Dale Steyn - A Bowler of Perfect Blend

Nowadays, Global fast bowling stock appears to have deteriorated significantly with very few genuine pacers only playing. One cannot say people running from 30-40 yards and bowling military pace with an occasional fast delivery as Fast bowlers. 

“You can't make a fast bowler. You have to be born a fast bowler. You've got to have the rhythm and the coordination and everything else that it takes to bowl that fast. Strength, hard work and practice alone cannot make a fast bowler. It's not just physical - it's a lot of other things combined,"” said, the Jamaican fast Bowler Michael Holding.  

Fast Bowlers are on the verge of being endangered species. With the qualities stated above, large pool of currently playing bowlers will be cut off into a count of hardly 4 to 5 total across the globe. The Speed demons of this era include Dale Steyn, Lasith Malinga, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait.

With genuine fast and slightly raw who can move the ball both ways, Steyn is now a force to be reckoned. Dale Willem Steyn, the current “ROLLS ROYCE” of the South African Pace attack is the preeminent fast bowler in the world today and currently holds the No.1 test Bowler in ICC rankings. Ever after his debut at the age of 21, he occupies a prime position in Proteas bowling attack along with the likes of Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel, and Makhaya Ntini. Now, he along with Morne Morkel forms a venomous attack which can paralyze any batting lineup. 

He is frighteningly quick, Like the new-age bullet trains that ride on an air-cushion produced by the track rather than on the track itself, for this South African speedster, the surface doesn't matter all that much. He can bowl magnificently, be it on pacy pitches of South Africa, Flat Tracks of Sub continent, Bouncy Wickets of Australia, Swing Wickets of England. He is very street smart when it comes to subcontinent pitches. He has excellent rhythm in his approach, with abundant vigor and venom, all thunder and lightning like and electric storm.

His muscular body perfectly suits the pursuit of fast bowling. It is a privilege to watch his bowling stride, which gives the impression of most aesthetically pleasing bowling action in the world. He sprints to the wicket and hurls down the ball with aggression. He loves batsman ducking and weaving due to the pace in his delivery. He ensures that there is no respite to the batsman. for even a single ball. Along with the quickest possible delivery, he has many variations in his repertoire. He conditioned well to perform in adverse situations too. He is also a thinking bowler. He knows when to hold back, pull his pace down and bowl line and length, and when to attack with real speed and aggression. One gets the feeling that he can read the situations well. He can move the ball both ways and also cut it in both directions. He has an magnificent out swinger in his arsenal.

After the Australian Slump from invincible status, there are many teams ready with all ingredients to claim the supremacy. The title CHAMPION has swung like pendulum with no side with no side shedding the required domination. There is no doubt that there are many facets in making up a Dominant side. But with champion fast bowler like Dale Steyn to lead the Bowling attack, the chances of sustained success definitely be elevated.

Ponting: Rebound/Extinction?

He is considered as one of the finest cricketers in the modern era. He was involved in about 100 Test wins for his side. He has enjoyed many thumping wins, world cup triumphs and a lot more personal landmarks. He was compared with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara. But it all turned upside down in a span of 2 years. Just like a mirage, the test century is eluding him since the last two years; it’s been a 12 inning long stretch without making a half-century. His average which was among all-time greats slid a long way coming down from a monumental 56.68 to a mere 52.72 in just 23 innings. After having played so many innings to drop an average by 4 points in 23 innings suggests something is badly wrong.

He is none other than Ricky Thomas Ponting nicknamed Punter. He has many ardent fans to wait for his revival, but not much time has left for him as he is approaching the tail end of his career.

During his worst slump, Greg Chappell once said he wasn’t batting badly, he was just getting out. Ricky Ponting taken that sentiment to a new level, declaring himself to be batting the best he has in these two years. But unfortunately he doesn’t have much runs from his willow to support that.

You may say, even Rahul Dravid also undergone this phase of their career. But noticeable thing is even when Dravid keeps on failing, Indian team is at its best which is not same in the case of Ponting. Australian Team is in a Period of resurgence and they are not in a position to give ample of time for him to restore his past form.

His Career seemed on the crossroads for this moment. Ponting has drifted well down from mediocre to liability now. Moreover, he's interfering with the grooming of talented youngsters. To make thing worsen, guys like Khwaja sit dumbstruck on the sidelines not knowing what they are doing wrong.

