A distinct lack of pace

The Indian squad set to travel to England has been announced. Looking through our pace bowling resources for this tour, I got nostalgic, but not in a good way. I don't have any complaints against our selectors. In fact, I doff my hat to them. They took some tough decisions and chose from what is available. Its just that the end product reminds me of our 1996 tour to the same country.

Javagal Srinath was the leader of our attack back then. Venkatesh Prasad and Paras Mhambrey were the debutants who were supposed to be backed up by 'lively seam bowling' from a certain Sourav Ganguly. Prasad had a brilliant debut tour and went on to have quite a useful career opening the bowling for our team. However, watching both Mhambrey and Ganguly come off those ridiculously long run-ups to deliver what they actually did wasn't a pleasant experience, unless experiencing an electric shock counts as one.

This time, we have R.P.Singh, Ishant Sharma and Ranadeb Bose to backup Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth. I've seen R.P. in action and categorize him with Gambhir - extremely loose. I haven't seen the other two in action. I have nothing against these three. My frustration stems from the fact that instead of setting upon this challenging venture with a potent, proven lineup, we are doing so with a threadbare one, while praying that neither Zak nor Sree get injured. Other than the fact that they are not yet Akram and McGrath, I have no complaints against our top two. They sure can emulate the exploits of Sri and Prasad from 1996. However, instead of the third seamer slot being fought between Munaf Patel and Aashish Nehra, backed up by all-rounder Irfan Pathan, we have R.P., Ishant and Ranadeb. Considering their inexperience, expecting these newcomers to provide adequate backup for Sree and Zak against this mighty English side seems a tad unfair. Good luck to them.

If I make it sound like I am someone who would find ways to be miserable even after India wins a World Cup (cricket, hockey, kabaddi or whatever else), please be assured that that is not the case. Here's proof.

Post England 1996, till the end of the 90s, we had Srinath and Prasad and then, well, me. Ankola, Mhambrey, David Johnson, Dodda Johnson, Abey Kuruvilla - the list is long of those that tried but fell short of international class. Now, we have a whole bunch sitting at the doctor's desk after having demonstrated class at international level. We still fall short of Pakistani or Australian pace bowling standards, but the evolution from having no pace bowlers to having a whole bunch of injured ones, gladdens my Indian heart.