The mid-2000s were a weird time for India from a fast-bowling perspective. They had only recently bid farewell to arguably their only express pacer in Javagal Srinath(even if he only did it for a few short years), all while having the skilled but sporadic services of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, and Ajit Agarkar.
But the things on the horizon were a lot better. Irfan Pathan was already beginning to hit his strides in the internationals while Munaf Patel, RP Singh, and Sreesanth, all could bowl up to 145-146 kph when at their best.
Yet there were periods of success and periods of failures for the Indian team’s pace bowling unit, may it be the Test series win in England or the Test series loss in SA despite leading by 1-0. Sreesanth, Zaheer, RP, and Pathan had all put in match-winning performances in that chaotic cycle of 2006-2007 before Ishant made his presence felt in the BGT 2007-08 and the CB Series, clocking a mind-boggling 153.2 kph, all at just the age of 19.
But sadly, Ishant would gain weight and lose fitness and by extension, his pace. In a somewhat repeat of Ishant’s exploits, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav would debut in 2011, clocking 150 and 152 kph respectively but stayed rather inconsistent and unfit throughout Dhoni’s red ball reign.
January 2015 was when Virat Kohli took over as the full-time red-ball captain of India. A time when India had tons of fast bowling talent but a lot of it was directionless. Meanwhile everywhere else in the world, Teams were following their usual routes of pacers being of varying pace from fast medium(Hazlewood, Woakes) to express pace(Starc, Steyn).
But in mid-2015, India started what was the metamorphosis of their pace attack. A rather educated stream-lining of their stocks especially in red ball cricket. Gone was the desire to bowl around 150 kph, replaced by the desire to clock consistently between this imaginary barrier of 137-145 kph (or 85-90 mph).
How was it achieved? Well, they already had a ready-made example of it in the form of Shami, who on his day was an absolute machine but the true change came with Virat Kohli’s
introduction of fitness regimes and standards. The fitness standards that made Ishant Sharma get back to a fitter physique(and add in his work at the County Championship with Jason Gillespie) and found guys like Umesh and Varun in a situation where they would not be pushing themselves over the edge unless absolutely required to.
A rather well-rounded group of individuals joined by two more perfectly moulded pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya meant India suddenly had a hoard of pacers, all of whom could bowl 135-145 kph without the greed to ramp the pace up and came with their array of skills.
May it be in white ball or red ball, perfectly rounded up by a rather injury-prone but possibly the most talented one in the group in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, a proper swing bowler with multiple skill sets, and mastery over 2-3 pace ranges ergo James Anderson.
And boy did they prove the thought of consistency over force to be very very true. Winning the Asia Cup back to back in 2016 & 2018, BGT in 2018 & 2020, and completing a 50-over series conquest round-up in SENA countries between 2018-2022.
Winning tests in South Africa, England, West Indies, and Australia in the same cycle, and even managing to beat England 4-0 in a home series in 2016-2017 that was played on rather pace-loving decks, following it up with another home series win over Sri Lanka that again took place on decks suitable for seam bowling, one that saw Bhuvneshwar Kumar take an unforgettable 4/8 in the fading light of Eden Gardens in November 2017.
All stemming from a thought of not hitting the 91st mile but rather staying consistent at the 90th.
About the Author: Aman Patel, A long-term viewer and student of the game. Specialises in cricket from the 2000s.
