RevSportz Comment
India were 1-0 ahead in the 2014 series against England when the team arrived in Southampton for the third Test. As part of the preparations, the team management asked Michael Holding – then part of the SKY Sports commentary panel – to take a look at the pace bowlers. Afterwards, he spoke to an Indian journalist on the sidelines. At the time, the mood in the Indian camp was fairly euphoric and the journalist asked Holding what he thought of India’s pace crop and the prospects for the rest of the series.
Holding was typically blunt. He said: “I think India will lose the remaining three Tests.” When the journalist asked him why, he said: “The bowlers don’t have the legs.” Pressed to elaborate further, he said: “I don’t think they have the stamina to play five Tests. I don’t see them doing a lot of running, and if you can’t run, sooner or later your line and length also fall apart.”
That was exactly what happened. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 11 wickets in the first two innings of that series at Trent Bridge and Lord’s. In the remaining five innings where he bowled, he took just eight. Ishant Sharma, hero of the final day at Lord’s, limped out of practice at Southampton and didn’t return until the final Test at The Oval. Pankaj Singh had a catch dropped off his bowling at the Ageas Bowl and that was pretty much the last word for his Test career. India ended up losing the fourth and fifth Tests, at Old Trafford and The Oval – the same venues as this time – by an innings.
Holding would later be dismissive of many of the new-fangled training techniques, including the concept of optional practice and players spending more time in the gym than running. “I have nothing against gym work,” he said. “Especially if it builds up strength, but it can’t be a substitute for running, because you need miles in the legs.”
As an example, he said that in the case of bowlers from the Caribbean, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa, there was an athletic culture that started in school. So the bowlers usually had a strong athletic base before they got into serious competition. As a schoolboy in England, a James Anderson or Ben Stokes would have taken part in multiple sports, including athletics, cricket, football, rugby, gymnastics and swimming.
That does not happen in India, certainly not in state-run schools, so a lot of the players do not grow up with that athletic base to fall back on. That is where gym training becomes important, but at the same time there is no substitute for those miles in the legs. When fatigued, the body often relies on muscle memory to get it through.
As an example, Holding cited an Adelaide Test in January-February 1982. Australia were 1-0 up in the series, and though West Indies had taken a 151-run lead on first innings, the draw seemed the likely result with Allan Border and Kim Hughes batting superbly to take the hosts to 341-4 at stumps on the fourth day.
Before play began on Day 5, Dennis Waight – the West Indies’ legendary trainer and physio – made the fast bowlers run up and down the famous Hill at the Adelaide Oval for 10 minutes. It was a blistering hot summer day, and the quartet were steaming with rage by the time they took the field. In no time, 341-4 had become 386 all out, with Holding and Joel Garner doing the damage. West Indies, with Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd to the fore, knocked off the runs in the evening shadows to square the series.
The game may have changed, but there’s still no substitute for miles in the legs.
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