Indian bowlers have become one of the most potent fast bowling units in the world. Their ability to trouble even the top batsmen in the game and in every condition has led to Team India becoming a top-ranked nation in cricket. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Umesh Yadav have been instrumental in India’s success in overseas conditions.
Team India in the past was not known for its fast bowling and batsmen were surprised to see any pacer from the country bowl regularly at more than 140 km/h. But in the last 2-3 years, Indian pacers have mastered the art of bowling fast and continuously push the speed past the mark of 140 km/h.
But what has changed in the past few years for the fast bowlers to notch up the speed? India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has revealed the tactics the management has employed to monitor the bowlers.
“When we talk about workload management, we are looking at the number of overs a bowler has bowled. But then a bowler can over-exert himself in a game and that is not under your control. So we use the GPS tracker to monitor all his movements on the field.
{{/usCountry}}“When we talk about workload management, we are looking at the number of overs a bowler has bowled. But then a bowler can over-exert himself in a game and that is not under your control. So we use the GPS tracker to monitor all his movements on the field.
{{/usCountry}}“For example, a bowler runs around 20 km on the field. And the tracker gives us a lot of data and information about the bowler concerned. By analysing those data, you can manage the workload at training sessions. Basically, you need to find the right balance. And the Indian bowlers have managed to do that so far.
“This is the reason why we are successful as a bowling unit and the bowlers can bowl at 140 km/h regularly,” Arun said on episode three of Inside Out.
In an earlier interview, Arun had said the team is still hurting from India’s World Cup defeat last year but the aim is to put behind the disappointment and channel it to dish out an even better performance at the T20 World Cup.
“The World Cup loss still hurts us,” Arun said during the ‘Lockdown But Not Out’ series by FanCode. “It’s still hurting us and we’ll probably go all out to see that we leave no stone unturned in our preparation to make sure that we do exceptionally well in the World Cup. To win a World Cup, I think we need to really plan well and how far we execute our plan.”