We've got to be sensible about whether the Ponting exit is going to be replaced by someone better and at the same time it should enhance for the team cause.

THE PRIVILEGE OF YOUNGSTERS

There was a time when every cricket freak felt apprehensive about the future of cricket once the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Michael Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara, Zaheer Khan, Brett Lee retires. The admission of Twenty 20 cricket also made the gentlemen game feels the heat. Fear reached its pinnacle when they felt a danger of losing the elegance and charm of the game. The ICC and many country boards tried their best for the requital of the fame and glory of the game. They have changed many rules, made some amendments but nothing improved drastically.  Whole world of cricket is in utter dismay.

In this time of deterioration, comes the player like Pat Cummins, Virat Kohli, Steven Finn, Brendan Taylor, Malcolm Waller, Junaid Khan and many others. One common attribute among all these is great temperament, to make the team cross that Victory line. They have made people believe that there is still lot of quality cricket left apart from T20’s.

Patrick Cummins

The world first noticed Patrick Cummins in preliminary final of KFC Big Bash 2011, where he bowled magnificently before finishing with 4/16. Within no time, at the age of 18 he was given the license to wear Australian colors. In his tour to South Africa T20, he performed well equally with the likes of Bollinger and Johnson, which ended up placing him in the Test squad in what was said to be a meteoric rise. 

Pakistan has always been a fast bowling factory and the assembly line of fast bowlers is not going to end its production any time soon. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akthar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Tanvir Ahmed and the list goes on. I am sure no country has produced as much Pakistan has produced and no country has wasted as they did. The current Promising bowler for them is Junaid Khan who is very impressive in both the pace and swing departments. 

After winning the Emerging Player of the year Award in 2010, Steven Finn has a magnificent career. He has produced some crucial spells for the team cause. When all the English players struggled to contend the Indian batsman, Steven Finn bowled brilliantly to make them feel the heat. From years ago, there are many English players who bowled to the mark in their home conditions, who in turn failed miserably in Sub Continent pitches. In contrast Steven Finn looked very promising who need to be churned properly for bright future.

Given the right guidance, why shouldn't Cummins, Finn and Junaid continue to prosper – aside? Handled with care and honesty, protected from leeches and temptation, they can be every bit as good as we would love them to be. So long as those doing the guiding do so selflessly.

October 26, 2011 Zimbabwe enjoyed a splendid chase of 329 with the help of Malcolm Waller and Brendan Taylor. Brendan Taylor who scored two back to back centuries albeit losing cause has provided much required momentum to chase a mammoth score. But Malcolm Waller is the one who steal the show absolutely. He scored 99 of 74 balls by marshaling the tail to take the game down to the last two balls. He might have tried for an aerial shot which fetches him a century to remember forever, but he kept his mind cool and played for the team cause. As they lurched from defeat to defeat, victories like this will imbibe some amount of required confidence, belief in them.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is one of the notified performers who are currently enjoying a prolific run. In and outside India he has become a run machine in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh. It is very soon to call him as next Rahul Dravid for the team India, but he has made everything right till now to notch that position. 

From Vinod Kambli to Ajantha Mendis, scores of purported cricketing prodigies have turned out to be either profligate or prodigal. Winning the ICC Emerging Player award is fast becoming a guarantee of a brisk fade - witness Irfan Pathan, Shaun Tait, Ajantha Mendis and JP Duminy. Woe betides those burdened by stardom before experience has broadened their shoulders.

AUSTRALIA - THE PERIOD OF RESURGENCE

The recently concluded Australia-Srilanka series showed dazzling signs of  comeback from Australia after a period of almost 2 years, which include two successive defeats ASHES 08-09,10-11, loss of World Championship status which they hold for almost whole the decade. There were speculations that Team Australia lost that energy & killer instinct once the likes of Glenn Mcgrath, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden retired. There was a strong criticism on the then Captain, Ricky Ponting too.

With pressure mounting on him form all sides, Ricky Ponting decided to step down as captain which was taken up by Michael Clarke. As soon as he took the oath to take his team back to the heights of pride, he kick started the process of revival in Australian Cricket.

