India lost their No.1 world ranking in the Tests at the end of the England tour in the summer of 2011 and they need some fabulous quickies to get them on top of the world again.
India surrendered the away series 4-0 against England in July-August 2011as their batsmen were unable to cope with the lethal fast bowling of the home side. The Indian fast bowlers did not manage to leave any substantial impression and the English batsmen found no difficulty in facing them throughout the series.
India visited Australia and faced the same fate after playing four Tests and losing those 4-0 as once again the Australian speedsters were unplayable by their batsmen. The speed guns of the visitors were handled with aggression by the home batsmen and lot of questions arose after the trip regarding the fast bowling of India.
We will highlight the performance of the fast bowlers in the two away series against the world famous duo of England and Australia which reflects the impression of the Indian pace attack as well.
The Indian fast bowling revolved around Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Sreesanth and Praveen Kumar
Series against England
1- First Test took place at Lord’s, London, played on July 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, 2011.
Scores
England 1st innings – 474 for 8 wickets declared.
England 2nd innings – 269 for 6 wickets declared.
India 1st innings – 286 all out.
India 2nd innings – 261 all out.
Wickets by the England fast bowlers in the match – 18.
Wickets by the Indian fast bowlers in the match – 12.
Result – England won by 196 runs.
2- Second Test was played at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on July 29, 30, 31 and August 1, 2011.
Scores
England first innings – 221 runs all out.
England second innings – 544 all out.
India first innings – 288 all out.
India second innings – 158 all out.
Wickets by England fast bowlers – 20.
Wickets by Indian fast bowlers – 17.
Result – England won by 319 runs.
3-Third match was played at Edgbaston, Birmingham on August 10, 11, 12 and 13, 2011.
Scores
England first innings – 710 for 7 wickets declared.
India first innings – 224 all out.
India second innings – 244 all out.
Wickets by England fast bowlers in the match – 17.
Wickets by Indian fast bowlers in the match – 3.
Result – England won by an innings and 242 runs.
4 – The fourth and final match of the series was played at Kennington Oval, London on August 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, 2011.
Scores
England first innings – 591 for 6 wickets declared.
India first innings – 300 all out.
India second innings – 283 all out.
Wickets by England fast bowlers in the match – 11.
Wickets by Indian fast bowlers in the match – 4.
Result – England won by an innings and 8 runs.
The speedsters of England grabbed 66 wickets in the four Test series whereas the Indian fast bowlers could manage 36 on the same tracks. The Indian batsmen struggled against the accurate and destructive bowling of England and the home batsmen smashed plenty of runs against the visitors.
Series against Australia
1- First Test of the series was played at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26, 27, 28 and 29, 2011.
Australia first innings – 333 all out.
Australia second innings – 240 all out.
India first innings – 282 all out.
India second innings – 169 all out.
Wickets by the Australian fast bowlers – 19.
Wickets by the Indian fast bowlers – 16.
Result – Australia won by 122 runs.
2- The second Test match was played at Sydney Cricket Ground on January 3, 4, 5 and 6, 2012.
Scores
Australia first innings – 659 for 4 wickets declared.
India first innings – 191 all out.
India second innings – 400 all out.
Wickets by the Australian fast bowlers – 18.
Wickets by the Indian fast bowlers – 4.
Result – Australia won by an innings and 68 runs.
3- The third Test took place at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth on January 13, 14 and 15, 2012.
Scores
Australia first innings – 369 all out.
India first innings – 161 all out.
India second innings – 171 all out.
Wickets taken by the Australian fast bowlers – 20.
Wickets taken by the Indian fast bowlers – 9.
Result – Australia won by an innings and 37 runs.
4- The fourth and final Test of the series was played at Adelaide Oval, on January 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28, 2012.
Scores
Australia first innings – 604 runs.
Australia second innings – 167 for 5 wickets declared.
India first innings – 272 all out.
India second innings – 201 all out.
Wickets by the Australian fast bowlers – 14.
Wickets by the Indian fast bowlers – 11.
Result – Australia won by 298 runs.
The thunderbolts from the Australian fast bowlers exploited the world best batting power house of India by clinching 71 wickets in the series. The little Master, Sachin Tendulkar, kept on searching for his 100th international hundred but remained unsuccessful during the two away series against England and Australia.
One can imagine the dedicated quick bowling of the two rivals against India in both series where they put the visiting batsmen in the corner. The Indian fast bowling could not create any panic in the mortal batting of England and Australia.
The Indian Premier League 2012 will commence from April 4, where a lot of local youngsters will take part in the tournament. The India national selectors and coaches must have a bird’s eye views on the young and emerging talents of the country.
India requires some fatal fast bowlers who can defend even the smaller totals contributed by their batsmen and always be enthusiastic to get maximum out of the minimum. There is no dearth of potential in the young guns in the country but they need proper guidance and grooming which will result in the emergence of the match winning fast bowlers while taking good care of the existing guns.
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