India at forefront of fast bowling renaissance – Ian Bishop

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop has heaped praise on the Indian fast bowling unit. The Indian fast bowling unit has done a fine job in the recent past and they have been right on the money. The pace battery is fit as a fiddle and thus the fast bowlers have been able to bowl consistently above 140 km/h.

Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma are the leading pacers of the team and they were at their best on the previous tour of Australia in 2018-19. Bishop added that it is crucial to build their fast bowling stock as you can not rely on the shoulders of spinners in foreign conditions, where there is hardly any assistance for them.

India has realised the same and they have worked hard on it. The country was never known to produce great fast bowlers at a given time and it is under Virat Kohli and Bharat Arun, India’s bowling coach, that the focus on fast bowling is more as compared to previous times.

Furthermore, India have a quality bench strength with the likes of Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Navdeep Saini waiting in the wings for their chances in Test matches. The future looks good and it is a new time in Indian cricket.

Ian Bishop said while talking to Sony Pit Stop Show, “India are at the forefront, the vanguard, of this fast bowling renaissance because they obviously recognised this years ago”.

“If you want to be the number one team in the world, you cannot rely on your spinners all the time because when you travel to western countries, spin is apparently only a certain stage of the game, you have to have fast bowling and India has found that”.

On the other hand, Bishop who himself had dealt with a plethora of injuries in the fag end of his career, reckons it is crucial for the team support staff to manage the workload of Jasprit Bumrah. The right-arm pacer is a thorn in the flesh for the opposition and he has taken giant strides in his young career.

“Jasprit is one of a small group of bowlers who transcend the various formats of the game. But you can’t expect him to last if he is playing every game in every format. The human body cannot do that. You have to manage these precious resources because he is a generational talent,” he said.

The Indian fast bowling unit is ticking the right boxes and they would look to continue the good show going. All the pacers have done their respective job with great success and it is imperative that they keep getting better.

India will tour Australia later in the year and the pace battery will once again be crucial to the visitors’ chances. The first Test will take place at the Gabba, Brisbane from December 3.