Inswing vs Outswing vs Spin

Guys, I dont know if anyone of you knew the scores of Under - 19 World Cup Cricket final match scores. Neways a part of the score sheet looks like this :

Pakistan U-19 battin first scored : 109 allout in 41.1 overs

Indian Bowling :

Bowling                      O      M      R      W
Jadeja                8     1   16     3 
Piyush Chawla         8.1   3    8     4 

Indian Batting: 71 all out in 18.5 overs

Paki Bowling :

Bowling                      O      M      R      W
Jamshed Ahmed         7     2    24    2 
Anwar Ali             9     0    35    5 
Akhtar Ayub           2.5   0     9    3 

So India U-19 lost so cheaply after bowling out Paki s for a mere 109. So whats the difference?

I donno if you ppl noticed the bowling cards of the teams above:

Under India, there is Jadeja (U-19 team..so not obly Ajay Jadeja) and Piyush Chawla (the one who got the nod for first test against England) sharing 7 wickets in 16.1 overs for a mere 24 runs.

When you see the Paki bowling card, there are the three opening bowlers sharing all ten wickets between them.

The main point here is that the Indian star bowlers were both Spinners...leggies to b frank..(one rightie nd other leftie though) and Paki top bowlers were all fast bowlers and importantly all three of them being very good swing bowlers.

So in India, we have these spinners coming up every year. Good to have so many Bhajjis and Chawlas coming up. But are they really good enough when it comes to the International Senior level where you have monsters like Kevin, Freddie, Hayden and other such gaints ?

The recent Pak vs Ind series is a very good example where one can see spinners doing no good in the fast paced ODI games and good fast-bowlers like Mohammad Asif getting the Indians into lot of trouble even in tests. And it had alomst been a full fast-bowling attack for all the five ODIs in the series.

All we need is the quickies who can swing the ball a good deal. Remember how effective were Nehra nd Pathan in their initial stages when they got the ball to swing really well? Even the Indian best all-rounder Kapil has got the charm to swing the ball a good deal.

So the idea should be to produce more and more good fast/swing bowlers in India. We do need bowlers who can bowl fast and not just swing, as swing primarily comes out from the speed at which you bowl. Whats the reason for India not being able to produce good fast bowlers?

1. Lack of green tops on Indian pitches.
2. Lack of fitness among fast bowlers.

The second point is something that the players themselves need to work upon. There has been noone in present Indian attack who can bowl at an average speed of high 80mph. When you bowl at speeds less than 130kmph, you expect to get hit all around the park in the present ODI cricket, that too with the new power play being introduced.

As of now how many of us feel we have got a decent fast bowling attack?? I dont think half of us would think so. Leave out Shane Warne nd Murali and you dont see any good spinner in present day cricket(ofcourse Kumble is a medium pacer in my opinion). Nd recently even Murali was hit for almost 100 runs in his overs in an ODI.

I feel it would be good if we can prepare fast pitches in India not only at ranji level but also at international level. And give more importance to even fitness of a player etc. We dont want any Nehra or Balaji if they can't withstand the International pressure nd get injured quite often.


Finally lets hope India to win its home series vs England and hope Piyush Chawla isn't another victim of hard hitting talents of Kevin, Freddie and other such English players. More on this soon...till thn have fun..