Pace revolution in spinners' den

It is a little surreal that a country that has little or no history of encouraging pace bowlers now captures the imaginations of cricket fans the world over with exciting pace bowling. It is a country where pace bowlers inhabit teams in the domestic competitions apparently only to make up the number because their role is limited to taking the shine off the new ball for the slow bowlers to take charge, most pace bowlers have to beg for a team in domestic cricket. It is a country where the word bowling was not too long ago synonymous with left-arm spin.

Against this backdrop, Bangladesh's selectors have shown great faith in their quicker bowlers as they have included five pacers in the squad for the ICC World Twenty20 and Asia Cup T20 competitions. The Bangladesh team management have shown courage to play with a four-pronged pace attack in the ongoing Asia Cup. Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman and captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza have received accolades from laymen and cricket pundits alike. There may not be an express fast bowler -- Taskin tops out at around 145 kph -- but the attack has the versatility and variation to trouble the best.

A leading pacer in the country in the 1990s, Golam Nowsher Prince follows Bangladesh cricket from thousands of miles away and is immensely proud of the rise of pace bowling in his country. “I can assure you, any avid lover of the game would love to watch the exciting pace bowling of this Bangladesh team. Without any doubt we have a better pace attack than any Asian attack so why not utilise that advantage. I have always dreamt of such pace bowling throughout my career, but one thing I can tell you is that I was not as good as them,” said an excited left-arm pace bowler. “They look like they read the game better than any other fast bowler in our sub-continent. Especially Mustafizur, he looks so mature,” he continued.

Was it an easy decision to change the age-old concept? Maybe it was Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha who started the process of change when he preferred pace-friendly wickets in the home series against India in June 2014. 

It was then new skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza who argued that only a good pace attack can bring more success and respect from the opponents, and that an attacking brand of cricket required at least three specialist pace bowlers in the team. 

What Bangladesh did in the World Cup in Australia-New Zealand under the leadership of Mashrafe is now history. The success owed a huge debt to their pace-bowling prowess on conducive wickets.  Memories of that World Cup cannot be related without mention of Rubel Hossain, who claimed four wickets to shoot England out of the tournament. Later on, the mysterious cutters and slower balls from Mustafizur compelled world cricket to pay serious attention to pace of the Bangladeshi variety.

“Bangladesh has never seen such a good pace attack before. I want to give credit to our coach [Chandika Hathurusingha] and captain [Mashrafe Bin Mortaza] for their proactiveness in bringing a change in the planning. The promise Mashrafee's arrival on the scene held for pace bowling is now being fulfilled through his captaincy,” said chief selector Faruque Ahmed.     

“In my opinion it all began when we started to think that we have to consider opponents and conditions before picking the team. You cannot succeed with typical thinking,” he continued.

A new era has begun but will we be able to make it a tradition? “A big opportunity has come our way as young bowlers now love to see pace bowlers as role models. We all know how Imran Khan and Wasim Akram has a big impact on Pakistani pace bowling. You cannot expect that you will always get gifted bowlers; only the system can aid you in the long run,” he opined.

So it is up to the powers that be to ensure that the current pace wealth is not a comet but a constant star.