Fast men fiddle with Fitness!
The Indian team have plenty of reasons to worry on the eve of the third Test against Pakistan and the upcoming series against Australia Down Under. The injuries to opening bowlers has forced the selectors to delay the 16member team to Australia. The `unexpected' injuries to Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel also made the selectors to bring in Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh and Ishant Sharma for Bangalore Test, starting on Saturday.
The problem has once again raised questions about the fitness aspect. One reason for this could be the heavy dose of international cricket. It is also possible that some bowlers are hiding injuries and are being exposed. Take the case of 24-yearold Munaf Patel, who made his Test debut against England in 2006. He has been plagued by injuries and has been in and out of the team.
Now with Zaheer, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Agarkar joining the injury list, India have been hit hard by injuries.
The fear of losing a place, leads to players hiding injuries. Here physiotherapist John Gloster's role is important. He has to give an honest report.
The BCCI should be strict and monitor the bowlers' progress, particularly the fitness aspect. Some Indian bowlers hide injuries. "As a result they are sometimes being exposed," he said.
We should find a proper system to monitor the bowlers. There should be some sort of back-up system that can help the bowlers to be free of injuries. It all comes to bowling technique. Sometimes, trainers don't follow the bowlers, they run into bad habits and make technical flaws which result in injuries. There should be a specialist coach.
But you might ask how did Kapil Dev avoid injuries? It is because Kapil was basically a swing bowler. He was not fast.
If you see the current bowlers, most of them like Sreesanth, RP, Zaheer and Irfan touch 130 plus. As a result the bowler has to take care of his fitness.
The best way to tackle this issue is to follow the rotation policy.
Sometimes it is not fair for the fast bowlers to bowl in and out every alternate day. There is too much stress on the body, particularly on Indian wickets. The best way is to rotate bowlers so that they could be fresh.
It is better to identify bowlers for the longer and shorter version of the game. For instance Munaf is suited for Test matches. When he started his career, he began bowling with 140. But now, he is struggling. He should be preserved for the longer version of the game only. He is not an ODI specialist.