Pace getting pride of place

One of the biggest changes in domestic cricket from the time I played has been the attitude towards fast bowling. The wickets we played on were tailor-made for spinners, so the quality in fast bowling wasn't good. Most teams, barring perhaps Mumbai or Karnataka, struggled for a good pace attack. It could also have been the reason that they dominated too. Nowadays, though, almost every team has a three-seamer-one-spinner combination.

Every state has a couple of young fast bowlers, who somewhere down the line represent the state side and the India Under-19 side. There are talented fast bowlers in states like Assam, not traditionally cricket nurseries, and there are people coming from lesser known places and are representing their states. I see a lot of fast bowling talent overall.

There are youngsters willing to become fast bowlers, willing to put in the hard work, knowing that they won't come across many seamer-friendly tracks in India. Baroda, the team I am coaching now, have seen Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Rakesh Patel in recent times. And there are more youngsters into fast bowling. It is good to see that because it was missing a few years back.

The fast bowler's workload has increased by about 50 per cent from about 10 years ago. It can be attributed to two factors, one of which is the change in the nature of wickets. You have got to make pitches that encourage the fast bowlers. Not only at the top but at the grassroots level. As a youngster, you should get an opportunity to bowl on at least some seamer-friendly wickets, so that you are attracted towards fast bowling.

The other reason is the exposure nowadays. Fast bowlers are everywhere now, and they are an appealing sight. We have bowlers like Zaheer and Sreesanth, characters that inspire. I wouldn't say fast-bowling is glamorous but it appeals to those who are willing to do a lot of hard work.

Added to that is the extent of technical awareness, which has completely transformed the art. The biomechanics have become very sound, there are more people who are aware of the techniques. Earlier, there used to be very few people who knew what fast bowling was, what biomechanical structure you needed to be a good fast bowler.

Things have developed a lot: the youngsters now know what in-season training is and what off-season training is, what is the exact muscle that they need to work on. The result: we see a lot of fast bowlers in domestic cricket and even at the grassroots level.

There is one matter of concern, though: we have very few tearaway bowlers outside the Indian team. To get the really fast bowlers, we need to work with the talent at a very young age. I have often seen coaches emphasising line and length more than the quality. Somewhere down the road we lose out on bowlers with sheer pace because of that.

If a kid has the talent but is wayward, that can be worked on. At a young age, the emphasis should be on the talent and the pace and not technique, which can be groomed. I have seen at university selections, in Under-17 trials, even in my playing days, that a genuinely quick bowler who is erratic at the nets would lose out to the other guy who bowls six balls on a good line and length.

That apart, fast bowling is in much better health since the time I retired. The three-one combination that most of the teams go in with is here to stay. The major difference is the awareness and, unlike the earlier days, we are not losing out on many prospective bowlers.