Bowlers can hope for their dew returns

Everybody likes to flog a slogging horse. And the more the Indian bowlers slog in this series the more they seem to get flogged. But they ca...

Everybody likes to flog a slogging horse. And the more the Indian bowlers slog in this series the more they seem to get flogged. But they can take heart that the IPCL ground’s wicket here, where the fourth match of the one-day series will be played, is expected to give ample assistance to the medium pacers — at least in the first hour of the game.

Ground officials say they have been observing that with the winter setting in, the due content on the wicket has increased considerably. But they add that the wicket will aid the batsmen but the pacers can be effective in the first hour.

The toss, therefore, will be of prime importance; the captain winning it, pundits here feel, would be better off chasing than setting a target.

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EXPERT ADVICE FOR BOWLERS

Bowl stump to stump: Indian wickets are batsmen-oriented. Bowling is a tough proposition on docile wickets. The ball normally doesn’t take off like it does in countries like Australia. One must keep the ball within stumps and have variety.
Should bowl a yorker or a slower one more often and must pitch the ball on right spots. In other words, a bowler must not bowl up-and-down stuff and needs to be cent per cent accurate. There is no room for error in international cricket. Madan Lal

Bowlers shouldn’t lose heart: Medium pacers on either side have struggled in all the matches. The way the pitches are in the country, it is no surprise that new ball bowlers are struggling. The wickets are tough for frontline pace bowlers.
The fact remains that the game has changed a lot in the last few years. With pitches favouring batsmen it is not fair to blame bowlers. Atul Wassan

Too much experiment can cost dear: Our bowling has not been up to the mark in a few games, especially our pacers. I don’t agree that it is impossible to bowl well on batting-friendly surfaces like we have in our country.
The vital thing for a bowler is to keep good line and length and bowl according to field. In limited overs games one should not experiment much as that could prove costly. But one thing I will add that the bowlers from both the sides have not impressed me. Karsan Ghavri

Former Baroda Ranji Trophy player RA Swaroop, an IPCL employee and his company’s cricket captain, knows the track like the back of his hand. He feels if the seamers exploit the morning moisture properly, the match on Monday could reverse the trend of the high-scoring series.

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‘‘If the bowlers bowl well in the morning, the match could finish early,’’ says Swaroop, adding, ‘‘if the openers manage to negotiate the initial spells the wicket could easily produce about 500-plus runs.’’

Another top cricket official, who did not want to be quoted, said the wickets in the first four matches ‘‘were so good for batting that the batsmen dominated’’.

When asked what went wrong with the Indian bowlers, especially at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad in the third match on Friday where West Indies scored 324 runs, he said, ‘‘It’s not as if only the Indian bowlers suffered, even the West Indian bowlers got the same treatment later when the Indians successfully chased the target. It’s the same trend all over the world; wickets are increasingly producing big totals. The high scores prove that the wickets were tailor-made for batting.’’

Another factor that could limit the scoring at the IPCL ground — it is as big as the Motera — is a lush carpet of grass in the outfield, which the ground officials said will be retained. Unlike in Rajkot where the ball travelled so fast once it beat the fielder to be a certain four, the outfield here will be a bit slower. The fielder will be chasing the ball right up to the end.

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However, another popular cricketer here, who also spoke on the condition of anonimity, feels the Indian medium pace attack is no good. Elaborating, he says: ‘‘One pacer — Srinath — is over the hill and the other two — Nehra and Agarkar — are at best too erratic. We are sorely missing Zaheer Khan. But India cannot win the World Cup with this seam attack even if Zaheer returns. We have to identify a few much better seamers — and soon.’’

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