Fast class: Emergence of the Indian pacers

Paras Mhambrey is sitting in his drawing room, skimming through the Ranji Trophy scorecards. As bowling coach of the India A and U19 sides, his work doesn’t limit him to what he does when these teams are in action. Post the New Zealand tour, players part of the A set-up are back with their state sides. But Mhambrey still has to keep an eye on them. None of his wards knows he is doing that. He glances at the scorecards, flips his tab and checks the workload of every pacer. “I regularly monitor them. I’m always in touch with them. If I find one of them has under bowled, I quietly call one of the guys I know and find out whether it had something to do with the game plan or something else.”

Listening to Mhambrey, one thing is clear. There is a lot of time, planning and thought being invested in preserving what was once a rare breed in Indian cricket: fast bowlers. And the reason why Mhambrey, a fast-bowler himself in his playing days, is spying on his wards is he wants to make sure he knows where they stand. “It gives me perspective. When they join me in the A team, I know where I should push them and where to slow down. We have a system, which monitors what they do in terms of training and how much they bowl in a week. All the information regarding how many balls they have bowled at the nets, during the match, is gathered. If there is a red mark next to X, we know he has been over bowled and needs rest.”

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In 2000, Debashish Mohanty happened to be the first Indian pacer, whose action was filmed by a video analyst. Later on, Zaheer Khan became the first beneficiary of the bio-mechanics facility at the MRF Pace Foundation. Technology had made its entry into the Indian set-up, nearly 25 years after Australia started investing in technology with the sole aim of developing fast bowlers. Indian pacers started having the luxury of having a masseur and a video analyst regularly only from the middle of the first decade of this century. These days, it is impossible to find a Ranji team without a strength & conditioning coach, physio, video analyst and masseur. Of course, the money that goes into the domestic system these days was difficult to imagine a decade back. A pacer, who is part of a Ranji side, has his own programme that takes care of his diet, nutrition and what not.

“Talent alone doesn’t produce a fast bowler. A system has to be there to develop and groom one. When Zak, (Ashish) Nehra came in, they had the talent, but didn’t know nuances that are involved to sustain it for long. They were a product of the previous environment, where they came through the ranks based purely on their own skills. That isn’t enough. You need the help of technology to overcome the technical faults and have an injury-free career. Munaf (Patel) and Irfan (Pathan) are examples of those who suffered because of the absence of a system. The same cannot be said of the current lot, who have enough guys to take care of them and who are monitored by the support staff and guided,” said Ramji Srinivasan, who was the strength and conditioning coach of the 2011 World Cup winning Indian side.

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While Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav are making heads turn with their pace and skills, India are already looking at the future. The last few months have seen the emergence of Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed when some of the mainstream pacers had to be rested keeping in mind the workload. There are also the likes of Navdeep Saini, Basil Thampi, Ankit Rajpoot and a young Shivam Mavi waiting in the wings. Most of them are around or above 140 kmph. Never did India have so many bowling at this pace in the reserves. Moreover, it is hard to find a rookie pacer coming out of India these days who looks out of place on the international scene. Bumrah is the biggest example.

They don’t waste time in getting used to the big stage and are not consumed by the pressure that comes with international cricket. “Exposure,” Mhambrey reasons. “A bowler who is graduating to the national team now has the experience of playing on all kinds of pitches, conditions and bowling with all sorts of balls — SG, Dukes, Kookaburra. They spend a considerable time with the A team and get to tour Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa and also play a lot at home.”

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Speaking to those involved in the process of India developing a core of pacers, one thing stands out. They are not willing to compromise on pace. Bharathi Arun has managed to change a trend during his stint as the bowling coach of Indian team. Quite often, pacers tended to lose pace after graduating to the national team. Munaf, Irfan, Sreesanth, RP Singh are examples. But with Arun managing this part now, this has been reversed. All the pacers including Bhuvneshwar have increased their pace by a few yards. There was a reason why Ravi Shastri, when he was asked to take over reins of the Indian team in 2014 as team director, asked for Arun to be part of the set-up. The former India bowler had worked with all in the current crop of pacers barring Shami, during his time at the NCA. Familiarity bred success. 

It is something Arun is looking to establish in the system. The bowling coach and Shastri are in regular touch with those in charge of the A team, devising plans to sustain this never-seen-before luxury in Indian cricket. “We have lots of correspondence and access to data. We look at plenty of aspects like injury-management, prevention of injury and mobilisation. Once we find the cream of the talent in domestic cricket, he comes into the A team and we work with him. We don’t try and change the technical side of things, just look at improving him with some minor tweaks and emphasis on fitness programmes. Thanks to the IPL, most of them have rubbed shoulders with the best and become well informed. Their work ethics and discipline is second to none. They understand what it takes to become a fast bowler now,” Mhambrey said.

Key to their development has also been the influence of the pitches they have played on. Barring a couple of venues, it is hard to find surfaces that assist only the spinners. Fast bowling on unresponsive pitches is the worst that could happen to a country that aspires to have a battery of pacers. “Over the last few years, wickets in India have been good. But in the A team, we emphasise a lot on playing on challenging pitches. The easy way out is to roll out a helpful wicket and get the numbers. But that won’t help. You need to challenge them on all sorts of pitches: bounce, swing, seam because you won’t get a helpful one on the international stage. What all of this is doing is, it is bridging the gap between domestic and international standards. They don’t take time to adjust,” he said.

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Dravid, a fortnight back, more than praising the efforts of what the Indian pacers were doing in Australia, spoke about the importance of sustaining the existing programme. In terms of bio-mechanics and use of GPS, India is still behind Australia, but as Ramji points out, they are closing the gap thanks to the money factor. “We still don’t use the technology fully. These guys are first products of a system put in place a decade back. But now you will see more and more coming up because each state association is empowered with resources. We kept talking why we can’t produce pacers, but nobody understood that a system had to be there in first place.” 

Mhambrey takes it further. “We need to start investing in under-16 and under-19 levels. Some states are doing a great work, but not everyone. That is the age to concentrate because when you spot a young talent and invest in him, it becomes part of his upbringing. You need to groom them young, not at the A level. When that age-group is given the physios, trainers and exposure to technology, you will flourish as a system. We have eight of them who will take us forward for the next 3-4 years. But we need to start looking further ahead now.”