Mahendra Singh Dhoni must be tired of saying this time and again, especially when it comes to one-dayers. The thin bowling resources also prompt him to field first even on perfect batting pitches. The bowlers have often appeared clueless about how to bowl in a particular situation.
Two years ago, when Joe Dawes replaced Eric Simmons as bowling coach of Team India, there were plenty of expectations from him. But he has not lived up to them.
India are still searching for a world class fast bowler; youngsters like Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda and Parvinder Awana are still to cement their places in the side; Ishant Sharma, despite an impressive show in New Zealand, appears to struggle when conditions favour batsmen, while Zaheer Khan has lost that zip which is so essential to defeat quality batsmen.
Besides, the spinners have struggled outside India. While questions have been raised about Duncan Fletcher's role as head coach, Dawes' role and utility also needs to be reviewed.
Former India pacer Prashant Vaidya feels that the time has come for the BCCI to make Dawes accountable. "Everyone knows Ishant's problem. I have often read about the problem he has with his wrist position. Even Ishant must be aware of this. But what is the bowling coach doing about it? It's not about Ishant alone. We are losing good bowlers every year. We must appoint someone who has gone through all this at the international level, not anyone who has just played first class cricket," Vaidya told TOI.
Vaidya has a valid point as India have fielded as many as 20 fast bowlers in the last four years, more than any other country in the world. Unlike other countries, the same set of bowlers play across all formats and there is little or no rotation. A promising fast bowler emerges and leads the attack for a season or two and then vanishes.
India almost lost the Johannesburg Test even after posting a target in excess of 450 to South Africa. Even after having a 246-run lead in the Wellington Test, they allowed New Zealand to come back.
"When conditions are good to bowl, we have done well, but our bowlers generally run out of ideas when the conditions improve for batting. As a bowler, you can't just take wickets on green tops or turners. We need somebody who understands the Indian psyche, somebody like Venkatesh Prasad, TA Sekar or Subroto Bannerjee, who are specialists when it comes to coaching fast bowlers," he said.
Of course, it's not just seamers that need guidance. There is an urgent need for a spin bowling coach too.
"Teams like England have Mushtaq Ahmed for a while now. Shane Warne is now guiding young Australian spinners, while West Indies recently hired the services of Saqlain Mushtaq. We have so many great spinners, why are we not availing of their services? Our spinners need guidance on how to bowl overseas," he quipped.
Vaidya's thoughts are echoed by another former Indian pacer, Atul Wassan. He feels somebody like Narendra Hirwani should mentor young Indian spinners.
"Hirwani is most suited for the job. He has done all the hard work with the current lot. He has played so much in these conditions and knows the hardships one has to go through," he said. Indeed, players like Amit Mishra and Yuvraj Singh have publicly acknowledged the role of the former leggie whenever they have done well.
Wasan also prefers an Indian fast bowling coach. "There's a lot of talent available at home, but our fascination with foreign coaches continues. I don't know what he (Dawes) is doing, but results are not encouraging. I think even (Duncan) Fletcher has passed his prime and become obsolete. It's just that our captain finds him amiable when it comes to selecting the playing eleven. (Venkatesh) Prasad did well with the team, but suddenly they removed him. First of all, an Indian should be fast bowling coach or we can have specific person for particular tour. Suppose if we are touring Australia, we can take consultancy from an Australian during that that tour. BCCI has enough money. We don't need to carry the whole baggage," he said.
In fact, India hired the services of former Aussie pacer Bruce Reid on their tour Down Under in 2003-04 and the results were excellent.
Ex-India pacer Chetan Sharma too endorsed the view of having an Indian bowling coach. "It should be some Indian who has experience of playing in different conditions, but he should be interested in coaching. Coaching is a different ball game altogether. Great players needn't necessarily be great coaches. The likes of Prasad and Sekar are into coaching fast bowlers for quite some time and they should guide the youngsters as they can understand the Indian boys better. They won't have issues with language and culture," he said.
Sharma also stressed the need to engage Zaheer Khan, who is in the twilight of his career, in the role of a mentor. "Zaheer has played so much of cricket around the world. We can offer him the mentor's role. He should be part of the team and needn't play all the games. But we must utilise his expertise if he is interested," he said.
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