Indian cricket’s pace revolution registered another landmark on Thursday when three young fast bowlers were blooded on the same day, for India ‘A’ against the touring New Zealand team. At close of play, the balance sheet was more or less even: though Munaf Patel, RP Singh and Shreesanth didn’t set the stands alight, they did at one stage reduce the tourists to 91 This, when the first two were making their first-class debut and the third has just seven Ranji games to his credit. It was a significant moment because this was, in effect, India’s third line of attack (Srinath, Zaheer etc being the first and Irfan Pathan, Balaji the second); a couple of years ago the selectors would have struggled to name a second-string. However, though full of enthusiasm, all three showed they had a long way to go before making that quantum leap to first-string. The spotlight was brightest on Munaf Patel but, despite one wicket-taking spell, India’s ‘‘answer’’ to Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar failed to shine. His round-arm action drew unanimous criticism, and experts said he wasn’t nearly as quick as he has been made out to be. ‘‘He’s a medium-pacer, not fast,’’ said former Indian leg-spinner L Sivaramakrishnan, here commentating for TV, sounding like he spelled ‘fast’ with a capital F. Munaf bowled a forgettable first spell, spraying balls on either side of the stumps and failing totally to stick to a line, but came back strongly after lunch to shatter New Zealand’s top order, claiming three vital wickets in five overs. Indeed, at one point he was even on a hat-trick ‘‘That was a good spell,’’ Siva said, ‘‘but he needs to correct his round arm action a bit, it just needs a minor adjustment. He needs to deliver the ball right from the top.’’ That would maximise Munaf’s height advantage — at six-four, he can do much more damage with the ball. Shreesanth, who came in first change, was the pick of the medium-pacers in the morning. He bowled tightly and gave away only three runs in his first spell of six overs but wasn’t fortunate to get a wicket. He was eventually rewarded for his efforts when McMillan edged him to the slips in the post-lunch session. The shortest of the three, and seemingly the slowest, Shreesanth nevertheless was also the most disciplined. Probably a result of his experience: 11 first-class games and 33 wickets. Though the baby-faced six-footer isn’t an out-and-out pace bowler, his Ranji coach Abey Kuruvilla says his biggest quality is ‘‘the hard work he’s ready to put in.’’ With a classical high-arm bowling style which the coach insists shouldn’t be altered, Sreesanth can move the ball both ways with what Kuruvilla calls ‘decent pace’. Interestingly, Kuruvilla believes the one flaw he needs to iron out is discipline. ‘‘Since he’s so talented he was a tendency to try out too many things. I think he should focus more on line and length.’’ Rudra Pratap Singh, who opened the attack with Munaf, was too wayward, pitching it too short like the other two in the morning, and didn’t make an impression even with the second new ball claimed immediately after 80 overs. Then the heat took over; it didn’t seem to affect the tourists but the fast bowlers visibly tired. Shreesanth had to leave with cramps midway through his 13th over. So the interim report card? ‘‘Too young, too raw, too soon to be judged’’ was Siva’s comment. Then added, ‘‘They should be given enough opportunities to perform.’’ (Additional reporting by Sandeep Dwivedi)
