“The Selection Committee has also recommended fast bowling contracts for the following athletes – Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa,” the BCCI said in a release.
Although the non-inclusion of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan was the central theme of BCCI’s Annual Player Retainership, the above-mentioned lines also captured the attention of many. The point gained significance in the backdrop of India phasing out some of their senior pacemen — Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami, one of their frontline pace bowlers, has been laid low by a serious Achilles heel surgery. And there is also a tour of Australia lurking round the corner. So, the clear aim of the board is to develop the next assembly line of pace bowlers. That is a brief on the fast bowling contracts, but what about the names mentioned in the list? What are their skill-sets? Let’s explore further.
Vidwath Kaverappa – The tall Karnataka pace bowler has an enviable first-class record – 80 wickets at an average of 20.08. His key strength is the art of repetition. With a relatively high release point, he can land on a similar length ball-after-ball, over-after-over. He mostly nips the ball back into the right-hander, with the occasional delivery straightening off the deck. Kaverappa also extracts some bounce from a slightly fuller length.
One saw enough evidence of his seam-bowling skills in the just-concluded Ranji quarterfinal game versus Vidarbha, where he bagged a 10-wicket haul. Kaverappa still, perhaps, has to work on a couple of areas. One of them is to ramp up his pace by a bit: An increase of 4-5 kph could help his cause to barge open the Indian selection door.
Vijaykumar Vyshak – Kaverappa’s team-mate, Vyshak, is the more adventurous of the two. The pace bowler is always ready to experiment, be it bowling bumpers or eyeing swing with the old ball. Vyshak has the ability to shift to a round-the-angle while bowling to a right-hander and extract good height on his short ball.
With a new ball in hand, Vyshak tries to bowl with a straight-seam grip, eyeing movement off the deck. Vyshak also has the knuckle ball up his sleeve and can touch speeds of 140-142 kph. The pace bowler has taken 86 wickets at an average of just under 24 in first-class cricket.
Umran Malik – Once the fast bowler had recounted to this writer an anecdote of bowling to senior Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batters in the nets. “They were saying, ‘don’t bowl that fast.’ But I had come to bowl fast, so I would bowl fast,” Umran had said with a smile.
Now, that particular line aptly describes the skiddy pace bowler. To sum it up, genuine pace is the essence of his bowling. However, to succeed at the highest level, Umran probably needs to have different gears of fast bowling.
In that context, P Krishnakumar, the Jammu and Kashmir bowling coach, is said to be working with Umran in order to help him develop a fast-bowling mindset.
Yash Dayal – The left-arm pace bowler from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, is rather unfairly remembered for being smashed to all corners of the ground by Rinku Singh in an IPL game last year. But there is more to Dayal’s bowling than ushering in low full tosses.
Alongside having the added advantage of the left-arm angle, Dayal has a sharp inswinger and gets the ball to hold its line. Some domestic batters also seem to struggle to pick his short ball early. He has scalped 72 wickets at an average of 29.26 in first-class cricket.
Akash Deep – The Bengal pace bowler made his debut in the fourth Test of the ongoing series against England and took a three-for in the first innings. Deep has certain traits that could work especially on Indian or subcontinental pitches.
He is skiddy through the air and mostly targets the stumps. Deep seems to surprise the batter with a bit of pace. In other words, the ball seems to hasten off the deck. He is mainly a seam bowler who also generates a hint of swing both ways. We witnessed some of those aforementioned characteristics in his opening spell in Ranchi.
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— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 29, 2024