Veterans are back, but India return far away

Among the headline grabbers this IPL season are two veteran Indian left-arm fast bowlers. Ashish Nehra has had a bountiful time for Chennai while Zaheer Khan made a belated, but hugely successful return playing for Delhi in his first match of the tournament on Friday.

Nehra has been consistent and incisive; captain M.S. Dhoni’s 'go to’ bowler, not just at the start and in the death but whenever a crisis looms. He has been able to work up decent pace, has late swing and most importantly varied his length to hold the best batsmen on a leach.

Zaheer’s spell against Punjab on Friday was a harkback to his best years. The late swing, the subtle variations in line, the deception in pace which made him a maestro were all in evidence in four overs he bowled. While Coulter-Nile picked up four wickets, it was Zaheer’s two that had Punjab reeling.

When the IPL season began, though, they were not quite on the radar of critics or fans. Indeed, the greater attention among Indian veterans was on Yuvraj Singh (who was sold for a record '16 crore), Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir — all batsmen or all-rounders.

As it’s happened, this bunch has done little of note, while Nehra and Zaheer have surprised everybody. Now, suddenly, there is talk of them catching the eye of the national selectors for a comeback into one or the other format. But while their effort and success in the IPL is laudable, getting into the national side may be a trifle far-fetched in my opinion.

Essentially, bowling just four overs a match is not adequate evidence that their bodies will hold up in the 50-over or five-day formats. The demands on stamina are far greater, and particularly so in Test cricket where fast bowlers are often asked to bowl 18-20 overs in the day, albeit in short spells.

Moreover, the issue is not just of fitness. The T20 format is also highly deceptive about how a bowler will fare in the longer formats. Since batsmen are compelled to take more risks, bowlers can either get easy pickings, or even the best can get clobbered. Dale Steyn, who has had a rough time this season is a case in point. He is by common consensus the best fast bowler in the world, but has even lost his place in the Hyderabad side.

The pattern and tenor of the T20 format makes it difficult to extrapolate a bowler’s performance for the other formats. This is borne out by the fact that while batsmen and all-rounders who made an impact in T20 (David Warner, Ravindra Jadeja for example) have gone on to establish themselves in the longer formats, this has not quite been the case with bowlers.

This is not to undermine the performances of Nehra and Zaheer in the IPL, nor indeed to hold just their age against them; rather to highlight that the route back into the Indian team has to be from playing successfully in domestic cricket.

Neither has played enough domestic cricket the last two seasons and a real assessment of their form and fitness has not been possible. The IPL, while a great platform for youngsters to express their talent, is not quite as helpful for older players to re-establish themselves.

For that, they will have to target the domestic tournaments to show they are still up to it. Of course, that does not mean there is not enough reason for us to enjoy their skills in the IPL.