Why can't India produce great fast bowlers like Pakistan?

[angad]

BCCI should improve School level cricket in North India, we have lotsa fast bowling talent, but these young kids never reallize their true potential. Due to no TIER 1 city, no coaching, no infrastructure nothing, there is little encouragement. Then there is corruption, North Indian Ranji teams are sifarshi (payed/helped his way into team).

Select boys from Punjab and Haryana, esp. Jatt clan! Their fitness, height, allmost every physical attribute is similar to Pakistani's. Trust me they have strong core stength which current gen Indian bowlers lack, Legendary Kapil Dev is very good example ie. Jatt/strong built/mentally tough/aggressive/20yrs career (longevity). We need MRF Pace Academy kinda facility in this region, it serves no purpose in South India.

I hope you can...understand what I'm trying to say. This is my personal experience, I have faced fast bowlers from village's who bowl thunderbolts, but they dont have guidance, only rich kids from Jallandhar's (only sports city to some extent in Punjab) elite school's get picked, and they are already brain washed (they are made to believe weird things, whereas Pakistani's focus on other things).

It's just so frustrating when you have tall 6.2"~ hatte katte jawaan and not a single +145 speed fast bowler from Indian Punjab (NO OPPURTUNITY).

BCCI hire fast bowling coach (not Indian), and pick potential speedsters from Punjab/Haryana.

[Prince EWS]

So wait, I just read that a team isn't like Pakistan because it has...

Originally Posted by angad

no coaching, no infrastructure nothing, there is little encouragement. Then there is corruption, sifarshi (payed/helped his way into team).

If anything, it sounds like India are doing an excellent job of replicating the Pakistani system that produces so many fast bowlers.

[silentstriker]

You're right. BCCI should strive to be like the PCB in infrastructure, coaching, and a lack of corruption.

[Shri]

We could import some from Pakistan. Should just pay the Butts off.

[Dissector]

Actually the OP does have a point and I have heard Imran Khan say something similar. The Northwest of India does tend to produce a higher percentage of men with the body types associated with fast bowlers. The problem is they don't have much of a cricket tradition and set-up so barring the occasional miracle like Kapil Dev they haven't been able to translate that into quality bowlers. While Pakistan is obviously not an exemplar of good cricket management they do have a tradition and a national team. If you are a tall fast bowler Pakistani Punjab you have some great role models and a path towards international cricket. His counterpart in Indian Punjab might not have the same path. I think setting up a pace academy in Punjab would be an interesting idea.

[Faisal1985]

PCB has nothing to do with it. I think its due to the difference in street cricket that Indian youngsters play and what Pakistanis play. I don't think in India there is a concept of tapeball bowling a lot of my Indian mates played with a rubber ball with more bounce instead of tapeball which bounces less but its lighter so kids try to bowl fast yorkers as much as possible.

Obviously that is not the only reason of good fast bowlers coming out of Pak but it has a lot to do with it. Moreover, after Imran and 2 Ws bowling had become a big focus of youngsters who wanted to play cricket.

In India kids may imitate Sachin, Ganguly, Gavaskar etc. In Pak they try to become like Imran, Akram, Waqar, Akhtar etc. its a mental thing too.

[Blaze 18]

Originally Posted by Faisal1985

PCB has nothing to do with it. I think its due to the difference in street cricket that Indian youngsters play and what Pakistanis play. I don't think in India there is a concept of tapeball bowling a lot of my Indian mates played with a rubber ball with more bounce instead of tapeball which bounces less but its lighter so kids try to bowl fast yorkers as much as possible.

Obviously that is not the only reason of good fast bowlers coming out of Pak but it has a lot to do with it. Moreover, after Imran and 2 Ws bowling had become a big focus of youngsters who wanted to play cricket.

In India kids may imitate Sachin, Ganguly, Gavaskar etc. In Pak they try to become like Imran, Akram, Waqar, Akhtar etc. its a mental thing too.

Quality post. One another reason I can think of is the BCCI - they just have no clue about how fast bowlers are supposed to be handled. For one, they don't persist with one long enough to see how good or bad he is; for another, they make the bowlers play loads of meaningless matches.

[Eclipse]

There are a lot of factors but one which is over looked is genetics.

By nature they do not produce athletes with fast twice muscle fibers like the West Indies for example. This makes it hard to bowl really fast.

You don't see many sprinters from India for the same reason.

[G.I.Joe]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

There are a lot of factors but one of which is over looked is genetics.

by nature they do not produce athletes with fast twice muscle fibers like Pakistan or the West Indies which makes it hard to bowl fast.

You don't see many spinters from India for the same reason.

What about badminton players?

[Blaze 18]

Genetics cannot be it because the majority of Pakistanis are of the same race as a lot of Indians - anyone with a basic idea of India-Pakistan history should know that.

[Eclipse]

Originally Posted by G.I.Joe

What about badminton players?

huh?

It's not a sport that requires explosive power. Quick reflexes are more important

[G.I.Joe]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

huh?

It's not a sport that requires explosive power. Quick reflexes are more important

How is sprinting any different to constantly needing to propel your body all over the court? You're using pretty much the same fast twitch muscles to do so.

[Black_Warrior]

Pakistani management, coaching, infrastructure has absolutely nothing to do with Pakistan producing fast bowlers.

The first genuine fast bowler Pakistan produced was Imran Khan who modeled himself after the great Denis Lillee. Imran then inspired a generation of youngsters in Pakistan to be fast bowlers.

Just like the great Indian batsmen of the 70s and 80s inspired a generation of batsmen in the 90s and Tendulkar continues to inspire millions.


Secondly, no its not just genetics but a question of body type, diet, eatings habits etc.

I remember Javagal Srinath was once talking to Wasim Akram and he told Akram he never ate meat as it was barred in his religion. Akram told him just how much meat he and Waqar devoured to gain strength.

Another factor is what Imran said about the Northwest of India and the lack of cricketing tradition there.

[thierry henry]

Woot, my two favourite subjects, height and speed.

Despite the talk about Pakistanis being better "built" for fast bowling, a lot of them are really very small for fast bowlers. Akhtar is 5'11", for example, and there are a number of others of similar stature- I don't think Riaz or Ahmed are much taller, and Umar Gul looks tall by comparison but is really only 6'1"- 6'2", and about 3 foot of that is his head.

Mark Richardson was interviewing Waqar Younis the other day and I was a little taken aback that they are basically the same height, so about 5'10"ish. I know he isn't a fast bowler, but Shahid Afridi is nevertheless built like an archetypal strong Pakistani cricketer, yet he is clearly shorter than Ross Taylor, so again, no more than 5'11". I daresay Rana Naved and Razzaq are similar and Sami a bit shorter.

It's funny because in the last 20 years I can only think of Danny Morrison and Andre Adams as NZ pacers of similar stature, yet Pakistan have a production line of blokes who can nudge up to 140kph or higher. I know height is useful, but are NZ missing a trick somewhere with the relentless 6'3" and over 130kph bowlers? You can't really say Pakistanis are built for pace bowling in the conventional sense as by international standards a lot of their quicks are tiny.

[Burgey]

Vegetarianism tbh.