Yadav will impress, Zaheer and Ishant will be stop-gap

I was just taking a look at Gavaskar’s Sunny Days – was taken by surprise by two things, which I had forgotten about – firstly, that it came out in ‘76, when Sunil was only five years old in Test cricket; and secondly, the vivid detail with which he remembers each innings, each dismissal. Was reading about an innings of Pataudi’s against the English in ‘72 – when the Tiger scratched around, clawless if not clueless, for five runs in like a 100 minutes against Underwood. I can remember the exact place where I stood and listened to the commentary, and was so perplexed as to why the great Nawab was playing in such a strange fashion. And now comes the answer, 40 years later… that Underwood had found a patch outside the off-stump created by Solkar bowling left-arm over the wicket, and the great Underwood, with his quick spin, was unplayable and Pataudi was playing out time until the next session so that the patch could be treated and Underwood not such a threat. And suddenly it all makes sense – now, critics will say that Gavaskar was always a fan of Pataudi and that he was simply defending the great man in his book. But I beg to differ, and am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Tiger – and then the eternal argument crops up again in a new vein — that it was Wadekar taking over from Pat that gave Gavaskar his big chance in the Windies series of ’71 – and the discussion, the arguments, the sun and shadows, carry on and on… such bliss. But Boxing Day again, and our pace attack… And fresh discussion, fresh arguments, fresh sun and shadows… [caption id=“attachment_164459” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“India’s Yadav is congratulated by teammates after taking the wicket of Ryan Broad of CA Chairman’s XI in Canberra. Reuters”]  [/caption] Did Praveen Kumar wear himself out through two Test series in the Windies and England? – and is the fact that the gap between Tests is so much less now a big factor in fast-bowler burnout? Or are fast bowlers today just too worried about permanent injuries, and thus unwilling to play through them, as they did in the past? Or are they too pampered, with so many trainers and doctors and operations available? Or is there too much gyming going on, and is the body not allowed its natural course of rest and relaxation? The questions are many – but the truth is that we enter a big, big Test with a strange fast bowling line-up. My feeling is that Yadav will impress, as he already has; that Zaheer and Ishant will be stop-gap; that spin will be vital; and that Vinay Kumar could just be a surprise package in the series, and that we will miss Aaron very much. To think that Yadav and Aaron were virtually unknown at the beginning of this year… But, in this day and age where memory-span is a short as the push of a delete button, most of all we will miss Praveen Kumar. He was the backbone of the attack in two Test series abroad, and would have been in Australia, too – and he has almost been forgotten already. The fast lane is crowded, but accidents and injuries pile up so quickly – the question is – are they because of rash driving, or because to drive in that lane takes a commitment and a determination which we may just be running out of. In closing, another man we have forgotten – Cheteshwar Pujara. The next Dravid, injured in the IPL, and now seeking form in the Ranji Trophy, he will find it, and he will be back. He made his name in the Ranji matches, and he will, again, as Aakash Chopra so correctly says, it is Ranji, and not IPL, which is the true builder of Test players. Now I enter the fast lane – my prediction for the series – 2-1, India.