Umesh Yadav needs to play with a broken finger

I'm just kidding. Apparently around the same time yesterday when I was calling for an extended run for Yadav in ODIs, he split the webbing in his bowling hand while fielding and is now out for the next 2 games. In their infinite wisdon the selection committee immediately replaced him with another Karnataka "Pace" bowler, Abhimanyu Mithun. This Mithun should not be confused with Mithun of Bollywood fame who was famous for his hip-pumping dance moves in the 80s and 90s. This Mithun is nothing like that Mithun. In fact, this Mithun is about as exciting as a boiled Idli, without chutney. Not one of the 3 Karnataka "pace" bowlers on the current India team can break 135 at their fiery best. They can barely break 130 Kmph on consecutive balls on good days. They are that uniquely Indian invention - a bowler who trundles in from a long run up and bowls serviceable military medium pace and gets wickets through "line and length" - a mix of swing and changes of pace, and takes mortal offense if you call them medium pace or anything other than "fast".

Not all India pace bowlers are born like this. There are several who have started off bowling in the region of 138-142 kmph, with an occasional delivery touching 144. Munaf, Irfan, RP, and even Sreesanth originally bowled in this range. Through flawed coaching and fear of being dropped they adjusted their game to a point where they all now bowl at 125 kmph and struggle to break 130. Contrary to public sentiment, I do not think any of these is a great loss to Indian Cricket, except Irfan Pathan. He was a once in a generation natural talent with real potential, and he lost the plot so badly that everyone who handled him should be fired and disbarred from talking to an Indian team player forever.

Despite all his success, I hold Zaheer responsible for this fiasco. He was the role model for this generation of fast bowlers, and as he dropped in pace and continued to grow in success, these young men followed, to their doom. Zak has prospered, because he was intelligent enough to learn his game and maximize his pluses in the county circuit after being dropped from the India team. He has not bowled 2 consecutive deliveries faster than 138 Kmph since 2005, and yet he gets upset if you call him anything other than a fast bowler. Andy Roberts laughed in his face. Michael Holding, otherwise acerbic, is too polite to call him an idiot on TV.

Bottomline, it will be a huge tragedy if India play Mithun instead of Varun Aaron in the remaining two games in the series. Mithun has played before, and laid a huge egg. Aaron has not had a game yet, and in a dead rubber, in the face of an English team eager to salvage some pride, it is the perfect situation for this young man to make his debut and see how international Cricket suits him.

Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron deserve an extended run

India needs bowlers who can bowl 6 consecutive deliveries over 87-88mph in a spell of at least 5-7 overs. We have only two of those - Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron. I do not believe in Abu Nechim - he shows every sign of turning into the next Irfan. Dinda was a good prospect early on, but has "worked" with too many Indian trainers and is nowhere now. Nechim and Dinda can be backups. The other two should get an extended run in ODIs to polish their craft, AND most importantly, they should be hidden from Venkatesh Prasad or any other south Indian former "fast" bowler, or anybody who has received training at the ironically named MRF Pace Academy, or even anyone who can spell MRF correctly for that matter. That institution has done so much damage to the cause of pace bowling, I am convinced it is a secret CA project to sabotage the possibility of India ever developing a genuine quick. I have never heard of any other "Pace Academy" where they take in teenagers who already bowl at 140-142 kph, and when they are done with them, the kids are unable to break 135 ever again.

Just let the quicks be quick. Imran Khan has written how when he first started as a youngster, he just tried to bowl as quick as he could without any control, just spraying the ball all over the place. As he played more, he learned from observing his seniors and analyzing his own game, how to control the ball. We have to do the same with these boys, with the added challenge that we do not have seniors to provide guidance to them. I would keep Zaheer away from them if it were up to me. Venkatesh Prasad was way overrated as a bowler, and is a total disaster as a bowling coach. I'd let Ishant Sharma be the only 'senior' for them to talk to. He has an excellent work ethic by all accounts, and that is something these boys would do well to learn. Fast bowling is a man's job and you do not do it well by not training hard.

I would assign a sports medicine specialist to work with them as a dedicated physio, to manage their bodies and look after injuries, but never mention things like 'biomechanics' or 'line and length' within their hearing. I would make them sign a contract to the effect that they would eat 5-6000 calories a day for the rest of their playing days, with a diet composed nearly entirely of red meat and good carbs, without any fried food or oil/ghee in sight, and god forbid they should ever even think about eating curd-rice.

I would lock them up in a camp,  4-6 weeks before every test series, and work them up to peak fitness so they can last for 25 days of the highest level of international cricket, where they may need to bowl up to 150-200 overs each, without breaking down.

The one other thing I would do right away, and this I have advocated in the past too - please somebody move the NCA from Bangalore to somewhere in the hills. Since that will not happen, at least let us set up a fast bowling institute in the hills somewhere - maybe Shimla, Dharamshala, Kasauli or even Darjeeling for that matter. Somewhere above 3-4000 meters, where the air is clear and unpolluted to build stamina like a Sherpa; where its nice and cool so they can bowl long spells; and where there is green grass instead of brown dust for the quicks to learn about bounce and the correct lengths to bowl on green pitches. If we are serious about fast bowling, we have to start leveraging the highest mountains in the world being in our backyard. The hills would provide the added advantage of less distractions - no fashion shows or store ribbon cutting or night clubs.

Most importantly, they need to play matches, as many as they can, preferably together so they can learn to work as a unit, from both ends. In the current series we have Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar. That is a horrible combination. Fast bowlers need to hunt in pairs. A sustained barrage of 140+ kph from both ends wears down any batsman, and if you replace a hard charging Umesh at the other end with an Idli chucking Vinay Kumar, the batsmen have no reason to take any risks against Umesh. I do not care if they go for runs in the first six to twelve months. They need to learn on the job, because frankly our trainers suck. They need a hyper extended leash and a long uninterrupted run of play, where the captain, the team management, the board and the fickle public need to be behind this effort as a project - to support the first true Indian fast bowling pair after independence, and he first true Indian fast bowling pair ever since Nissar went mohajir on our asses and Amar Singh killed himself unable to bear the pain of separation.Above all, we have to make a commitment that we will play 2 quicks in every game, regardless of pitch conditions etc. and that we will not, under any circumstances, unless the 2 quicks are unable to walk, every play a medium pacer as an opening bowler - regardless of whether he is PK, RP, Irfan, Vinay Kumar, Tyagi, Unadkat or any other kat. Just say NO!! If your top speed is 132 and you rely on 'guile' and movment and changes of pace, you belong in the bowling middle order, not as an innings starter.