The Kangaroo Cricket Bosses along with their new skipper initiated many changes, which include revamping domestic cricket with more number of teams and making it on par with English county cricket. It looks as if England were their inspiration to Bounce back from that pathetic situation. With foresee, they even sacked some veteran players in order to accumulate more youngsters, there by churning them and make the team stronger.

Cricket Australia in its resurgence Period.

But as those who have stayed up to the end along with them appear to have finally witnessed the behemoth awakening from its slumber, injected with some fresh energy and rejuvenated atmosphere.

There were equal parts of personal and team satisfaction as Clarke reflected on a tour during which Australia also won the ODI series 3-2. Of particular importance for Australian cricket was the emergence of a young group including Shaun Marsh, Nathan Lyon and Trent Copeland, who all debuted and contributed. Add to that the runs of Phillip Hughes, and there was plenty of progress made.

Even though 1-0 result does not signify the resurgence of the old Australian team, it will do their confidence a world of good considering that they have been facing criticism from all quarters.

With this sort of redemption from Australian team, Team India who already been dejected with 0-4 whitewash in England, will definitely gonna have tough time with them late in this year.

INDIAN TEAM SELECTION GAFFES

While injuries can never be predicted, the best of the sides is always ready to cover. But that's the area India are severely deprived in. Team India haven't had played a complete match with their full strength in the recently concluded INDIA ENGLAND Series. Though we cannot make Selection Panel and Team physio scapegoats for Team India's Debacle, they do hold some amount of the blame.

As far as the team batting is concerned, the opening pair in test cricket plays a predominant role in getting a good start, thereby giving a psychological edge to the team. But the Indian team completely failed to make any count in this segment. They started off with the less experienced Abhinav Mukund as an opener at Lord's followed by series of various combinations. Adding to the agony, Gautham Gambhir was injured which compelled Dravid to open the innings along with Abhinav Mukund at Trent Bridge. With Virender Sehwag not fully fit, the selectors played a gamble in playing him in the last two tests.

Zaheer Khan carried an injury into the series and had to pull out after bowling just 13 overs in the first Test at Lord's, thus throwing India's campaign out of gear right at the start. The BCCI delayed naming a replacement for the injured Zaheer Khan . When selectors picked an unfit and off-color R.P Singh as a replacement for Zaheer Khan, the anguish reached its pinnacle. It seems that selectors have completely forgotten Abhimanyu Mithun, Jaidev Unandkat, Umesh yadav, all young fast bowlers, tried and tested, only to be dumped.

How come these two players made it to the squad for England? Clearly, the selectors are at fault. If players can be sacked after a poor outing, then why not the same yardstick for the selectors!

Even, the decision to recall 38 years Rahul Dravid to the limited overs side for the England tour clearly exposed the poor planning of selection committee. Should we perceive that as a reverence gesture to the legend?? After all, its the Team that matters the most, not the individual. After the world cup triumph, the selectors need to start building for the next world cup. Dhoni said that they aren't demoralized, but Selection Panel already pressed PANIC button.

Even in the Emerging Players tournament, K Srikanth selected his beloved son Anirudha Srikanth who has a poor record in unlimited overs cricket. If people like him keep on misusing power, without proper planning for upcoming years, the future of Indian cricket will face severe predicament.

Till now the Selectors miserably failed to seek a perfect replacement for No.6 slot in Test cricket. What about replacements for Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman who are on the fringe of retirement?

The BCCI should go hard on the selection panel and make some necessary changes to ensure unbiased and healthy selection procedure with proper insight into the future.

INDIA'S DEBACLE - IPL EFFECT?

The ardent supporters of INDIAN CRICKET, who treat cricket as a religion couldn't digest the fact that India slumped from No.1 spot in Test Cricket. A defeat, in general is essayed to many flaws. After briefing all those, the summary is, they lacked proper focus on test cricket, the fighting attitude which was at its summit during world cup.

What is the prime reason? Captain, Players, Coach, Injuries, BCCI, IPL ?

Many critics show propensity to say that Indian cricketers don't possess the technique to counter the seam movement. Men like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman did prove a point on conditions that don't favor a batsman. So it is a discredit to question their talent and potential.

