156 kmph and counting: How India created assembly line of fast bowlers

The emergence of Mayank Yadav this IPL shows how India overcame the odds, tradition, and history to create an assembly line of fast bowlers, outdoing Pakistan

It is a five-decade-old incident that is worth retelling. Sometime in 1975, Kapil Dev, then a precocious 16-year-old, would get selected for a camp in Chandigarh that had a motley bunch of young, emerging cricketers. During the lunch break, Kapil demanded more food from the organiser. “Don’t you know that I’m a fast bowler. I need more food,” he asserted.

“We do not produce fast bowlers in this country,” the organiser retorted.
 

The response would firm up Kapil’s resolve to become a pacer.
 

Three years later, he was in Faisalabad, ready to bowl his first delivery in international cricket.
 

Until then, India was a bastion for spinners, such as Bishen Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna, bowlers known to bewitch batters with guile and tantalizing flight.
 

Then came Kapil, and a  tectonic shift.
 

Before Kapil, cricket was a niche, urban, middle-class sport. It was the man with the toothy grin, rustic charm, prodigious swing, and indefatigable spirit, who opened the sport to a new generation as well as new towns.

Nevertheless, India was still light years away from producing pacers on an assembly line the way Pakistan did back in the 1970s, 1980s and through the 1990s, thanks—it is understood — beef, good genes, taped-ball cricket and a certain Imran Khan.
 

Cut to 2024, and the boot — cricket spikes, if you will — is now on the other foot.
 

India’s fast bowling talent is now the envy of the world. From Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar to Umran Malik, Indian fast bowlers are making heads turn with their skill, acumen, and athleticism.
 

But no one is turning them like Mayank Yadav, who has won the player of the match award in his first two games in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

 

Quick gun, Mayank
 

 The 21-year-old from Delhi, also known as the “helmet pe marne wala” (the one who hits the helmet) bowler, has conjured up frightening pace in excess of 156 kmph, with disconcerting bounce.
 

Playing for the Lucknow Super Giants, Mayank bowled a 156.7 kmph thunderbolt against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru earlier this week -- the fourth-fastest delivery recorded in the IPL.
 

 “First things first, I don't want to put any extra pressure on him; he is just 21. But he has got great pace and a  nice action. I am super impressed with him, and really excited  to see how he progresses in the next few months,” former Australia pacer Brett Lee said about Mayank in commentary.
 

South Africa’s premier fast bowler, Kagiso Rabada, could not stop gushing.
 

"He was born with pace. Pace is not bought in the market. That's his genuine weapon," Rabada said during a post-match interview.

 

Change in mindset
 

Chetan Sharma, former India pacer and who used to be national selector, has credited the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for bringing about a change in the mindset and installing a world-class facility: National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
 

“You have to give credit where it is due. The BCCI has been instrumental in setting up the NCA. It has nurtured fast bowlers across the country. Not only do they unearth talented pacers, they also manage to keep them fit for extended periods, backed by science and well-curated fitness regimens,” Sharma told Business Standard.
 

The seeds were sown by former head coach Ravi Shastri, in tandem with the then bowling coach, Bharat Arun, physio Patrick Farhat, and trainer Shanker Basu. They worked with Rahul Dravid, the current coach and former NCA chief, to hone the next generation of fast bowlers.
 

The team led by Shastri has given way to the current regime of bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and physio Ashish Kaushik, with Dravid as the head coach.

The seamless transition in NCA’s top echelons means everything from diet and fitness to workload management is assiduously monitored.
 

Sharma, who was instrumental in India’s spectacular Test series win in England in 1986, also attributes the change to the nature of pitches rolled out for Ranji Trophy games.
 

“Look at the pitches in the Ranji Trophy. They are all so  conducive to fast bowling. It not only helps pacers, but also equips batters for the rigours of stringent overseas tours, especially in England, New Zealand and South Africa,”  he says.
 

Such is the abundance of India’s fast-bowling riches these days that not an eyebrow was raised when Shami, the star of last-year’s 50-over World Cup, sat out the ongoing IPL and the high-profile Test series at home against England last month due to an Achilles heel injury.
 

