The youthful Ishant Sharma will share the new ball with the experienced Zaheer Khan. Their methods are contrasting and the angles different. The Australian top-order could be tested, writes S. Dinakar.
The view from the press box at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was spectacular. It was cinemascope time in a grand theatre. The players were the protagonists.
Even as the afternoon temperature rose, Ishant Sharma galloped to the centre-stage on the big screen. The lad with pace, bounce and inward movement had the Australian top-order on the hop. His long mane flowing as he ran in rhythmically, his eyes inte nse, his focus firmly on the target, Ishant hurried the batsmen with pace, probed them with movement from an exemplary wrist position.
Following the proceedings from a vantage point, former Australian paceman Rodney Hogg acknowledged, “He seems to be good, very good. At last you have a paceman who can give it back.”
Hogg was right about Ishant although he appeared to have forgotten, momentarily at least, Javagal Srinath, whose methods Ishant seemed to be following.
That was an afternoon where, at the MCG that was a blaze of colour, Ishant’s spell with the new ball virtually settled the issue in a vital CB tri-series match. The stage had not daunted him.
Like Srinath, Ishant’s presence in the attack is of much psychological value to the side. He can push the batsmen on to the back-foot, make them smell leather with short-pitched balls and consume them with fuller length deliveries.
It was a memorable summer in Australia for Ishant. His duel with Ricky Ponting, where he posed searching questions to the Australian captain with his straighter ones and off-cutters from an exemplary off-stump line, was among the highlights of the Test series. Ponting came out second best.
Ishant and Ponting will face off again in the coming days that are bound to be tension-filled and eventful.
The pitches for the Test series at home could favour the spinners, yet pace could have a say in the early stages of a day. As the ball gets older, reverse swing could be a weapon. Let’s not forget that if a dry surface developed cracks, then the pacemen could employ the cutters effectively.
The youthful Ishant will share the new ball with the experienced Zaheer Khan. From being a bowler who could generate bursts of explosive speed when he began his international journey in 2000, the left-armer has evolved into a crafty paceman.
Importantly, Zaheer has worked his way back to fitness after the tour of Pakistan in 2006 where he appeared bloated and unfit for international cricket. Now he’s lean and mean. Actually, fitness concerns may have forced Zaheer to abandon raw pace for greater control. A rhythm bowler who banks on a flowing run-up and release, Zaheer has improved his repertoire. He can seam the ball both ways from over-the-wicket; moving it away, straightening it, or bringing it back into the right-hander. If the batsman is crease-tied, he is in trouble.
Zaheer shifts his line effectively to the left-handers, keeping the slip cordon busy with away deviation from around the off-stump. He changes his pace well and has displayed his versatility by bowling round-the-wicket to the right-handers, hitting the deck and testing the batsmen in the corridor. Zaheer’s seam position too is excellent.
He relished the role of being the pace bowling spearhead in Sri Lanka. Crucially, he retained his intensity through the day, varying his pace and length in a subtle manner.
Zaheer and Ishant could prove an effective right-left combination. Their methods are contrasting and the angles different. The Australian top-order could be tested.
The threat of Matthew Hayden intimidating with his on-the-walk methods looms. The Indians are bound to have plans in place for Hayden. Ishant seaming the ball away from round-the-wicket might present India’s best chance of scalping the influential Hayden in the initial stages. If Hayden settles down, the Indians could be in a truck-load of trouble.
Much would also depend on how Zaheer and Ishant conserve their energy in what are bound to be long, hot days. Kumble could well employ a pace-spin combination, particularly at the start of the post-lunch session and give the pacemen a fling at the fag end of the day; fitness and energy levels will be critical here.
Munaf Patel and Rudra Pratap Singh are the other two pacemen in the Indian squad for the first two Tests against the Australians. Munaf is humming these days, extracting bounce around the off-stump and seaming the ball either way. He uses his pace judiciously now and has a useful bouncer.
Rudra Pratap Singh can surprise batsmen with his bounce and consume them with his swing off a sharpish pace but needs to overcome spells of inconsistency. There are occasions when he tends to drag the ball down the leg-side.
India has adequate depth in pace bowling — the MRF Pace Foundation and the National Cricket Academy have played their role — and pace bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad has guided the younger bunch well.
Santhakumaran Sreesanth of the ideal seam position and the lovely, late out-swinger is still in the frame but has he tempered down his excessive aggression adequately? Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar are swing bowlers who could do with a yard of extra pace in the longer version of the game.
V. R. V. Singh has potential but has to strengthen his mind. Sudip Tyagi and Manpreet Gony are ‘works in progress.’ V. Yomahesh with his lovely high-arm action and the resultant bounce impressed in the IPL but has not really got his due. The much-improved Ashok Dinda, fitter and sharper, can be slippery on his day.
These Indian pacemen deserve sporting pitches. Placid tracks could kill their enthusiasm, cause mental and physical breakdown.
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