Pacers the key for team India

When India tour Australia later this year pace will come to the forefront. In India though most of the times the pacers are just supporting acts to the spinners but when the team tours abroad the roles are reversed. This is the reason India is so heavily reliant on Zaheer Khan, who without a doubt has been India’s premier performer over the past few years.

The England tour further emphasized his importance to the team as without him the Indian pace attack looked completely erratic. A fit and firing pace attack will be the key down under and the current injection of youth is a welcome relief. The fact that the selectors have decided to test out two complete new comers in the team is very heartening. Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav both are extremely quick by Indian standards and also possess great control over line and length. Ishant Sharma who has been India’s best bowler in 2011 also has returned from the injury which gives us the hope of a full strength attack to Australia.

Praveen Kumar too will be an important cog in India’s bowling wheel later this year. After an impressive debut in West Indies, he carried the Indian attack manfully on the difficult English tour. The pace attack for Australia looks something like this at the moment, Zaheer, Praveen, Ishant, Varun and Umesh (Provided all of them are fit). This gives an excellent look to the pace attack. Off course for this to be successful Zaheer needs to be back in the team with full fitness. Zaheer has never participated in a full tour to Australia. In 2003 he had to return after just one test and same in 2007. He needs to be there to guide the young bowlers on a tough tour of Australia. Zaheer’s importance in the test squad cannot be emphasized enough. He has been India’s best bowler by a country mile over the past 4 years pace or spin and his presence in team is extremely important.

Since 2007 Zaheer has played 35 tests for India taking 144 wickets at an impressive average of 27.90 at an amazing strike rate of 51.5. Ishant Sharma also has done well for India in that period, even though he has been less consistent. The emergence of young pacers gives India a much rounded look in the upcoming series down under. Umesh Yadav has already looked good in the test matches against the West Indies and now the selectors need to find a way to squeeze Aaron a couple of games before flying out to Australia.

Maintaining a good pace bench strength is extremely important and I hope that the team management realizes that. Constant rotation of fast bowlers is extremely important to keep them fit and ready when needed. I hope that young talent like Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron are nurtured properly by the team management so that they don’t fall through the cracks like their predecessors. 

Article by: Giridharan Subramanian