Bhajji and India's spin woes

Dhoni’s enduring fascination with Harbhajan Singh is a mystery to me. For some time now, it has been evident that Bhajji is no longer the test bowler that he was many seasons ago. Perhaps his improved batting skills have helped him keep his place in the squad. However, bowling is his major discipline and the Lords Test just reinforced his continuing extraordinarily ordinary test bowling form. I say test bowling form because he’s ok for one-dayers. He is accurate and uses his experience to contain runs, and his lusty batting is a bonus. However, his lack of variations is hurting him in tests. No longer do we see the beguiling loop, the doosra, the shooter, the drift, the variations in pace…all such essentials of any spin bowler’s armory. I don’t rate Amit Mishra too highly either. He’s a decent bowler, nothing earth-shattering. He doesn’t have too many variations, but to his credit, he isn’t afraid to use all that he has. But he would be a better choice than Harbhajan. The best choice though is cooling his heels in India. Ravichandran Ashwin’s exclusion from the squad of 17 defies logic (what is Wriddhiman Saha doing there?). I don’t say that R. Ashwin is the finished product yet. He is good though has a lot to learn. He makes good use of his height, bowling with a high arm action, and also has a few tricks. As is the modern trend, he doesn’t turn the ball much and doesn’t have much drift and loop. These are areas where he can certainly improve. In my book though, he is a much better bet than Harbhajan and Mishra. His strength of character, so evident in the IPL, could also have helped him tackle the challenges of this tour.
How deeply we are missing Kumble is evident from our spin bowling woes. I feel certain that if we were to SOS him get him to turn up at Trent Bridge tomorrow without a minute of net practice behind him, he would still be much more effective than Bhajji.

Varun Aaron

Seeing India’s fast bowling woes yesterday (Lord’s Test, London) on a seaming wicket under overcast conditions on a day 1 pitch got me thinking about a conversation I had with one of my friends last week. He’s one of the few from my Cricketing circle who is still playing, and at close to the highest level. I asked him who he thought was the fastest bowler in India and he unhesitatingly mentioned Varun Aaron of Jharkhand and said that this kid needs to be fast-tracked into the Indian team. Subsequently, I read somewhere that Aaron managed to hit 153kmph in a Ranji game, which is genuinely quick. I checked out his bowling on youtube and saw a lot of promise. Good built, easy action (though can be much better, and hence he can get much quicker), great wrist position...he’s got all the raw material to be a fine fast bowler.
When I was in active Cricket, I always wanted to be a fast bowler. While I would not have admitted it then, I now feel that I did not have the physique that one requires to bowl consistently fast over a few seasons. At my peak, I was a fairly nippy customer, but not genuinely fast. Fast bowling has always fascinated me and I get excited to see any promising talent. I remember getting excited when I first saw VRV Singh, Munaf Patel (yes, he was in the ‘fast’ category at one time) and Ishant Sharma. From a fast bowling perspective, all have turned out to be disappointing, though Ishant is still capable of hitting the mid 140’s and is still only 22, so no judgement on him yet. I just hope that Varun keeps his pace up and gets into the Indian squad sooner rather than later, for we desperately need a genuine speedster.