Fast bowling depth

Only recently, Harsha Bhogle was complaining about the lack of depth in Indian pace bowling. The criticism came not a moment too soon, as India had just returned from England with a remarkable series win. And many credited the win to India going to England with an attack capable of picking twenty wickets. Zaheer was bowling very well, and had two capable allies in Arpy and Sree. It was even more remarkable that India won a Test match without a significant contribution from the erratic Sreesanth. Clearly, these three would be at the top of the pecking order for a while.

Prior to the England tour, both Munaf Patel and VRV Singh had been tried at various points. Munaf could only go through one complete series uninjured, while VRV seemed too raw and unpenetrative at times. At the same time, the erstwhile blue-eyed boy Irfan Pathan made a comeback in the T20 and ODI scheme of things. Astonishingly, Ajit Agarkar remained in contention for the ODI and T20 teams. After some good ODI form in 2006, Ajit returned to his pedestrian habits. Ishant Sharma played against Bangladesh but did not set the imagination on fire. He went to England, but like the line-and-length-master Ranadeb Bose, did not get to play a Test.

In Bangalore, we will probably get to see what the second level of Indian fast bowling looks like. Set to play are Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh and Ishant Sharma. Irfan is making a comeback to the Test arena after having to make a humilating return from the squad in South Africa. Slowly, he has climbed back to be in the reckoning and he would love to be in the squad to Australia where he made an impressive debut. Once promoted to spearhead status after Zaheer was dropped, he forged a useful partnership with L Balaji. For a while, we were able to forget Zaheer and Nehra and Agarkar. On his comeback trail, he has mostly permitted himself to be viewed as a cunning support bowler, and there are serious doubts about whether he can ever recapture the scorching form or the fast banana inswing that made him.

The scariest part is that there is a chance that India may play in Oz without any of the bowlers that did well in the recent past. Though Ajit Agarkar will always pick up wickets, his discipline is probably worse than Sami's. It needs to be seen just how penetrative Irfan, Ishant and VRV can be. With a depleted line-up at his disposal, Kumble cannot be blamed if he goes on the defensive.