Indian bowlers and the lost art of yorkers

‘That’ ball which Zaheer bowled to Strauss. The art of bowling yorkers is missing from the current crop of Indian bowlers.

The plight of the Indian bowling attack is a tale recited far too many times in established newspaper columns, as well as everyday conversations. Seeing a well built opposition fast bowler run in with smoke trailing from his nostrils and fire in his footsteps in comparison to our very own Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who looks like a slight thimble to poke batsman’s feet, may invite an unconscious wince across our expressions. However, to his credit, he’s had a better than decent start to his international career. The statistics may not reflect that, but his ability to swing the ball both ways has befuddled top-order batsmen, and impressed more than a few.

The spin bowling department promised bucket-loads of talent when Ravichandran Ashwin boomed onto the scene, but he has quickly petered out into the backdrop and doesn’t cause too many stumbles for batsmen. Historically, Indian bowling has never been the flag-bearer of India’s international success. We’ve produced the greatest batsmen in different eras, but the bowlers continue to be shadowy strokes in the larger picture painted by Indian cricket. The only Indian bowlers who are worthy of commemoration into a league of legends are Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble, but even their achievements are overshadowed by legends like Shane Warne and Wasim Akram.

Each fast bowler in the team has a particular set of abilities, but the only one to have sharpened them to form a lethal attack in recent times was Zaheer Khan. But he hasn’t got much time left in his career, which is evident with the form he had been displaying for India before being dropped, as well as in the Ranji Trophy.

Pakistan in the 90s had one of the most deadly bowling attacks of all time, comparable to the West Indian line up of Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar could leave any team stark naked in the dark, shielding themselves, crying out for mercy. The trio had horrifying pace, menacing swing and audacious accuracy, and their innovation with the ball (Pakistan are regarded as the inventors of reverse swing and the doosra) only added to the difficulty of taking guard against them.

The current crop of Indians all have their individual talents, but lack a cohesive set of skills to trouble opponents for more than an over. Ishant Sharma has (had?) pace, but can’t get the ball to seam straight and instead it wobbles on its way to the batsman. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed can both swing the cherry across the length of the pitch, but once the ball starts to soften, so does their utility during the course of the match.

But if the England series is an indicator of things to come, Ishant Sharma seems to have got his head out of a rut and is bowling at good speeds and hitting the right areas. Apart from the one game where he was hammered in his last five overs, he has looked dangerous and determined to get wickets. Kumar and Ahmed also were decent throughout the series, though Ahmed was a touch more expensive and was dry in the wickets column. But a ball I haven’t seen being bowled in a long time is the old, rip-snorting yorker.

The last bowler who seemed adept at bowling them was Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, whom you may remember from the time he danced in front of Andre Nel, or when he was slapped by his angry teammate. Zaheer Khan too had it in his repertoire, but Sharma, Kumar, and Ahmed haven’t attempted bowling the yorker, regardless of whether it’s in the first over, or last, with a new batsman or a settled one. It indicates the Indian fast bowlers’ defensive mindset, which is more hindering in nature than smart.

Dale Steyn is the quintessential attacking bowler. An elegant run-up, a smooth action, followed by an impressive follow-through. By the time you’ve finished admiring all of this, he’s already celebrating the stumps being torn apart, courtesy a gem of a delivery. A fast bowler needs to be an imposing figure capable of staring batsmen down and unsettling them under their helmets. Praveen Kumar did this to great extent, so much so that he continued the trend even after getting his scalp, but just like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ahmed, once the shine wore off, his importance for his team dipped considerably.

Sreesanth was a character who had the attitude of a fast bowler. While his performance lagged behind by miles, he had, and still has the potential to be a great threat. India are coming up against an Australian side who have six-foot plus bowlers in their side, capable of hitting heads of our batsman nine times out of ten. Much like the heavily talked about boot camp the Aussies attended before the Ashes, Indian fast bowlers too need to be inducted into a similar programme of sorts to get their rough streak going.