New Ball Glory but the Old Ball a Worry

Indian captain, MS Dhoni stated at the toss pitches with nice covering of grass are recipe for success for his three medium fast bowlers and he expected Indian bowlers to prosper in such conditions.  He was spot on about his assumption. Indian bowlers thrived under the gloomy skies striking three times in the first session to leave New Zealand in a spot of bother at 3/54. 

Dhoni also said the Indian bowlers tend to struggle when there is no lateral movement and the bowlers have to rely on extracting bounce to trouble the batsmen. Once again the Indian captain was right. As the post lunch session, the seam moment had vanished and the Indian bowlers were put to the sword by Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson. The pair added 125 runs in 27 over's at a scintillating run rate of 4.63 an over.

Indian pace bowlers either need seam conditions for the duration of the match or they abrasive pitch to ensure the ball reverse swings.  If either of these components are missing the Indian attack looks pedestrian and clueless.  From his  theorem at the toss, Dhoni is aware of the weakness and the strengths in the Indian bowling but the frightening aspect is India keeping evading the issue.

In the recent Test series against South Africa the Indian bowling looked threatening in the 1st innings at Wanderers because the pitch still had a bit of juice but once that receded,   Indian bowlers were tame as South Africa nearly chased 450 runs.  In the Durban, the reverse swing was in but only Shami  looked dangerous because of his pace and accuracy. Zaheer is in his twilight and despite been a master of the reverse swing, he simply doesn't have that extra yard of pace through the air to trouble the batsmen. While Ishant  is still learning his style of bowling  despite playing international cricket for over six years.

It would be these same glaring issues that bit India in the back side after the lunch interval on the first day of the 1st Test. 

Furthermore to be successful with the old Kookaburra you need to bowl close to the 140Km/h mark and need to bowl relentless line and length.  Sharma struggled to touch the 135km/h mark and so did Zaheer.  Sharma figures after lunch and up until the new ball was taken were 12 - 0 - 54 - 0, in those 12 over's he was hit for eight fours. Zaheer plans to bounce the batsmen went astray he was pulled for six fours.  The pair simply could not sustain the pressure. Precision, is one of the virtues of succeeding with the old Kookaburra.  A skill that Indian bowlers have failed at miserably.

Bowling probing line and length with the old ball also requires as much skill as learning to swing or seam the ball. After all in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand bowlers need to take wickets between the 25th and 80th overs.  Over the past few years the Indian pacers have always lacked this skill of bowling with the old Kookaburra and until a solution is accomplished recoveries such as the one today by New Zealand with be regular circumstance.