What would be the reason India is unable to produce a genuine, consistent fast bowler over the years?

The main reason for India not able to produce  good genuine fast bowlers is because of these following men Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Sehwag.
They have been the role model for many people of this generation. People who were born in the early 1990s and onwards know these men as the definition of cricket. Every other kid in every other colony in India holds the bat first and wants to become Sachin/Dravid. Undoubtedly they are the role model for thousands of kids. Not many people born in the same time period admire Kapil Dev as much they admire Sachin/Dravid purely because they haven't seen Kapil Dev bowl.
Now consider Pakistan, I am pretty much sure the kids born in the same time period over there try to imitate Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar mostly. Again they might not have seen Imran Khan play either.
In India there is a lot of fight to be a better batsman. As there's more competition in batting there is more development and hard work involved.
Role models are very important in life. When you are in a nation that has mostly bastmen as the role models then it is quite improbable to have the same passion for bowling as you grow up. At the same time I am not saying we don't have people who are passionate about fast bowling but it's just that it somehow gets subsided.
Another main reason is that they play in flat pitches batting paradise and all and whenever there is a fast bowler in the picture he somehow loses his pace and is being told by the coaching staff to concentrate on line and length and compromise the pace.

I would like to highlight some bowlers

ISHANT SHARMA:-
He was the considered the next big thing in Indian Cricket after the 2007 Aus series down under but after coming back home he was ruthlessly taken for runs  in the first IPL .
And after that his pace reduced a lot...He lacked the pace ,the aggression and the fitness a fast bowler had.

IRFAN PATHAN:-
  Yeah he is the one who took the hatrik in Pak but after arrival of Greg Chappel he lost his swing .He was converted into a batsman and rest is history.

SREESANTH:-

One of the most talented bowler India ever produced but we all know what happened with him...slapgate,fixing etc.. He was always in news for the wrong reasons.
RP SINGH:- He too was a good bowler and made his mark in the team in the 2007 T20 world cup but failed to continue his form and fitness.
VARUN ARON:- Another bowler who bowls fast mean really fast but with no real control on line and length.
UMESH YADAV:- He too is similar like Varun Aron but leaks too many runs. As he did in the recent series against South Africa.
BUVANESHWAR KUMAR:- He used to be a good swing bowler but in the quest of increasing his pace he has forgotten his strength of swinging the new bowl which has made him unaffective bowler with the new bowl.
MOHAMMAD SHAMI:- The only Indian bowler who has shown glimpses of being one of the best fast bowler for India with his recent form but he too is unable of maintaining his fitness.
On the other hand MOHIT SHARMA is more like a MUNAF PATEL type of bowler who can bowl good tight overs in the middle. He is more a stump to stump type of bowler and not a new ball bowler.

India has one of the most reputed pace foundation in the world but the pitches in India don t help there cause.

Another reason which may be irrelevant is that India didn t have a "Sachin "  kinda God like figure in the bowling department...because many cricketer like  Kohli wanted to be like Sachin not a "Javagal Srinath " or a "Venketesh Prasad" .

Hat- trick hero Sunil Chhetri keeps Mumbai City Alive.

Sunil Chhetri becomes the first Indian to score a hat-trick in the ISL when he led Mumbai City to a 5-1 win against NorthEast United at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. There was significance in Sunil Chhetri’s performance against the NorthEast United that made him the first Indian player to ever top the scorers chart at any stage of an ISL season. What made it more special was that he became the first Indian to score a hat-trick in the tournament.
Two penalties and a close range volley took the India skipper’s overall tally to six in the season, along with Chennaiyin FC striker Stiven Mendoza, who incidentally, also has a hat-trick to his name.
Nonetheless, his performance was well appreciated by assistant coach Oscar Bruzon who asserted Chhetri has ‘exceeded expectations.’ Bruzon even went further to claim that Chhetri ‘is ready to play in one of the top teams in Europe.’
“Plenty of the top players have come from the higher league in Europe, and Sunil has shown that he’s one above them,” Bruzon said after the match.
In fact, he could have scored more than just three goals. He rattled the crossbar once with a abrasive shot from outside the box and missed two more very close  chances - one a great save by the goalkeeper and the other a header that flew just wide.
In all he had six shots on goal, four on target and the match ball to go with it at the end of the night.
This was his day. A horribly mistimed overhead kick from inside the box - ended up as a handball and penalty for Mumbai, which he converted with ease to complete the hat-trick.
Chettri stressed the importance of three points over his three goals and the need to forget this win, and focus on the next game against Atletico de Kolkata. But there's no doubt that it is Chhetri who has sparked Mumbai City's tournament to life and the fans, at least, will remember and appreciate this performance for some time to come.

