Team India can at long last afford to rotate new ball bowlers

Long gone are the days when one Sunil Manohar Gavaskar would "menacingly" roll up his sleeves and open the bowling for India in Test cricket even as members of the famed spin quartet would be going through their minimal warm-up drills in the field even before the first ball was bowled!

The recent tour of Australia has confirmed that Team India now has a healthy crop of new ball bowlers that can be called upon whenever required. 

Actually, the stable may be a bit over-crowded with as many as eight men jostling for positions - Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini.

Such was the impact in Brisbane that rookie Siraj led the pack and returned with rich laurels, including his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Full credit must go to Team India bowling coach Bharat Arun for, not just the storming of the Gabba fortress, but instilling a self-belief in the bowling pack. Little wonder that picking up 20 wickets appeared a given despite all the doubts cast about the lack of international exposure to the entire pace pack.

As the saying goes in the world of cricket, fast bowlers need to be handled somewhat like the thoroughbreds in horse-racing! Slightest injury can upset the rhythm and hence effectiveness though this Indian octet seems to have so far found answers to most problems. 

In fact, the competition is so intense to book a place in the playing eleven that fitness issues will need to be addressed quickly rather than allow things to linger as had been the case not so long ago when there was hardly any worthwhile back-up for the lead bowlers.

Soon the Team India think-tank may be taking a close look at the deck before naming the players for a particular game.

But this revolution did not happen overnight. 

Long hours in the nets and then performing at various club and state levels before emerging on the national selection committee's radar is a story of blood, sweat and toil for each man. But that they fit into the scheme of things on the national scene is a credit to Arun, who may himself have had a not so pleasant start to his short international career as he slipped and fell at the bowling crease on the first ball itself. That he dusted himself off the deck and continued in brave fashion shows the man's character.

Indeed, it would be a proud moment for the five wise men of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's selection committee headed by none other than former paceman Chetan Sharma, to be updated about the workload management schedules for each of the men in reckoning. It may sound like something out of a dream for the chairman himself!

But it's true!

Processing talent, rather than merely possessing, holds key to success

Amid all the euphoria of an Indian conquest of the dreaded Gabba, there have been several rather sound lessons for the entire human race, let alone the world of sports.

One of the most profound has been the analysis by former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez who explains how merely possessing talent is not good enough. The talent must be processed correctly and only a "complete finished product" be fielded in the international arena.

"Young talent is bound to flounder sooner rather than later," Hafeez painstakingly points out, comparing his national teams's travails across the Tasman Sea not very far from Brisbane where the Indian upstarts were creating history.

This points to the organisational set-up put in place by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and two things stand out.

One, the National Cricket Academy which has been the designated hub for all Team India preparations as well as evaluations. Players are not left to fend for themselves but placed in the care of trusted professionals who put them through the paces in order to get them ready for the upcoming challenges.

Second, and by no means any less, is the promotion of the A team concept, especially replacing mundane tour matches between zonal sides and touring outfits with first class games for young guns. It's a double edged sword where youngsters learn about the pitfalls of international sport and also learn to succumb or swim. The step saw its own fair share of controversy as well among the NCA committee members but has finally found a regular place in the calendar.

Not very long ago India's A team was under the tutelage of current NCA chief Rahul Dravid, a former national captain himself, and that his proteges made waves Down Under should come as no surprise. If nothing, Dravid has been a meticulous planner all through his career earning him the monicker of 'The Wall'.

Few can argue with the methods employed by the BCCI at various levels as zonal centres of the NCA have been established but, unfortunately have not been as effective as the headquarters in Bengaluru both in terms of facilities and quality of personnel at hand.

Brainchild of former BCCI president late Rajsingh Dungarpur, NCA was set up in 2000 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru but only after the 2014 revamp in active consultation with Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board did it assume its now absolutely vital role in Team India's training and rehabilitation.

Success cannot be had overnight and its a process that churns out the finished product.

That was exaclty what was on display as Team India overcame one adversity after another as young men rose to the challenge time and again to finally emerge victorious.

A diamond remains just another piece of stone till it is polished. Little wonder the product commands a high price as well.