Mumbai: Indian bowlers lack skill, discipline and Ishant Sharma (India's hero in the recent win against Sri Lanka) has certainly lost the plot, says former Aussie speedster Jeff Thomson, and even his polite greeting ‘kaise ho’ can’t soften his clinical assessment of this country’s pace attack. The 65-year-old may not have the strength now to pitch a ball at 160 km/hour, but he certainly doesn’t mince words.
In the city to train youngsters, Thomson, who was feared by world class batsmen in his prime, even wonders when Indian pacers will be able to pitch the ball in the right areas. “That is what I noticed when India played Australia last summer. The bowlers didn’t bowl well, their concentration dropped and we beat you easily,” Thomson summed up the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15 which India lost 0-2.
Thomson has been roped in by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to mentor and coach young bowlers at the MCA-IDBI Federal Life Insurance Bowling Foundation. He also recalled the first time he spotted Team India's lanky fast bowler. “Ishant looked injured on the Australian tour. He has good skills. He needs a rocket, you know what I mean,” said Thomson, who claimed 200 wickets in 51 Tests said.
Thomson, who was one of the fastest bowlers ever to have played Test cricket with an aggressive approach during his playing days, is of the opinion that modern fast bowlers’ attitude hasn’t changed after Phillip Hughes’ demise.
“I don’t think bowlers have mellowed. The Hughes incident was just bad luck. Guys get hit in the head because of bad techniques. They take more risks, they play silly shots and invent some of them when they don’t get runs, most of the time they get their head in the way. If you miss the ball, make sure you don’t get your head in the way, but if the ball does hit your head, then that’s just bad luck,” Thomson explained.
On hindsight, however, as opposed to many veterans criticising a fast bowler’s aggressive approach, Thomson begged to differ. “Well if he is a fast bowler, then he has to be aggressive. You can’t be a nice guy and think how well a shot was hit by the batsman and start clapping,” he remarked.
“You’ve got to be aggressive to get the batman out, you want to be number one and you want to be in the national side. You have to be better than the player sitting next to you. These are all the things I did in my life and even Dennis Lillee did. You have to have the desire, if you don’t then you’re wasting your time,” Thomson was crisp and clear.
Former Australia pace legend Jeff Thomson engages in a conversation with former India captain and Vice-President of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Dilip Vengsarkar. (Photos: PTI)
The veteran, also known as ‘Thommo’, expressed his disappointment at the way players are being coached. “I am just annoyed at the way cricket is being coached a lot lately. There has been a lot of false coaching going around when there is a lot of money backed at players. I don’t want to mention names but I can mention a lot of names in that category. I like to think that I’ve got a lot to pass on.
“I sat with Richie Benaud umpteen times in my life commentating and Richie said to me that the two quickest bowlers he had ever seen was Frank Tyson and myself, which was quite ironical as both of us ended up leaking runs. Richie always said to me, ‘Thommo, why don’t they coach people to bowl like you?’ I’m not here to coach people to bowl like me but if I see a kid that is like me I will help him to a great deal. I am just going to pass on knowledge,” he added.
Thomson, who has coached former pace veterans like Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath, Lance Klusener, Chaminda Vaas, Makhaya Ntini, is pumped up for the job but at the same time asserted that the kids need to be skilful to excel.
“If you got the skill you can play in any format but if you don’t have the control, how the hell are you going to bowl the way you want to? If you can’t put five or six balls where you want in an over, guys are going to score runs and you’re in trouble. There should be quality in what you do.
“I like kids to learn something from here and hopefully go on to play for India, that’s the goal. If the kids have got it, I’ll bring it out of them. I like challenges, don’t say you can’t do anything because I’ll turn around and do it,” Thomson added.
