Medium-pacers: The best in the last 10 yrs Monday, July 3 2006 15:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -
Kingston (Jamaica):
The selection of India's medium-pacers for this West Indies series raised more than a few eyebrows: You had Irfan Pathan, a veteran of 24 Tests, S. Sreesanth and Munaf Patel, who had played two Tests each, and V.R.V. Singh, who had yet to play in one.
Going back to India after the 4-1 loss in the one-day series was their most successful bowler, Ajit Agarkar.
After the inability to close out victories in the first two Tests - Sreesanth bowled the last over in the first Test at Antigua and failed to get the last West Indian wicket - and the belting the bowlers got in the third Test in St Kitts, there was even more criticism. The team management however didn't acknowledge any shortcoming. On the contrary, both captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell kept repeating that they were happy with the bowlers.
If this was all a part of the strategy to build their confidence, it surely worked. In the final Test, Sreesanth provided the breakthroughs in both innings and Patel got rid of Brian Lara in the second and they set the stage for the spinners to do their demolition act.
On Sunday, after India's series win, Dravid acknowledged the role of these bowlers but even their most ardent fans would perhaps have been taken aback by the gushing nature of his praise.
"I've been seeing cricket (at the Test level) for 10 years and for the first time after (Javagal) Srinath and (Venkatesh) Prasad in the 1996 tour of England, I've seen consistent bowling in an entire series," said Dravid.
"Full credit to them," he said.
And if that wasn't enough, there was praise in equal measure from Brian Lara.
"Patel and Sreesanth,they put the ball in the right places, showed professionalism. I thought it was risky to play just two medium-pacers (on this track) but whenever they were called upon, they proved themselves, getting the breakthroughs," said Lara,
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