India's Pace Bowling Worries Continues.

After the so-called "Sachin’s series" against West Indies, high expectations were placed on how this young-yet- fearless side. With the coming year and a half consisting of testing tours of Australia, England , SA etc, this young brigade was expected to make an impact, irrespective of the final outcome of the matches. Now exactly three months later, the Indian team finds itself in an abyss of helplessness and cluelessness.

The very fact that India has not a won a match in the past three months is a good indicatior of their current form. Yes, there were some close matches, especially the Johannesburg test and the tie against NZ. But take that out of equation, and all you have is a string of crushing defeats. At the SA tour, it was the batting which seemed to be the main worry. But lurking quitely was the main issue of bowling, which is now being fully exposed by the Kiwis.

The first indication of sub-standard Indian bowling was in the Johannesburg test, wherein India were nearly stunned by some good batting, but over that, a mediocre bowling. Shami seemed to be the only one who was able to trouble batsmen, whereas Ishant Sharma’s role was to just bowl when the others are tired. Even veteran Zaheer Khan looked clueless at times, partly due to non-swinging conditions at SA.

But that was just the start. NZ tour, atleast till now, has been successful in deepening the wound even more, as the likes of Kane Williamson and Co tore apart the Indian bowling. The batsmen this series have been quite reasonable, but it is the bowling which has been poor.

While only Shami has consistently taken wickets, his death bowling has been poor and ended up giving more runs than the captain expected. Bhuvaneshwar’s death bowling has improved well, but lack of swing from this UP swing bowler has surprised one and all, as the conditions are tailor-suited for him. The name Ishant Sharma, in itself is self-explainatory as to how his performance was. Varun Aaron has been quick, but has been erratic in his line and length.

One of the main problem for all these bowlers have been inconsistent line and length. If you cannot swing the ball, fine. But atleast try to bowl in a consistent length? Too many loose deliveries, coupled with lack of wicket-taking deliveries, has severly dented any chance of Indian victory in NZ.

Now with the test series still left, time for the fast bowlers to buckle up. With Zaheer Khan’s services returning, Indian bowling will definitely look better. MS Dhoni can consider giving Ishwar Pandey a chance in the last ODI. With all-important tour of England and Australia coming later this year, fast bowlers are the key to victories in these countries. Else, a 2012-like slaughter is awaiting the Indian team.