<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">var server = '203.197.64.235'; var sitepage = "www.timesofindia.com/india/index.html"; var position ="Bottom1"; if (! (RN)) { var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2, 11); } var oas='http://' + server + '/RealMedia/ads/'; var oaspage= sitepage + '/1' + RNS + '@' + position; //the belladpart starts here function lrTrim(thestring) { thestring = thestring.replace(/^\s*(.*)/, "$1"); thestring = thestring.replace(/(.*?)\s*$/, "$1"); return thestring; } var xyz=0; var sss = lrTrim(bellyad.innerText).split(/^/m); strpart = new Array(sss.length); for (i=0;i<sss.length;i++) iflrtrimsssi.length=""> 60) { strpart[xyz] = lrTrim(sss[i]); xyz = xyz+1; } } if(xyz > 1) var xcounter=1; else var xcounter=0; var ifirstsub = bellyad.innerHTML.indexOf(lrTrim(strpart[xcounter]).substring(0,30)); if (ifirstsub == -1) ifirstsub=bellyad.innerHTML.lastIndexOf(lrTrim(strpart[0]).substring(strpart[0].length-15,strpart[0].length)); var sfirst = bellyad.innerHTML.substring(0,ifirstsub); var sSecond = bellyad.innerHTML.substring(sfirst.length , bellyad.innerHTML.length); if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = sfirst + '<a href="' + oas + 'click_nx.ads/'+ oaspage + '" target="_top"><img align="right" vspace="10" hspace="10" src="' + oas + 'adstream_nx.ads/' + oaspage + '" border="0" alt="Cliquez ici !" /></a>' + sSecond;</sss.length;i++)></script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="33.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/732048.cms" alt="/photo/732048.cms" border="0" /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Irfan Pathan (L) Zaheer Khan</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">While India''s traditional strength, batting, is as strong as ever, are our bowlers good enough to continue with their excellent run post-Australia and Pakistan series?<br /><br />With raw youngsters making the line-up for the pacers including Irfan Pathan (5 Tests), L Balaji (5 Tests), Ashish Nehra (17 Tests ), and Zaheer Khan (29 Tests ) experience is notable, purely because of its absence.<br /><br />At present, Team India''s fabulous record in 2003-04 proves there does exist a coherent unit which is ahead of the Proteas and just behind Australia, according to Allan Border.
In no small measure this has been due to our new ball bowlers.<br /><br />The question that now arises is whether they are good enough to win matches against an opposition that is pace-savvy.<br /><br />Irfan and Balaji have made a name for themselves on the back of their performances in both Australia and Pakistan where they took 16 and 13 wickets respectively for both series. But they are newcomers and totally inexperienced with the kind of pitches that are available in the other Test-playing countries and therefore will their determination and desire to succeed be able to carry them towards a good performance in the future?<br /><br />In Australia they found fast and true pitches. And surprisingly, the Pakistani pitches were made to order with both batsmen and bowlers finding something in it for themselves. But England, Sri Lanka and even South Africa will have pitches that will take a lot of effort and learning on the job to succeed. Even in India, the pitches are hardly pace-friendly and their role will be under threat of being supplanted by the spinners.<br /><br />In England the pitches seam a lot, especially under a cloud cover and otherwise they give enough to pacers to make a telling effect provided they are able to learn the length to bowl to batsmen. Sri Lankan pitches are a spinners paradise and pacers usually don''t come into play except with a new hard ball. Here they will require lots of guile, because no amount of exuberance will help them to get rid of batsmen.<br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />South African pitches are great to bowl for fast bowlers but they have to put in an immense amount of effort for getting results. A fully fit Allan Donald, Fanie De Villiers and Shaun Pollock have notched up fabulous results but only when they made their persistence and stamina count. <br /><br />Putting it all together, these youngsters have to plug away over after over concentrating on getting the basics right, like line and length and bowling at the stumps. Experimentation would be anathema and short-pitched bowling would be suicide. <br /><br />They will also have to put in long hours watching videos of some of the cricket greats bowl and even more time on watching and identifying the weaknesses of the batsmen they will have to face.<br /><br />Indubitably they lack the stamina to stay at the top of their bowling power for long periods. Add to this the fragility of their bodies which are prone to frequent injuries. This is the time when performance plummets. Injuries to Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra have put their performances and those of the team in doubt. <br /><br />Do the young Indian speedsters have it in them to emulate the great Kapil Dev or an aging Wasim Akram?<br /><br />If the past is anything to go by then winning habits are present in these bowlers and with correct directions being given by their coaches and physios then there is no reason why they can''t shoulder the responsibility of getting rid of the opposing teams'' top order. <br /><br />The most positive thing about them is that they have shown a great willingness to learn from their experiences and their maturity-levels are rising day by day. That is why whether it was Zaheer on his debut or even Irfan, both put everyone on notice that they were going to be tough contenders.<br /><br />Looking to the future their ability to change and adapt to conditions, series by series and learning from their mistakes will definitely make the difference to Team India in notching up wins in the matches to come. <br /><br /><a href="http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-690232,right-1.cms"><img src="/photo/732049.cms" alt="/photo/732049.cms" border="0" /></a></div> </div>