Ajinkya Rahane :- the man with no fixed address

Ajinkya Rahane has been one of the most promising batsmen in the Indian team. He has also proved it every now and then. But the thing is that the team management has not given him the adequate opportunities to himself in the limited overs format. Ajinkya Rahane has proved that he can play T20 in the IPL playing for the Rajasthan Royals. He has showed that one of the most capable test player in the Indian team. So its natural that he should be the first choice  of the captain to be picked in the team. This doesn't seem to happen like this eventually.
In the series against Bangladesh Rahane was dropped from the side for being incapable of batting on slow paced wickets. Eventually India lost the series to Bangladesh for the very 1st time. In the Freedom T20 series too he was dropped and Ambati Rayudu was given a chance and he failed miserably in both the T20's as he failed to open his account. According to me he is a technical batsmen but he can adapt to any  format of the game. He made his T20 debut against England in England and scored a quick fire fifty. But he was not given  a place in the side. In the Freedom ODI series to the same story continued but with Ajinkya Rahane getting a chance to play but with no place in the batting order to bat. He played at no.3 in the 1st and 2nd ODI and proved himself by scoring two consecutive half centuries.  In the 3rd ODI he was pushed down the order to let Kohli bat at no.3 and at last he came to bat at no.6 were he is not supposed to bat as he is not the kind of batsman who can come out to bat and smack the ball.
In the 4th ODI he came to bat at no.4 and played a good inning of 45 and had a good  partnership with Virat Kohli. The place Rahane belongs in the batting order. He should be made comfortable at one slot in the batting order. He showed his class and won many hearts by smacking 87 of 58 balls at Wankhede. This innings surely conforms he is some player. He has the capability and the team management and the captain needs to show more faith in him. He is not the one who hits the ball hard for sixes but the man who plays technical cricket and scores at a fair rate.
Rahane has the ability to be one of the best young cricketer of the Indian team. The only man who has been consistent with his form and proved in overseas conditions.

The Major Takeaways For India From The Freedom Series.

The Freedom ODI series between India and South Africa was action packed hard fought and thourouly entertaining throughout. Both teams showed there class and their enthusiasm to win the series.  The series went in the favour of South Africa winning it by 3-2. But all was not working well for the men in blue from the start of the series itself. With Ravi Ashwin ruled out of the entire series due to side strains.  Men in blue lost there second consecutive ODI series the first being against Bangladesh.
India produced just a single complete game and struggled throughout with there batting lineup, bowling attack, team selection. After the series, Dhoni said it was necessary to experiment because the team was still discovering its potential and that the process was more important than getting results at this stage. This series loss has created heaps of pressure on MS Dhoni as a limited overs captain and cricketer in general. Below are some of the major takeaways from this series:
1) Ajinkya Rahane has made himself undropable: Over the last few months, no India batsman has been discussed more than Ajinkya Rahane. From dropping him in Bangladesh, to his non-selection in the T20Is against South Africa, to moving him up and down the lineup in the ODI series, his place and position in the playing XI has been one of constant debate.
Rahane responded in the best possible manner with exceptional batting performances in the ODI series. Rahane played four knocks of very high quality, scoring 60, 51, 45 and a fabulous knock of 87 at Wankhede stadium were he won lots of hearts of the spectators with his amazing batting performance. It's time stop over-analysing Rahane's skills in the middle-order and saying it's difficult to play him in the XI if not in the top three. Those explanations will merely be excuses from now on. Give Rahane a settled spot in the order and just let him be.
2) The all-rounder mystery: Dhoni said in the post match presentation that " We have tried Stuart Binny but people have criticized this as well. But the thing is that he is our best seam bowling all-rounder. Our options for good spinning all-rounders are Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Whether everyone likes it or not but they are the best options we have.
Gurkeerat Singh is the closest to usurping the spot but Dhoni said he has to wait for his chance, though it is unclear why. If this series didn't make it obvious enough, India need some fresh thinking and blooding a batsman who can be useful with the ball – think JP Duminy – could be the tonic India needs. Another main contender for this spot will be Yuvraj Singh who is waiting eagerly for one last chance.
3) India's flop pace attack: Watching young Kagiso Rabada bowl in this series made one thing clear - raw pace gets you nowhere without control and discipline. Rabada was scintillating through out the series but his most impressive attribute was his death bowling. He showed tactical maturity to dig it in short and at the body of the batsmen, before mixing it up with full, fast yorkers.
India's fast(er) bowlers, on the other hand, struggled at the top and the death. Wickets with the new ball were a rarity
Mohit Sharma, will never be the spearhead of a bowling attack – even Dhoni said he should be the third seamer.
The problem is compounded because the bowlers waiting in the wings have not set the cricket world alight either. Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma have been inconsistent at best. Mohammad Shami seems to have gone completely off the radar after his injury early this year. it is difficult to explain what happens to fast bowlers in India after they reach the international stage, But as South Africa showed, India cannot keep thinking the only strategy they need at home is to pack the side with spinners.
4) The captaincy discussion: Make no mistake; there is a debate to be had. This series loss, the first ever against South Africa at home, should hurt the India players and the captain most of all. The defeat in Wankhede will rankle as one of the worst under Dhoni's captaincy.
But, in the bigger picture, it is worth remembering the series ended 3-2. There is a need to acknowledge that these were two highly talented teams going toe-to-toe against other. By ignoring the fine margins by which the games were decided, we take the sheen away from a closely fought series. Besides, Dhoni's inspirational performance in Indore showed that we shouldn't write him off just yet.
Yes, Dhoni has showed there are chinks in his armour, both in his batting (he let Rabada outfox him throughout the series) and his captaincy (with selection calls and batting order changes). The defeat in Wankhede, however, showed there is only so much a captain can do when all his bowlers get mauled. There are questions that need to be asked and Dhoni will ask them but this is a team that made the World Cup semifinals just over six months ago.
India need to rethink their strategy and clean out a few problems but there's no need to burn down the whole house.

