MANAGE THEM TO BE SUCCESSFUL

The squad for Sachin's fairwell series was just announced and as always, the squad consists of a flamboyant set of batsmen. But the pace bowling is the area of concern once again. India's never a great team when it comes to bowling. We just have a set of bowlers who can do a bit of what bowlers from teams like England, Pakistan or South Africa do. We can't deny the fact that we do lack in quality pacemen.  But we can atleast manage and utilise the available resources to be successful.

This squad consists of a total of four pacemen. Mohammed Shami, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar,  Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. Umesh Yadav was omitted for the ODI series against Australia as he did'nt bowl well and leaked a lot of runs in the Challenger trophy. But when it comes to test matches, we cannot afford to omit a bowler like Umesh Yadav. He can bowl long spells consistently at a very good pace and also he can swing the ball in both ways.

Mohammad Shami did bowl very well among other Indian pacemen in the current series against Aussies. He did bowl with good line and length in the games where both teams set the scoreboard on fire. So without any doubt, he got a callup in the test squad.  Bhuvaneshwar has been our best bowler since his debut. He already plays a vital part of our bowling plans. But the selection of Ishanth has raised many eye brows. He's been inconsistent and struggling very hard to find his form. He was clueless against free flowing Aussie batsmen. He was clearly out of his basics. Many of us thought he would'nt be there in the squad after 3rd ODI but surprisingly, he got the nod.

And now again, Ishant Sharma got selected for the Ind-WI test series ahead of Zaheer Khan.  It's very clear that Ishanth is far away from his best and he is struggling to trouble the batsman with his line and length. It's very clear that he should have to get back to his basics. With the Ranji trophy going on, It would be perfect platform for Ishant Sharma to get into Delhi ranji squad and work hard to find his rythm back. That would be the best way to bring a bowler out of his bad form.

Meanwhile, Zaheer khan who underwent rigorous training and fitness regime, is now back in the mix.

It's obvious that he has'nt bowled so well for Ind A or at Lahli for Sachin's fairwell Ranji trophy game but it seemed that he's regaining his touch slowly in that game against Haryana. But we must have to understand that Zaheer Khan's always a bowler who is made for the highest level. Never in Ranjis or any other domestic tournaments, Zaheer had bowled with the same efficiency he bowls in the blue jersey. This West Indies test series would have been an ideal time for him to get back into international circuit.

Zaheer's selection is the one very essential thing for us at the moment. We are slated to play an important away series against RSA, which would be the start of many. It's not like the just concluded ODI series against Aussies where we won games single handedly with our top three batsmen. We must need inform and efficient pacemen to emerge victorious outside the sub continent. I do not want to say that Zaheer would be much better than Ishant and he would pick more wickets than him. It's just that we cannot pick Zaheer in the test squad to SA directly for his comeback. The selectors have missed a perfect chance to try out the other best possible options available before the start of important series against RSA which will be followed by many test series away our home flat decks.