It is a far cry from 1997, for instance, when the then pace spearhead Javagal Srinath broke down due to a shoulder injury, leaving captain Sachin Tendulkar to scramble.
 

Venkatesh Prasad, Harvinder Singh, and Dodda Ganesh were the top three names on the list. Tendulkar roped in his fellow Mumbai pacer – Abbey Kuruvilla.
 

“During my time, we didn’t have talent spotting like the manner in which it is happening now. Also, we did not have the kind of support staff that these kids have today. From strength conditioning to diet, everything is so meticulously planned. I wish I was a fast bowler today,” Ganesh told Business Standard.
 

 The brouhaha surrounding Mayank notwithstanding, Sharma throws in a  word of caution.
 

 “He is an absolute natural. From the rhythm to the loading and the follow-through, he has all the attributes to succeed at the international level. However, I will not go too far ahead. Let him finish playing in this IPL first,” Sharma says.
 

Ganesh wants Mayank to play English county cricket this year.  “It is my sincere request to the BCCI. Please send this boy to play county cricket in England. Bowling fast for four overs in an IPL game is fine. But the real test is with the red ball in long-form cricket.”
 

Mayank’s childhood coach Devendra Sharma, who has watched him grow under his tutelage ever since he joined Sonnet Cricket Club at the age of 14, wants his ward to cut all the noise and hype around him.

“I want him to become an all-format bowler. He is only 21 and has the fitness and hunger to get there. Cut all the noise. You’ve just had two great games. Kal pit bhi sakte ho. So remain mentally strong,” he says.
 

As the former North Zone selector, Sharma puts forth a strong case to cotton-wool a special talent like Mayank.
 

 “He has a history of frequent breakdowns. Injuries are the biggest impediment to a fast bowler. Whenever a bowler returns from injury, he is circumspect. The only exception to this rule is Bumrah. Ever since he has returned from an injury hiatus last year, he has looked even more menacing,” Sharma explains.
 

Cricket is riddled with several instances of fast bowlers who had to transform their action after returning from career-threatening injuries.
 

Dennis Lillee, the champion Australian pacer of the  1970s, who began as a tearaway quick, remodelled his action after a back injury. He was not the fastest thereafter, but, instead, became the shrewdest.

Bowling with a taped ball during childhood has helped Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini add extra yards of pace

 

False starts
 

Not everyone is as lucky, or as skilled.
 

Sharma gives the example of Munaf Patel, the fast bowler from Gujarat, who piqued the nation’s interest, albeit fleetingly, during the mid-aughts, with his pace and yorkers.
 

An ankle injury stopped him in his tracks.
 

“After that ankle injury, he was never the same bowler. He lost his pace and turned into a medium-pacer who bowled line and length,” Sharma adds. Like Patel, the careers of several promising fast bowlers did not blossom because of the lack of a world-class facility like the NCA back then.
 

Varun Aaron, in 2011, grabbed the headlines for bowling a 153 kmph thunderbolt at a Vijay Hazare game. Like Munaf, he, too, suffered from constant breakdowns, and his international career would be a stop-start affair.
 

VRV Singh, blessed with a fluid open-chested action, once worked up an eye-catching pace and made batters hop around. But he did not quite cut it at the international level.
 

That is not the case anymore.
 

From Kapil to Mayank, the needle on India’s speedometer has well and truly moved. 

Helping hand from across the border

In ‘Pundits from Pakistan’, former Pakistan pacer Aqib Javed tells author Rahul Bhattacharya how bowling with a taped ball (tennis ball wrapped in tape) was instrumental in bowlers in his country developing more muscle, and, in the long run, building pace.

Since a taped ball is lighter than a cricket ball, a bowler’s arm speed has to be higher to generate pace. Over the years, bowlers, especially from in and around Delhi, seem to have borrowed and perfected this art from across the border. Mayank and Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini are two of the finest products of taped ball in India.