India has finally managed to retain their #1 position in the ICC test rankings after a nail bitter at Eden Gardens. No doubt that the pitch at Eden gardens is a batting beauty, and the Indian batsmen took full advantage of it. Over 1,000 runs were scored in that match & the bowling department of both the teams were in the firing line. M.S. Dhoni, captain of the Indian cricket team mentioned that Indian cricket is at their topmost form & we deserve to be at #1. I completely agree with MS that we do deserve to be #1. India is also ranked #2 in the ICC ODI ratings. But the million dollar question is that is our team perfectly balanced in the bowling department?
Most of the times, the Indian Batsman have stood up for the challenge. With all due respect to our fast bowlers like Ashish Nehra, S.Shreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi, none of them look like filling the void to be India's strike bowler. Their economy rate always goes for a toss, which is sometimes acceptable in the test format but definitely not in an ODI or a T20. India's fast bowlers have been the weakest link in their quest to becoming the best ODI team in the world. In addition, they have been a liability in the field too. Since the days of Kapil Dev, Madan Lal and Chetan Sharma, India have struggled to find a fast bowler who's energetic & athletic in both bowling and in the outfield except for Zaheer Khan. Over the last five years or so, India have tried 13 pace bowlers, and all the captains over this period have failed to figure a way out when the pressure is on and the pitch is flat. They have failed to defend 300-plus totals more often than any other team.
Lets have a look at our pace bowler's performance for this year. Nehra has played 5 matches in which he was bowled 42 overs, given away 284 runs with an economy of 6.84, whereas on the other hand S.Sreesanth who featured in 7 matches has bowled 63.3 overs with an economy rate of 7.18 taking only 8 wickets & conceeding 470 runs. Zaheer Khan, being the most economical of the lot, is the backbone of our pace attack. If rest of them do not support or maintain the same pressure that Zaheer does from one end, then scoring 300 of 350+ is like a piece of cake for the oppositions & with the introduction of the third powerplay(batting powerplay), the BCCI must keep their other options open. They should concentrate on the minor aspects in the pace attack like exploiting national academies like The MRF Pace Foundation, Elf Academy; pick the young talented bowlers, mould them in such a way that the bench strength in the bowling attack becomes more stronger than what it is today. They key formula to be at the top of the table in the ICC ODI Rankings is to increase the bench strength in the bowling deoartment & keep the options open because now it is high time that our strike bowlers are given chances over chances.
