Fast bowlers still hunt best in pairs. The days of the fearsome foursomes of the West Indies being over some time ago, the world of pace came to be inhabited more by a single pointsman like Dale Steyn who looks for any support he can get from colleagues. Similarly, Indian cricket tended to depend on Zaheer Khan to lead the attack.

The young prospect Ishant Sharma who came on the scene more than three years ago was a revelation on the Australian tour, since when he has even threatened to drop off the radar. Maybe, the IPL riches spoilt him somewhat considering the high cost in dollars per ball bowled, and they don’t have to bowl too many in T-20 cricket to justify the take-home pay packet.
It is only now that Ishant is emerging from a stint in which confusion may have ruled. The necessity to bowl over after over in the Caribbean has made a man of him even if he has had to work like a machine in bowling ball after ball on the average trajectory. He needed to do this for his own good as a technical analysis of his poorer days tended to show his inconsistencies in ball release.
It is said a fast bowler feels best when he knows the ball is coming nicely out of the hand. The sphere can’t do that unless there is some consistency in the release point and an ideal consistency is achievable only if a young bowler puts in hours at the bowling crease. This is exactly what Ishant has been doing in the West Indies, his career best haul of 10 wickets in a match being a natural enough reward.
This is the greatest positive to emerge from the somewhat pointless series in the Caribbean against the West Indies so soon after the IPL season ended. Ishant’s maturity could not have come at a better time than when two significant series are coming up for India this season.
If Zaheer is back to full fitness and Ishant bowls as well in England and Australia as he did in the Caribbean, there is a more than fair chance Team India will retain the top Test ranking at the time of the next date of determining the holder of the Test mace.
Team India will shuffle the pack to keep their attack to three seamers and a solitary spinner, which is the norm in overseas Tests. It hardly matters who the third seamer is – Munaf Patel who displays his own brand of inconsistencies while being brilliant on his day, Praveen Kumar who depends more on swing, seam and street smartness but who could be useful in England or Sreesanth who on his best days bowls the perfect outswinger.
The effectiveness of the attack will still revolve around the strike capabilities of Zaheer and Ishant.
It is in this pair that India’s prospects on the two major tours will depend. It’s been a while since any Indian bowler has picked up 10 wickets in winning a Test abroad. Not that there can be a complaint about a 10-wicket not coming in a winning cause. Considering the amount of time lost to the weather and bad light, Ishant’s deed was a fine one, which he might have translated into a winning performance had there been more time available in the Test.
On how the Indian bowlers fare in England in the better half of their summer would depend much of the chance of replicating the success of the last tour under Rahul Dravid. If the sun starts shining brightly and the England batsmen extend their marathon Ashes batting form, India could be up against it.
It’s been a while since India have gone in with a pair of lethal pace bowlers and Ishant’s improvement may have come in time for us to be hopeful this time around too.