Indian bowling unit can take a bow
The elevator is a strange place. It does more than just ferry passengers from floor to floor in a multi-storey building. It makes some fidget impatiently. It makes some others talk nineteen to the dozen. And occasionally, it offers scope and privacy for people who haven't exchanged a word to break the ice.
Late on Monday, I saw a happy bunch of Indian cricketers get into an elevator at the team hotel in Nagpur to go to down to attend a dinner hosted in honour of Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly after their final games. Zaheer Khan was busy being interviewed by a sports channel but the other fast bowlers - Ishant Sharma, RP Singh and Munaf Patel were all there.
"Well bowled, Ishant," I said when I caught his eye.
The tall lad responded with a warm smile.
"Would you not say anything to me?" Munaf said, his eyes sparkling playfully.
"Well bowled," I told him.
"Wow! Where did you see me bowl now?" he shot back, breaking into a grin.
"At the nets, here. You look like you are ready to do well in the series against England."
The grin on the genial Munaf Patel's face grew to a full blown smile and he managed to say thank you before the door closed and the fast bowlers went their way. I wasn't playing a game of one-upmanship but I had spotted Munaf Patel and RP Singh bowl in the nets with the white ball with bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad in attendance.
Indeed, as India and Australia went from Bangalore to Nagpur through Mohali and Delhi, Venkatesh Prasad did well to keep Munaf Patel and RP Singh sharp. There was a time when the reserve fast bowlers would be just bringing up the numbers but the way the fast bowling group has been managed deserves some praise indeed.
Yuvraj Singh's batsmanship swept aside all else in Rajkot on Friday. Not just England but also some performances by his own team-mates. The opening stand between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's bristling knocks, for example, were a blur. As also, the fact that the Indian pace bowling trio delivered a fine performance
Munaf Patel's five-over spell with the new ball on Friday and a sixth on changing ends were a tribute to the work ethic that coach and his wards stuck to during the Tests. He bowled short and wide twice in his spell and was punished both times but that was all he erred. He clocked good pace and got the ball to do just enough to tie the batsmen down.
RP Singh, on the contrary, found England captain Kevin Pietersen in an angry mood. Pietersen struck him for three boundaries in an over, first when he flicked a short ball and then with two majestic drives off over-pitched deliveries. But he bounced back smartly to be able to claim the wicket of Paul Collingwood with one that pitched just right and lured the batsman to doom.
To my mind, the key difference between the two teams was not so much the batting as it was about bowling in the right areas. Now, what are right areas in England are not right areas in India. And that is something that James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steve Harmison did not appear to realise.
Only recently, the Australian bowlers found it hard to hit the right lengths during the four Test series and the Indian fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma stole a march on their counterparts, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark et al. One of Ricky Ponting's greatest frustrations in India was his inability to inspire the bowlers find the right length to bowl.
If England's bowlers continue to drop the ball short or pitch it further up, they will be in for a rough time in India. On flat tracks, they have to hit the three-quarter length that is so essential to cause even slight doubts in the minds of the batsmen. How soon England embraces this simple truth will determine if it can bounce back from the 158-run defeat in the opening game.