Though we failed in all departments, it’s the batting that is behind this disastrous campaign which was infected by a virus named IPL. To counter the ball movement soft hands and astute foot-works are needed, which our batsman executed hardly. In T20 cricket, even an edge will fetch a boundary, but test cricket needs strong temperament and technique. It is true that IPL mood has dented the batsman concentration. The Batting failure let down bowlers who did give few moments in the past even with mediocre resources. The fielding is pathetic to say, with lack luster approach. Even the captain cool, DHONI seemed out of focus and totally aloof from his men.

Some elements of the Indian media have trained their ire on Duncan Fletcher, ignoring the fact that he has far less influence on India than England. Credited with a root-and-branch revamp of English cricket, he is unlikely to be given a voice when it comes to Indian itineraries and personnel changes. The Ganguly – Wright combo is fortunate enough to inherit a squad of players approaching their prime. Fletcher has to guide a group whose stalwarts are approaching sunset.

The whole team showed no character or fighting spirit throughout the three Tests. This is the same team that won India the World Cup and has been brilliant in the past three or four years and has always come good whenever the going got tough.

So it's totally down to the IPL, which had led to India's downfall in England. The players have made millions and millions but at the expense of Test cricket. After playing a long IPL tournament most of the senior members of the Indian team got injured and it certainly did affect the team's morale. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan all played the IPL even though they were tired after the World Cup success and their bodies had already taken their toll.

After playing restless tournament for such a long period, it is very necessary to get back into the test rhythm. But many senior players opted out of the West Indies tour, which would have given enough practice to be back into action. Why don't players opt out of the IPL and be injury free is a million dollar question. The lure of money and constant backing by the board provides a great incentive over commitment to their craft and the country.

The IPL has done great things for Indian cricket in terms of improving infrastructure and giving domestic players a sense of security. But a board that has promoted it relentlessly needs to ensure that its scheduling does not create an impact on the national team's fortune.

The BCCI should realize the fact that IPL is shedding Billions and Billions only at the expense of Indian Cricket. We are not expecting IPL to shut down completely, but it needs to serve as an add on to the Indian cricket, not a point to stress on whenever we fail.

Moreover, time has arrived to seek perfect replacements for batting trio, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman. Though names like Cheteswara Pujara, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit sharma, Ajinkya Rahane are sounding on high pitch, it is impetuous to say they can replace them completely. So its better the team management shows some diligent effort in nurturing them and pave way for a golden future.

INVINCIBLE TO VULNERABLE

The almighty West Indies Lost their charm once the likes of Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh, Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Garfield Sobers, Desmond Haynes retired. There was a time, and it lasted for decades, when the West Indies cricket bowlers used to send batsmen scurrying around their homes looking for extra padding and protection and to check if their life insurance policies were up to date. There was a time when opposition bowlers tend to stay as 12th man rather than getting brutally hit by them. Each of these men was a truly great cricketer and the reverence they held is monumental. But how times have changed!! Nobody with genuine love for cricket will take any satisfaction from the current plight of the west indies team. But why the West Indian cricket has fallen dramatically is a million dollar question. Its almost 15 years since Australia toppled them to become best side in the world. There are many reasons for this, some of which the west indies cricket board is accountable for. They didn't plan their future properly. When you sit on top of a pedestal you tend to forget or turn a blind eye to a lot of different things. When they were winning, there was a lot of celebrating and pushing out of their chests, rather than thinking how they were going to maintain this run and how were they going to ensure that they continued to produce good cricketers.

Similarly Australian team was pushed down from invincible status after the likes of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne retired. Starting from mid-90's to 2007 they nearly conquered anything and everything that came in their way. Their Dominance transformed to Arrogance at one stage. But, as the time progressed the decline seems inevitable. One feels that Australian downfall is quite similar to West Indian decline. Both the teams when they were in their respective summit positions failed to churn the youngsters.

Coming to the Indian Perspective, they are holding the No.1 Spot in Tests and have recently won the world cup. It seems impetuous by saying India dominated the rest in this short span. But at least no team is able to overshadow them in terms of rankings. They managed to be unbeatable at home in 2008–11 Period, and they managed to draw a series in South Africa, Win against Sri Lanka, Newzealand and West Indies. The critics refused to applaud their achievements as they failed to sheen any dominance in this regime. On one side Team India is still in its nascent stages of being a true Champion,but the journey seems to be bound with hardships.

