Probability theory: Outside, looking in at life in the fast lane

In the fickle world of Indian cricket, these three know that they don’t have too many shots at fame. Get it right the first time or wait forever for your turn in the pyramid structure.

Yet the keen sense of competition between them doesn’t impede on their inherent friendship, as the banter they indulge in at the camp here will testify.

On the face of it Salvi, the 21-year-old Mumbaikar, Chennai’s Balaji, also 21, and Irfan, the son of a Vadodara cleric and the baby at 18, don’t have much in common other than their ability to bowl fast. Really fast.

But the ties first formed on an India ‘A’ tour of England have, they say, become a ‘bond for life’. ‘‘If my head droops after a bad delivery Irfan runs up to me, and if I see a problem in Balaji’s action I tell him. We keep helping each other’’, says Salvi.

Of the three, only Pathan is yet to get senior India colours; Balaji and Salvi have played one-day internationals. If the varying levels of experience have taught them one thing then it is the need to be ‘‘consistent’’ all the time for success at the highest level. ‘‘It is a matter of discipline. If we can keep maintaining an optimal level of performance I’m sure we can make it’’, says Balaji, as Irfan and Salvi nod in agreement.

Balaji knows what he’s talking about. On a warm November day in Rajkot last year, he was taken apart by a rampant Chris Gayle. In three blistering overs, he gave away 39 runs. It was his debut.

He headed straight back to the Ranji circuit and worked off his frustration and anger, picking up six straight five-wicket hauls, leading Tamil Nadu to the Ranji Trophy final and himself to the top of the season’s Ranji bowling charts.

Fate was kinder to Salvi. His initiation was at the TVS Cup in Bangladesh under Virender Sehwag, when he took four wickets in three matches without getting hit too much.

Irfan doesn’t have such experiences to draw on but is excited at the prospect of bowling alongside Zaheer and Nehra. ‘‘Just the whole experience of being at the very first India camp has been overwhelming,’’ he says.

All three were, however, on the India ‘A’ tour of England this summer, while Balaji and Salvi were also in the West Indies, a very different kettle of fish. ‘‘Adapatability was the key. While the West Indies wickets were flat, English conditions assisted the bowlers to some extent, so it was a question of quickly how we adjusted’’, says Balaji.

That speed of adjustment will be necessary if any one of them is indeed catapulted from Probables to Playing XI. As the conversation draws to a close, the team bus draws up outside the ground. Will it hurt if two of the three miss the bus that matters? Irfan thinks for just a moment. ‘‘No,’’ he says, and rushes off to join his mates.

The spirit of competition is alive and kicking.