GROWING FAST, BOWLING FAST

'Honesty, camaraderie key to this pace pack'

by K Shriniwas Rao • Published on

Bumrah has been the driving force of this fast bowling attack: Bharat Arun © BCCI

The Indian pace attack has rightly been the envy of the cricketing world as they have had rival teams in trouble, irrespective of which part of the world they have been playing in. As bowling coach, Bharat Arun has been working behind the scenes to ensure that the pace pack stays in rhythm and stays hungry. Over an hour long conversation with TOI, he gives a peek into what makes this Indian pace attack by dissecting the strengths of every member of the attack.

Here are the excerpts....

What do you make of the pink ball?

There's a lot more lacquer to it than the normal red ball, so it swings a lot initially. The red ball swings for extended periods. If you look at the match in Indore, even in the 50th and 55th overs, the boys were swinging the ball. In a pink-ball Test, the game starts in the middle of the day, at a time when the wicket is less conducive to swing and seam because it has already been exposed to the sun for the first half of the day. The second session has to be treated as the first session.

What the Indian pace attack has achieved over the last 22 months is amazing...

There were really good fast bowlers at any given point in time in Indian cricket. We had Munaf Patel who could bowl 140-plus. Ashish Nehra was fast. RP Singh and Irfan Pathan - when they started off - could whip up good pace. When Zaheer first came in, he was really quick. Later, when the pace went down, he made up for it by adding other strengths to his bowling. Time and experience allowed him to learn a lot of skills. Javagal was a different bowler. But when you look at most of the others, they all started off at 140-plus and gradually settled for a consistent 130-135 kmph. When the pace slowed down it made a huge difference.

With all the skill-sets they were acquiring, the pace should have ideally shot up or remained consistent. When we started to look into it, we realised there were multiple factors that affected fast bowlers. Over-bowling was one. The monitoring of workload was missing. There was lack of sufficient rest. And under-bowling too was an important factor. It all boiled down to individual conditioning. There has to be a lot of dialogue between the coach, the physio and the trainer. Only when a bowler begins to tell you how he feels, and shares his thoughts, beliefs and fears completely, will it allow the people around the bowler to manage him efficiently.

When we say understanding one's skill set, what does it really mean?

The philosophy that we've driven forward is 'be consistent' and 'make the batsman play'. Look at Bumrah in the Perth Test (early this year). He beat the batsmen several times but he didn't get the desired wickets. He was bowling well and kept going at it. It was like an investment he was making there. In the next Test in Melbourne, he got five and four. He knew he was just about there.

What constitutes honesty?

It's a word that is used often but what is important to consider is the underlying context attached to it. Ahead of the Sydney Test, Ishant Sharma came up and said he wouldn't be able to play because he was facing some discomfort. The team decided to go in with three fast bowlers and included Kuldeep.

After the Australian series, Bumrah was supposed to travel to New Zealand. But he came up and said, 'I'm really feeling tired (after the Oz series). I've given everything'. Of course he had. He took his break, went back home, took some rest and stayed fresh for the next series. Much of the credit here goes to Virat (Kohli) and Ravi (Shastri) for making this space available to the players.

Mohammed Shami has been magical...

Shami's a very strong guy. He inadvertently does fasting every day. Intermittent fasting. It comes naturally to him. When he was going through that troubled period, he was very low. His fitness was low and even failed a fitness Test. He came close to ... (goes silent). But what that period also did to him is build a lot of anger inside him. It is during that time that Ravi and I sat with him and told him to channelise all that anger into his fast bowling and just keep working on his fitness. All he had to do was work like a bull. That's what he did.

Tell us about his technique.

He's got the best seam position in world cricket. If you look at the way he releases the ball and the trajectory it is the best in world cricket. At 140-plus, if the ball is going to move after pitching, it gives the batsman the least amount of time to adjust. And because of the position of his seam, there is lateral movement from the pitch after the ball hits the surface is what makes him so dangerous with the old and the new ball. He's athletic, has a very nice action, a beautiful run-up, he's strong and he's grounded. These bowlers will always stay grounded because they're always hungry.

Even without Bumrah, this pack looks so threatening...

He's been the driving force of this fast bowling attack. He came in and took the world by storm. That motivated the others to step up. That was the initial build-up to this attack. It all started in South Africa last year. I remember Ravi telling these boys, 'From now on, no bowling up'. In the second innings, they shot off South Africa for 131. That was the beginning of a story that these boys are busy scripting right now.

Ishant's last five-wicket haul in India was more than 10 years ago...

Ishant is a different avatar of his own self. If you look at the way he swings the ball, both to the left hander and the right hander and the line when the ball is moving, making it come in and move out - very few bowlers in the world can do it. Ben Stokes is one. But to do it consistently is phenomenal. Ishant is probably one of the few bowlers in the world who can do it. That is also because of the unique position of his wrist. That allows him to do it consistently. His height is also an advantage. It allows him to move wider, bowl that line outside the off-stump or get the ball to come in. Then of course, the experience of 90-plus Tests helps.

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