If you've been following the ongoing tests between India-Srilanka(I know its worse than watching a Ranji match, but what can we do,a friend in need's friend in deed, no one wants to play with them so we as good neighbors are always ready to help) and Australia-Pakistan, you will notice that, while Australia and Srilanka have more or less a pretty balanced line-up, India and Pakistan on the other hand have only one department working for them. Well Batting (a bit exaggeration) in case of India and for Pakistan their bowling has been clicking.
Lets take the case of India first. As all the cricket pundits like to put it, Batting has traditionally been India's stronghold, except when we are playing at home where conditions suit our spinners. This is true to a certain extent, they are right about playing in India part. Our bowlers do inspire us to wins. However once we leave India, its like they get struck by some kind of virus or something which prevents them even stopping the flow of runs let alone take wickets. Even in Srilanka for that matter. The pitches there are even more conducive to slow bowling, but still our spinners fail to make a mark. Consider this, in the just concluded test, our frontline spinners "failed" to take even a single wicket. Only Sehwag managed to take one. Harbhajan Singh, considered by many a world class bowler couldn't produce even a nick atleast to blame it on the fielders. He along with Ishan Sharma is one of the most over-rated bowlers in the world today. His current average per wicket stands at 31.28 with a strike rate of 66.4, which is too high for even the lowest of international standards. Murali's average is 22ish with strike rate of 55. So for every 10 wickets Bhajji concedes almost 100 runs more than Murali and also takes 20 overs more. 100 runs is a lot of deficit when you are playing good test sides. And yes he only takes 4 wickets per match vs. almost 7 for Murali. And we are talking about India's premier bowler here. Ishant and Zaheer fare much worse. With such kind of bowling attack, Dhoni should not even dreaming of winning outside India, let alone subcontinent. Its acutally a miracle that we have won test series agains New Zealand and England away. And no wonder we have failed to win a series in Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. It doesn't matter even if your top 4 average more than 50. We might score 600 on a really good day, but whose gonna take 20 wickets required for winning a match. Fun fact: For every match, number of wickets taken by Bhajji + Zaheer + Ishant equals 4.22 + 3.36 + 2.88 = 10.57. We are still short 9 wickets short. Even if the fourth bowler manages a generous 4 wickets, who will take the rest 5. Thats why we haven't won a series against the strongest test nations away from home that often or in some cases none at all. Ultimately the math beats us. The only reason we've won a paltry test against the big 3 because they had an off day at office. But I did forget to mention, we still are the number one Test playing nation in the world. Looks like we surely know how to work our way around the ranking system.
Now take Pakistan. They have been known thoroughout their short history to produce world class fast bowlers.They never have a dearth of talent at their disposal. Even India doesn't, afterall we are 1.2billion strong. But the difference is their talent lives upto its name. Imran,Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib and the current crop of Aamer,Asif and Gul. They even had a few good spin bowlers in between; Saqlain and Kaneria. All these bowlers have fired consistently. They've delivered when the team needed them to. Their records speak for themselves. Even in the ongoing test, their new bunch produces a marvellous display of fast bowling to bundle out Australia for 88. The last few years, their major concern has been Batting. Since the retirement of Inzamam, their middle order has lost its spine. Younis Khan and Mohd. Younus are more busy bickering rather than let their bats do the talk. This has taken its toll on Pakistan cricket. Their horror showing in Australia is a testimony to that. They get in new batsmen ever series, they make their retired folks come out of it(I lost my count of Afridi retirements ages ago), but it just never clicks for them. None of their current batters have an average anywhere near 50(which I feel is a fair parameter to judge a batsman's quality). Hell their top 4 don't even average 40 runs per game, which really is a shame. It is going to take them a fair amount to time to build a good bunch of batsmen, who can serve them for the long term. They do have a lot of time on their hand, cause Pakistani players never ever age. Afridi in any other country would've started his coaching/commenting stint by now. But in Pakistan, he's only 30. In few years I might grow older than him. But that's Pakistan Cricket for you; Always in Shambles and Never grows old.
Lets take the case of India first. As all the cricket pundits like to put it, Batting has traditionally been India's stronghold, except when we are playing at home where conditions suit our spinners. This is true to a certain extent, they are right about playing in India part. Our bowlers do inspire us to wins. However once we leave India, its like they get struck by some kind of virus or something which prevents them even stopping the flow of runs let alone take wickets. Even in Srilanka for that matter. The pitches there are even more conducive to slow bowling, but still our spinners fail to make a mark. Consider this, in the just concluded test, our frontline spinners "failed" to take even a single wicket. Only Sehwag managed to take one. Harbhajan Singh, considered by many a world class bowler couldn't produce even a nick atleast to blame it on the fielders. He along with Ishan Sharma is one of the most over-rated bowlers in the world today. His current average per wicket stands at 31.28 with a strike rate of 66.4, which is too high for even the lowest of international standards. Murali's average is 22ish with strike rate of 55. So for every 10 wickets Bhajji concedes almost 100 runs more than Murali and also takes 20 overs more. 100 runs is a lot of deficit when you are playing good test sides. And yes he only takes 4 wickets per match vs. almost 7 for Murali. And we are talking about India's premier bowler here. Ishant and Zaheer fare much worse. With such kind of bowling attack, Dhoni should not even dreaming of winning outside India, let alone subcontinent. Its acutally a miracle that we have won test series agains New Zealand and England away. And no wonder we have failed to win a series in Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. It doesn't matter even if your top 4 average more than 50. We might score 600 on a really good day, but whose gonna take 20 wickets required for winning a match. Fun fact: For every match, number of wickets taken by Bhajji + Zaheer + Ishant equals 4.22 + 3.36 + 2.88 = 10.57. We are still short 9 wickets short. Even if the fourth bowler manages a generous 4 wickets, who will take the rest 5. Thats why we haven't won a series against the strongest test nations away from home that often or in some cases none at all. Ultimately the math beats us. The only reason we've won a paltry test against the big 3 because they had an off day at office. But I did forget to mention, we still are the number one Test playing nation in the world. Looks like we surely know how to work our way around the ranking system.
Now take Pakistan. They have been known thoroughout their short history to produce world class fast bowlers.They never have a dearth of talent at their disposal. Even India doesn't, afterall we are 1.2billion strong. But the difference is their talent lives upto its name. Imran,Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib and the current crop of Aamer,Asif and Gul. They even had a few good spin bowlers in between; Saqlain and Kaneria. All these bowlers have fired consistently. They've delivered when the team needed them to. Their records speak for themselves. Even in the ongoing test, their new bunch produces a marvellous display of fast bowling to bundle out Australia for 88. The last few years, their major concern has been Batting. Since the retirement of Inzamam, their middle order has lost its spine. Younis Khan and Mohd. Younus are more busy bickering rather than let their bats do the talk. This has taken its toll on Pakistan cricket. Their horror showing in Australia is a testimony to that. They get in new batsmen ever series, they make their retired folks come out of it(I lost my count of Afridi retirements ages ago), but it just never clicks for them. None of their current batters have an average anywhere near 50(which I feel is a fair parameter to judge a batsman's quality). Hell their top 4 don't even average 40 runs per game, which really is a shame. It is going to take them a fair amount to time to build a good bunch of batsmen, who can serve them for the long term. They do have a lot of time on their hand, cause Pakistani players never ever age. Afridi in any other country would've started his coaching/commenting stint by now. But in Pakistan, he's only 30. In few years I might grow older than him. But that's Pakistan Cricket for you; Always in Shambles and Never grows old.
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