'MR. 360°' Beyond Comparison

Abraham Benjamin Deviliers is genuinely defines for what it requires to be Mr. 360° in cricket. Deviliers  a given day can win the match on his own. Such is the caliber of this man. He can dominate any bowling attack no matter how the pitch is behaving. His ability is such that he can just come out to bat and hit a reverse sweep for a six without having to getting used to the conditions. He is just someone out of the world. He showed his this ability in the match against West Indies were he came out to bat in the 34th over and smacked 149 of 44 balls. With this you can imagine how dangerous batsmen he is. But its not that he has managed this once. He reshowed a similar kind of innings against the same opponent in the 2015 World Cup. He made a record of fastest man to score 150 runs in ODI's in just 64 balls. And recently in the final ODI against India to he showcased his talent by scoring a quick fire century at the Wankhede stadium to help South Africa reach a mammoth total of 438 for 4 after 50 overs. With such batting performances it seems that he has a completely different DNA as a batsman. He has changed the way batting used to be done in the past. Its just brutal hitting of the cricket ball.
He has been given the nickname Mr. 360° for his ability to play shots in any part of ground. He play the traditional cricketing shots but also along with those some cheecky shots. Not only for the batting he has been given this name but according to me he is correct example of a team player. Whenever the team is in trouble its Deviliers who can take the team out of that trouble. He is terrific fielder, a wicket keeper, a captain, a bowler if the teams needs him to do that job. As everyone says he is a superman who can manage to do any task and complete it successfully.
It is not that his ability to his sixes and scoring quickly mean that he is not a good test cricketer. He can stay on the wicket for long period of time as long as scoring just 22 of 250 balls to save a test match for  South Africa. He is ranked no.1 in ICC ODI rankings and no.2 in ICC ranking. Such is AB Deviliers. He is the best, astonishing, fabulous, stupendous, mind boggling etc. I am falling short of words to describe this great player. He is complete cricketer and a great example for the young lads of how a cricketer should be. He will really be one of the greatest players of all time.

'VINEET' We Love Your Umpiring.

The India v/s South Africa has been started but it is not only been in the news for the fabulous performances by many player but also due to bad umpiring.

When determining which umpires will stand in each match/series, the ICC applies the following criteria and considerations:
1)Independent of the countries involved in the match/series.
2)The best available umpires for the match/series.
3)Better performing umpires used more often.
4)Frequency of individuals appointed to same teams.
5)Workload considerations.

Depending on the above criteria ICC appoints one umpire from there panel and the other one is appointed by the Board that is hosting the tournament.
Previously also there have been many matches were due to bad umpiring many teams  have to suffer losses. India too has experienced a fair share of it in the Border-Gavaskar trophy of 2007 where Steve Bockner and Mark Benson because of their  bad umpiring had made some silly decisions in favour of Australia.

In the freedom series as well both teams have to face due to bad umpiring by Vineet Kulkarni. He showed his inexperience in umpiring in the 1st twenty twenty in Dharamshala where he did not gave a straight forward decision of lbw of JP Duminy who went on to win a match winning innings. Also in the Indore oneday Vineet made up for his mistake against India in the 1st t20 in favour of India where he gave Farhan Behardein out caught behind down the leg side as the ball had passed the bat without an edge. Which helped India win there 1st match in the series.
The umpires which the respective Boards appoint for an international match should at least be experienced in the domestic circuit. There should be a test of umpires as well to determine whether they are capable of umpiring in an international game. Bad umpiring make s the players a bit unsatisfied whent the decisions are not given rationally. The BCCI in this case should take care of whom they appoint as an umpire in the upcoming games.

