Taking stock of the support cast

UMPIRE's POST

In a career spanning from 1978 to 1994, Kapil Dev played 131 Tests and 225 ODIs in which he was the strike bowler as well as the workhorse. Little surprise then that he bowled a staggering 38,942 deliveries in those matches. The first Test he missed was when he was dropped by captain Sunil Gavaskar for an allegedly irresponsible show. Fitness had not come in the way. Kapil was what one would call a natural born bowler, endowed with the willowy athleticism and vigour of the fertile soil of the Punjab and Haryana.

The soil and climate are very different across the Vindhyas. Nevertheless, they nurtured Javagal Srinath, India's best fast bowler ever. Srinath suffered some injury woes, just like everyone else of his tribe. Yet, he did manage to appear in 67 Tests and 229 ODIs between December 1991 and March 2003.

Kapil and Srinath played at a time when the country's most recognised physio was Ali Irani, whose shiny bald head appeared whenever an Indian player needed an on-field massage or had to be carried off on a stretcher. Irani now practises his trade at Nanavati hospital in Mumbai's western suburb of Vile Parle.

The era after Irani has been one of professional, trained, and foreign physios, complemented by a trainer. Yet, the rate at which our fast bowlers have been breaking down is more than alarming.

The last time Pakistan came visiting, Lakshmipathi Balaji was our best new ball bowler, especially at Mohali. Before that, Nehra was a middle-level star at the World Cup, consistently pushing the speed gun to the high 140s. Where are these two?

Equally inexplicable is how our fast bowlers suddenly become slow. Munaf and Irfan "" the latter also lost his swing "" are prime examples. Munaf's breakdowns are now predictable. He wouldn't go more than two consecutive Tests.

The scenario after the Eden Test is bleak. The entire new ball attack has been sidelined with injury. As it is, Eden did not have the first choice attack, since Sreesanth and R P were injured. Thus, the contenders for the new ball at Bangalore are Irfan, who is on a comeback trail and is an ideal fourth seamer, the one-Test-old Ishant, whose pace is medium despite his height, and VRV, whose bowling in the last Ranji match was awful.

Bangalore may not matter much. The opening bowlers will quickly give way to Ganguly and the spinners. But what about Australia, where the fast bowlers will suddenly become vital cogs?

In the midst of all this worry, we need to ponder the efficacy of the ever-expanding and increasingly expensive support staff. Whatever they are doing, can it be done better?