Indian Seam Bowling – no more an issue

A lot of limelight is given to the batsmen because they score the all-important runs. But, it is a known fact that to win a test match, you need the ability to take 20 wickets. Thus making bowling an equally important job role in the game of cricket.

Seam bowling in India was always an issue. India is known to produce batting legends. When it comes to seam bowling, there are only a handful of bowlers who have made their presence felt. Most of the limelight in the Indian bowling circuit was always shared by the spinners.

Today, one can say that the current Indian Seam Bowling line-up with Bumrah, Shami, Kumar is the best that India ever had and one of the finest in World Cricket at the moment.

Cultural Analysis

If we dig deeper into the roots of the game, we will find that the game is mostly batting oriented. The reason behind this is the fact that Indians have mostly had batsmen as their role models. We definitely had the Haryana Hurricane, Kapil Dev as the earliest influencer but the early adopters of the game were mostly influenced by batting.

If you had ever asked a kid from the late 1990s who would they want to be like, the answer would be Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and the list is never-ending. In fact, Sachin Tendulkar himself had the Little Master, Sunil Gavaskar as his role model. Imagine how difficult it was for the Indian team to passionate fast bowlers. Without any doubt, we have had champions like Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Venkatesh Prasad but never in the past we’ve had a deadly seam bowling line-up which could threaten the opposition at any point during the match.

Also, in Indian street cricket, getting a batsman out is not an easy task. Hence, the bowlers try tricks with their fingers to trouble the batsmen. This led to spin bowling become trendy in the Indian Culture. People started valuing the spinners and their variations creating a high demand. Also, the fact that spinners need not have to take a longer run-up was a contributing factor. When the roots are spin oriented, it is evident that it will have an impact on a broader scale. Thus, Indian cricket was gifted with spin legends like Bishan Singh Bedi, Anil Kumble, Subhash Gupte, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Harbhajan Singh, Erapalli Prasanna, etc.

Cultural Shift

In the early 21st Century, with Sourav Ganguly leading the team with his vision to make India the best Team in the World, India was able to identify seam bowling talents more often. Still, there was a lack of role models and the job was not that easy. However, Ganguly managed to create a decent bowling line-up. The spinners and the seam bowlers complemented each other quite well in the set-up.

Though India managed to do well, there were no good back-ups in case of an Injury. Ashish Nehra’s best bowling figure came in the World Cup game against England and he wasn’t 100 percent fit. He could have easily been rested if India had a decent enough back-up for him.

Also, fitness was an issue before. Zaheer Khan used to be India’s premium bowler in the overseas conditions. However, consistent injury forced India to replace Khan with a not so prepared bowler. This led to various series of defeat overseas.

Today, we can see a change in the trend. With the emergence of bowlers like Bumrah and Shami and captain Virat Kohli’s emphasis on fitness, we can see how deadly the Indian Seam bowling attack has become. Touchwood, the lads have been able to keep up to their abilities and managed to reduce the frequency of the injury comparatively.

This new Indian seam bowling line-up could be said one of Virat Kohli’s greatest achievements as captain. They not only have been able to generate fear into the minds of the opposition but have now become the trendsetters.

Hopefully, the new bowling line-up can end up becoming the new influence of the game in India and attract the new generation of kids.