The Rising Star (Kagiso Rabada)

Kagiso Rabada was born in Johannesburg on 25th May 1995. He started playing professional cricket for Gauteng in the CSA proffessional one day competition in the year 2013. Soon he was picked up to represent South Africa under 19 team . he grabbed the headlines when he skittled off the Australians in the under 19 world cup. The right arm fast bowler who constantly bowled 140 kph took 6/
25 for South Africa and took them to the final of the tournament. He was then called up by the Lions franchise team for the last two games in the Sunfoil series. During this he played under the watchful eyes of mentor Gordan Parsons and Lanwabo Tsotsobe and Chris Morris as his senior members in the team. This helped him a lot.
Rabada's dream to represent the country at the highest level was not far away. His opportunity came in a twenty twenty game against the Aussies where Maxwell being his first scalp. He the made his dream debut in the ODI's against Bangladesh where he too a hattrick in just his 2nd over and finishing with 6/16 being the best bowling figures by a debutant. Rabada has been showcasing his talent in the current series against India as well. His fabulous last over to restrict india from scoring 11 in the last over by taking 2 wickets is simply outstanding. He is causing problems for Indian batsmen by his accuracy in mind and length and with his great pace. Bowling 140 kph consistently is something very rare nowadays. That is his biggest strength. If he is able to keep himself away from all sorts of injuries and stay fit we will witness a great bowler emerging in the mere future. Rabada being 20 has impressed everyone with the talent he has. He is not afraid of the challenges he faces. He stays calm and backs himself. A player at just the beginning of his career to remain calm and composed without being under any sorts of pressure is great. That Rabada the rising star of South African Cricket.Hope that he will keep on playing well as he is been doing and achieve great success in his future.

Cometh the hour cometh 'Sehwag'

Exactly as the title states Sehwag was the man to go for when India was in trouble. The man from a small town of Najafgarh made his debut in ODIs in the year 1999 against the arcrivals Pakistan. He made his test debut in the year 2001 against South  Africa. Everybody criticized him for the technique with which he used to bat. One would say a good batting technique resembles a great batsman but not in the case of Sehwag .It was unconventional but very effective. It would have been very difficult for him to make a stand for himself in the team with Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly around him. But he soon emerged as one of the greatest opening batsman for India over time. One of his greatest achievement was the triple ton he made at Multan in a test against Pakistan. He still hold the record for the highest individual score in test matches for India of 319. Veeru's known for  the blistering starts he used to give India which every one is going to miss now. With Sehwag announcing his retirement from international cricket would obviously would have surprised everyone. Sehwag deserves a farewell like Sachin. The more aggressive he is on the field the very opposite he used to be off the field. A shy guy with always a smile on his face. A player who developed a new style of batting. Everybody is going to miss the entertainment he used to provide us with his batting. The only people who will be happy because of his retirement will be the bowlers from the opposition teams. They would have taken a sigh of relief as they will not be facing Sehwag anymore. As the commentators used to say when Sehwag used to bat "flashing blade of Sehwag" , " that cut away by Sehwag", and finally "cometh the hour cometh the champion". All this words of the commentators will no longer be heard about Sehwag. Sehwag you are , will and remain the greatest opening batsman for India for ever. Thanks for everything you have served India with. Hats off to such a great player.

There is still something left in the tank

As the title says 'there is still something left in the tank' for MS Dhoni in his international career. He has been facing a lot of criticism from media because of India's poor performance in the series against Bangladesh and now the T20 series against the proteas. Everyone was questioning him about his failure to score quickly with the bat and  his inability as captain. But Dhoni has answers to all those questions not with the words but through his performance. It was 14th of October. India won the toss and chose to bat. India did not have the best of starts with Indian top order fall with not much of a contribution. Dhoni came to bat in the 19th over with India reeling at 89 for 3 but conditions even worsened when India was brought down to 126 for 6. Then what we saw was just  vintage Dhoni at its real best smacking an incredible 92 with 8 short of a well deserved ton. What was great to see was that even after finishing the innings with a six Dhoni ran back to the dressing room without showing a lot of emotions. But that's how MS Dhoni is. He knew that the job was half done and wanted to show his importance in the team with his captaincy as well. He was exceptional in his captaincy with bowling changes, field placements as a result won his 1st man of the match after 27 months.
What I think is that this is exactly how  you silence the critics not with words but with actions. As they all say 'actions speak louder than words'. Dhoni is great and you cannot just show him disrespect just because of some failures in his career. We should be very proud of whatever he has achieved for our country rather than criticizing him. As Brian Lara has said in one of his interview is that ' Dhoni plays for his country not for the critics'. Now this statement makes him great as a player. Dhoni 'you beauty' as Ravi Shastri used to say in the commentary box is really true in its real sense. After such a tremendous performance it would be great to see how Dhoni performs in the upcoming matches.