either. Its 2010 now, India boast the number one ranking , the best batting line up in the world with 30,000 plus runs of experience but it still seems that under seamer friendly conditions the balls that once bounced in Durban are finding its way to Centurion. After Steyn and Morkel’s antics the Indian supporters would have expected the South African batsmen to face some chin music from their opposition but in the end the result was a run marathon where the South African batsmen were seemingly giving their wickets to the highest bidding bowlers on a 100 run barter system. The age old question again loops up- Are Indian pacers capable of taking wickets? There may be a five for around the corner for a Sreesanth or an Ishant maybe; but is it sufficient for a team like India to win test matches on a constant and regular basis? Where do our seam prodigies go? It’s definitely not good seeing an youngster like Jaydev Unadkat barge into the team and then going through all the paces rigorously only to bowl at 125 kmph against a class batting line up. Obviously most bowling greats would say that compromising on pace improves one’s line and length but it’s high time to attain perfection, to look forward to bowlers like Shane Bond, Brett Lee, Dale Steyn etc who have all attained the right mix to take wickets. The Plan ‘B’ is obviously lacking in the Indian bowling department, they seem to be somewhere in Bermuda Triangle when it comes to handling pressure and the majority of the opposition’s brunt as was the case in Centurion. The 22 yard strip definitely wasn’t a one which demanded 136 from India and 620/4 dec from South Africa within a span of two days. Whatever maybe the case one thing is for sure the Indians need one heck of a ride to manage this wild African Safari.

Soham Sarkhel