Dasa said:
Goughy, what do you think of the new crop of Indian seamers, particularly Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and Pathan (if you've seen enough of them, that is)?
Ive watched them a few times now but this is the 1st time Ive spent the time to study them.
Here is what I see
The New Indian Seamers
Firstly, I want to point out that from all the hype I read and the few times Ive watched (not just on the evidence of this game) Ive been a little disappointed in the pace they bowl at. It does not mean they are not good bowlers but they certainly don't have the 'scary' pace some have suggested.
Anyway
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth
I love his run-up and approach to the crease. He comes in with real purpose and enters his action with a lot of controlled speed and aggression.
His action is fine, the only thing I would mention that could be improved is that it is a 'clipped' and shortened action. By this I mean that his left arm never really gets high enough, often it is not much more than head height. If he extended the left arm higher he would get further back in delivery and add extra height to his action and improved weight transfer (there is no great amount of rocking from his weight being back to forward in delivery).
He hits the crease in a straight line and continues through it and that is always a great thing. His action has no easily noticable problems that weaken him as a bowler. There is however, room to add extra pace by extending his action as I have already mentioned.
Munaf Patel
Now I cannot be the only one who thinks he looks like a brown McGrath when bowling? Somebody else surely has mentioned it somewhere else. Im shocked how similar they are.
Munaf has a steady rhythmical run-up and action that he manages to extract a surprising amount of pace from and he gets very close to the stumps.
As with Sreesanth he has obviously has access to good coaching that has him heading in straight lines throughout the whole process of bowling. I actually like his action, but again you cant help but think that he could get a little higher at the point of delivery.
Potential changes that could be made are quite minor and similar to Sreesanth. Patels left arm never reaches the heights it perhaps should and he bowls using a massive amount of effort from the right shoulder. It is very interesting watching him bowl in slo-mo.
Pace from the shoulder rather than from momentum and the hips generally indicates a tendance to struggle with consistency. This is in contrast to the rest of his action that suggests continuity. This means he will not have as many issues with the problem as others, but it is still there.
Also bowlers who put a massive amount of shoulder into the ball face wear and tear issues. I would be very surprised if Patel does not require shoulder surgery in the future.
Further extention of the left arm would reduce the wear and tear on his shoulder and add extra height and bouce to his repetoire.
Notes
- What I find fascinating is that both of the guys do not have a huge amount of weight transfer in their delivery and that they both run-in heavily bent forward. I call this the sprinters run-up. Often it causes this lack of rocking back and forward and a small loss of height and pace in delivery. It is not always the case, ie Allan Donald who did this but also generated a huge amount of coil, but it is common. Im not saying it would make a huge difference as each bowler is different but I would like to see both Sreesanth and Patel try running in less crouched and with a straigher back in the nets for a few overs to see if it would help.
- I would also like both of them to put a couple of kgs of muscle on. Nothing to do with gaining pace but to help support the joints and reduce injuries. They do not have to bulk up to be muscle men but it is an important part of injury prevention and reducing the effects of wear and tear.
