While every country is producing legendary bowlers Indian team has been struggling to form a decent bowling line up in the last 25 years. One reason why India is not producing good bowlers is that children aspiring to break into the national team do not have role models among bowlers to look up to. True Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble have more than 1000 Test Wickets between them yet they were unable to inspire youngsters to take up bowling seriously.
The blame for India not being able to produce truly great bowlers like Wasim Akram or Shane Warne is the due to the fact that two great batsmen have dominated cricketing world in the last 38 years. Sunil Gavaskar started his cricketing career on 6th March 1971 and attained instant super stardom and was Indias greatest sporting icon till he retired on 5th Nov 1987. Sachin Tendulkar made his debut on 15th November 1989 and has dominated world cricket till date. The Indian maestros dominated the game for 38 years in their own ways. While Sunil Gavaskar grinded the opposition to submission a role now played like Rahul Dravid to perfection, Sachin Tendulkar decimated the opposition.
During Sunil Gavaskars time there was Kapil Dev who was among the best bowlers in the world in terms of sheer quality and variations. Kapil Dev though being a legend was not inspiring enough to a youngster as his forte was getting wickets through variations and keeping one tight as he lacked support at the other end. India lacked a inspirational bowlers like Imran Khan who could rip through a batting line up which Kapil Dev was not capable of. One of the reason why Pakistan has produced legends like Wasim Akram and Waqar Youinis is that they were inspired by Imran Khans devastating bowling spells. India had a genuine fast bowler in Chetan Sharma who made even the West Indian greats like Greedidge, Lloyd and Richards hop around with his pace and he would have been a perfect role model for children aspire to break into the national teams as bowlers , but inspite of doing exceptionally well he lasted just 5 years in international cricket. Had he lasted longer in international cricket, many young children in India would have taken fast bowling seriously.
In Anil Kumble India had one of the most consistent bowlers ever. Anil Kumble got lot of wickets in international cricket but he was not a great turner like Shane Warne to inspire a youngster as Anil Kumble was more a bowler who was known for his hard effort determination and tremendous commitment towards the team. In an era when bowling speeds were getting recorded Javagal Srinath was one of the fastest bowlers in the world during his time and could have been a perfect role model for youngsters but while Srinath bowled consistently fast he was more of a bowler who used to get a batsman out through a tight line and length rather than getting a batsman out through intimidatory bowling like Allan Donald. Glen Mc Grath even though was nowhere as fast as Srinath was more intimidating than Srinath and used to get batsman out through intimidatory bowling. Youngsters could have got inspired to take up bowling had Srinath got his wickets by bouncing out batsman and at the end of his career Srinaths bowling average of 30 plus was on the higher side going by international bowling standards.
It looks unlikely that even in the next five to ten years we are going to see any great bowlers playing for India, as India is produced batting greats at regular basis. If Sunil Gavaskar has managed to inspire millions to become batsmen of which Sachin is one of them and went to become a great player, then Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni the future of Indian cricket were inspired by Sachin. In the near future the next great player from Indian team would be a batsman inspired by the likes of Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh
What India now needs is a genuine fast bowler who can rip through a opposition or a great turner like Shane Warne.
Regards
Satish