India pour a little pace into the brew

● There was a time when India, especially at home, were feared for their spin and batting prowess. That hasn’t changed, but their fastbowling armoury has come to the fore.

Any one of Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav are good enough to play in any Test team in the world.

India’s pace attack is well known to South Africans. Last year they kept their team afloat despite the defeats in Cape Town and Centurion where India’s much-vaunted batting failed.

On a cranky Wanderers surface they outbowled the hosts.

The bowling again flourished in England, but their batting let them down. When they won their first Test series in Australia, the fast bowling and batting finally came together.

Just recently Sharma, Bumrah and Shami took 18 of the 20 wickets in India’s 318-run win against the West Indies in Antigua, with Sharma and Bumrah collecting five-wicket hauls.

Former Proteas coach Eric Simons, who has coached in India, understands why India have taken fast bowling seriously.

“India haven’t always had an intimidating fast bowler and now they have. They can actually fight fire with fire, plus their batsmen are far more adept at playing pace and dealing with short balls,” Simons said.

“They look after their bowlers well now, There also was a time when they had a very good fast bowler, they’d bowl them to death in the domestic competitions. The Indian Premier League has also aided Indian fast bowling greatly in terms of attitudes and treatment.”

The three Test venues (Pune, Ranchi, Visakhapatnam) aren’t exactly fast bowling haunts.

With the hosting of international matches at these venues being a privilege, state associations are careful in their pitch preparations.

Jharkhand (Ranchi), Andra Pradesh (Visakhapatnam) and Maharashtra (Pune) are backwaters, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India spreads the international load.

It’s because of this Simons said those grounds have jacked up their act.

“Although those places are not quite well known, they’ve got some incredible facilities in those small towns. They also have massive populations and in many cases those cities are quite good. The wickets also should be good because if the wicket is bad, they may lose those Tests,” Simons said.

“They’ve also helped with the improvement of wickets in India. There are better wickets in India because they’re effective with the new and the old ball.”