Amidst gloom, some pace relief for India

CHENNAI: The only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing ODI home series defeat to Pakistan was the emergence of a new pack of medium-pace bowlers for the Indian team.
The injury-hit pace department wore a worrying look last month following the side's first home Test series defeat to England in 28 years with ageing Zaheer Khan opting out of the subsequent ODIs to take the Ranji Trophy route to prepare himself for the high-profile home Test series against Australia starting in February.
Of the four specialist pacers named in the 15-man squad for the first three ODIs of a five-match series against touring England staring in Rajkot on Jan 11, two – Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed – made their debut in the just-concluded Pakistan series while Ashok Dinda established his reputation as a dependable option in the long run.
Ishant Sharma, who returned to international action in the England Test series following a long injury lay off, assumed the role of spearhead, but with injuries sidelining the likes of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, the Gen Next trio provided some comfort.
"Dinda is a hard-worker, he's the kind who gives more than 100 per cent," former India bowler and national selector TA Sekar told the TOI on Monday. "At the same time, he goes for a lot of runs and that's because of his tendency to follow up three extremely good deliveries with a couple of loose ones," said the former head coach of the MRF Pace Foundation. "I am sure that with more international experience, and after he gets to play a full series, he will overcome that.
"Shami didn't bowl with much pace on his debut (third ODI), but he bowled a good line and used the helpful conditions well. It was a good debut for the young bowler, but we need to see him over a couple of games, and in conditions that are not as helpful as it was in Delhi, to judge him," said Sekar, currently the team mentor of IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils.
"Bhuvneshwar Kumar appears very promising and had a good series, but I am yet to see the emergence of a young Indian bowler who bowls consistently in the 140-plus kmph from the current lot of domestic talent.
"The recurring nature of the injuries that is keeping the likes of Aaron and Umesh out is a worrying aspect. For that matter S Sreesanth was also out of action for long," Sekar said.