The on going test series against England itself proves this point. With the absence of Zaheer Khan, Indian bowling line up is as bad as Bangladesh bowling unit. It is not because we lack potential bowlers, but due to the lack of leadership in bowling department. The Performances of Ishant Sharma and Sree santh with and without Zaheer Khan largely varied. With Sehwag and Gambhir’s absence, the top order looks more fragile, as our batting line up is not much accustomed to these kind of situations. Normally Sachin and Laxman don't focus much on how to bat in the first session of the test match which seems inevitable in this series.

Adding to the agony, Indian Selectors selected Dravid for the ODI series who played his last match in champions trophy 2009. This clearly exploits the Poor planning of Selection committee. Team management should plan for the long run rather than persisting with short term success. In turn retirement announcement drags many accolades. Rather than taking a step backward, the selection panel should have given this chance to some youngster.

Sachin Tendulkar, the man who has given you all that you can wish for is on the edge of his career and so are Dravid and Laxman.   It is intimidating that Indian Cricket might Crumble (atleast in tests) once they retire. We can expect them to play hardly for 2 more years. So INDIA should start churning out the youngsters, with a vision of making them fit for International cricket.

BCCI should take care that cricketers don’t get deviated by glitz, glamor and IPL parties in their nascent stages. The Selectors should inculpate rotation policy by clubbing up the seniors with youngsters so that they don’t feel the burden once these players retire and they   gain a considerable amount of experience to play at the international level by that time. Technically sound players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should be encouraged to play more Ranji and first class cricket. Players who are already 30 years old should be used as transition players. In the meantime there is an opportunity to discover young talented batsmen who will prove helpful in the long run.

After all, lets hope Mahendra Singh Dhoni , Duncan Fletcher and co., wont allow INDIA to step down from what we call as “Champion status” which came with lot of sedulous effort and hardwork.

EMACIATED CRICKETING TALENT IN INDIA

How many nations in the world can afford to waste talent like India does because India is having Copious talent in all the segments. Not many people can dissent the fact that BCCI failed to make this into a profitable account. Although we won World Cup recently, secured No.1 Position in Tests, we need to make sure that the talent not getting wasted to ensure the continuity of hegemony in world Cricket on the field.

A brief look at the history would surely deliver some intriguing facts. Sunil Walson, not many people known was a member of 1983 World Cup squad. He did not play a single match before,during and after the world cup. There is no Justification for this ruthless act till date. Laxman Sivarama Krishna, popularly known as a renowned Commentator represented India for 2-3 years and was later expunged for no reason.

Atul Wassan, Vivek Razdan, Salil Ankola, Abey Kuruvilla, T.Kumaran, Debashih mohanty, these are the names of bowlers who  played for India and then lost their way. Who says India don't have potential to produce fast bowlers. They produced, but they failed to nurture them, preserve them from injuries and cricket board didn't give enough opportunities as well and dropped them after one or two failure.

David Johnson, very few cricket lovers do remembered him. He was the India's fastest bowler once and he used to bowl with round arm slinga action much like lasith malinga. He played a few games in 90's but later on labeled as a throw bowler and thrown out of cricket. Cricket administrators didn't even fought for him.

Praveen Amre, disciple of Ramakant archerekar made a dream debut against southafrica where he hit a century. After one failure he was faded away. Do we really miss a SACHIN like batsman???? Mukundh Paramar, yere Gaud were known as run machines of their respective times but never make it to the Indian team. Akash Chopra, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa and the list goes on....

Indian Cricket was never short of talent and will not going to have any paucity in nearby future as well. But we dont have a proper system to Preserve this gem of talents. Our Cricket Board shows more propensity towards money and Selectors are biased to the players of their respective zones. Take an example of Anirudha Srikanth, he hadnt performed well in either Ranjis or IPL, yet he is selected to Emerging Players tourney Because he does have a God Father in the selction committee.

We have many more talents in the likes of C Pujara, A Rahane, V Aron, Ashok Menaria, D Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar and the list continues. So it is true that India have talent in abundance and its the time to utilize it properly so that we can consistently get players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavasakar, Zaheer Khan etc.,