A sudden burst from the quicks

Four fast bowlers steam in, bang the ball short and put batsmen on the defensive. There is repeated glory for the quick men, while the spinners wait patiently on the sidelines, chipping in wherever necessary. The West Indian team of yesteryear, right? Think again, and before you fall off your chair laughing, we are talking about India. The time of looking back fondly at the spin quartet, at dusty tracks and long spells from tweakers is threatening to be put to rest by a brigade of young fast bowlers who refuse to be denied.

The Indians take on Zimbabwe with pacers Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Tinu Yohannan, seamer Sanjay Bangar backing his faster colleagues up. It seems that India has such an embarrassment of riches that there is no place in the side for Ajit Agarkar or Ashish Nehra, leave alone those further on the fringe like Baroda's Rakesh Patel or Tamil Nadu's L Balaji.

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But what brought about this dramatic revival? After all, not long ago, India were struggling in this very department. Madan Lal, former India medium-pacer and now national selector, explains that things have changed. "It is a question of having someone to follow. Kapil Dev was the role model for us. After him there was Srinath, who has done so well, and Venkatesh Prasad for a few years too. The pace bowlers these days get much more chances also, and that helps, "he began, speaking to CricInfo from his residence on the outskirts of Delhi.

It is not only a question of role models, though; there is also the small matter of the lack of quality spinners coming through the system. Sure, Anil Kumble motors on manfully, Harbhajan Singh shines every now and then, and Sarandeep Singh is rapping loudly on the door. "In the last 4-5 years, things have improved for medium-pacers because there haven't been too many quality spinners coming through. When I was playing, we had a lot of high-class spinners, and they were doing most of the bowling. The trend was changed with Kapil, and then Roger Binny, Karsan Ghavri and myself taking wickets in the big matches," says Madan Lal, explaining why medium-pacers play a much larger role in matches these days.

Not too many will acknowledge it, and it will remain a source of debate, but the MRF Pace Foundation at Chennai has also played its part in developing a base for fast bowling. Former Australian great Dennis Lillee has been closely involved with the foundation, regularly conducting camps for fast bowlers from all over the world. Former India medium-pacer TA Sekhar, the head coach at the Foundation, has overseen the training for many years, and his views on the subject are just as interesting.

"Basically, what has happened is that there is now a formal set-up in place for coaching fast bowlers," he began, referring to the Foundation.

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"From a few years ago, methods of coaching fast bowling have improved dramatically. I've been coaching for 14 years and can see that these techniques have spread all over the country as well. Srinath, Prasad and Zaheer Khan have all done well, and this is encouraging more people to take up fast bowling," explained Sekhar, concurring with Madan Lal on this count. His point is well taken too, given the fact that it takes any system, and indeed any academy, some time to start producing results.

For years now, critics have demanded, "Show me one fast bowler that the Pace Foundation has produced." Now that there are at least two - Zaheer Khan and Yohannan - Sekhar can safely counter that line of criticism. He instead pointed to the indirect benefits of having such an academy in place. "Because there is expertise available, people feel more comfortable taking up the art. In India we have plenty of expertise and legends when it comes to spin bowling, but there really isn't one definitive place you can go if you want to fine-tune your art."

There is, however, still one major stumbling block that needs to be overcome if India are to be a force to reckon on the world stage of fast bowling, to wit, the appalling condition of wickets that domestic cricket is played on. Sekhar's frustration at this is plain.

"Making pitches is not in our hands at all. Dennis Lillee has been talking about the need to improve pitches in India since 1987. For example, if it were up to me, I would certainly have played the Zimbabwe tour game on a greentop," he said. "If we had played 3-4 fast bowlers on a wicket that was conducive to fast bowling, we would have known where our bowlers stand against an international team."

Talking specifics is certainly a good way forward in this case. Anyone who watched the tour match that Zimbabwe played on the flattest of tracks at Vijayawada would have seen the futility of it all. "I appreciate the fact that our batsmen have done well on a good batting track, but really, what is the use of watching Abhijit Kale make 90 or Gautam Gambhir 218 if they are not even in the reckoning?"

The more pressing case, as Sekhar pointed out, is using matches like this as an opportunity to blood promising youngsters. "Take the case of L Balaji. He is a promising fast bowler and has been taking wickets consistently. If he had played in the side game and taken 4-5 wickets, he would have been in the reckoning. Now he has to wait till next season to get a chance against a touring side," explained Sekhar.

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The talk of Balaji being a fast bowler to look out for have been doing the rounds for a while now. His omission from the squad for the Zimbabwe series certainly raised a few eyebrows.

One does hope, however, that young fast bowlers like him will get their chances. Only then will youngsters continue to throng the maidans with dreams in their heads and a new ball in their hand. There is a tale that Sir Richard Hadlee carried a picture of Lillee in his kit-bag; we all know what Hadlee managed to achieve. Perhaps, one day, there will be a starry-eyed lad with a picture of Srinath in his kit-bag...