Wanted: A helping hand for Pathan

Back at the team hotel, the Indian players were a picture of despair. Harbhajan Singh couldn’t muster a smile, skipper Sourav Ganguly’s face had a huge question mark hanging from his chin. As for coach John Wright the less said the better — his rage was frightening.

But amongst all of this wreckage, 19-year-old Irfan Pathan towers over the rest with his unchanging quality of performances. Picked as the most promising young cricketer of the year at the ICC Osars, Pathan’s contributions go beyond mere statistics.

Rahul Dravid had said that the pressure on the rookies, Pathan and L Balaji, was immense and ideally they should have been playing as the third seamers in the side for two seasons before leading the attack.

The 22-year-old L Balaji has succumbed to the pressure with a growth in spurs in the pelvic region, as team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus called it after announcing that he had been sidelined for two months. Since the start of this year Balaji had bowled 195 overs in one-dayers and 106 overs in Tests.

With Zaheer Khan still searching for his determination and Ashish Nehra threatening another injury to his delicate physique, the entire burden of the team has fallen on the young shoulders of Irfan Pathan. In the 26 games he has bowled this year Pathan has been the leading wicket-taker with 46 wickets having bowled 228 overs — more than what Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag, who bowls regularly in one-dayers, have bowled together.

Add to that another 1212 balls in eight Tests and you’ve had Pathan run in 2589 times in the last 10 months and getting the all important early breakthroughs for his team.

Can India afford this?

There is this unspoken rules in the Indian team: The most valuable contributors is forced to go that extra distance. India’s most reliable batsman Rahul Dravid, the man who should be kept in cotton wool by the team is instead put at immeasurable risk behind the wickets.

With Sachin Tendulkar’s participation in the forthcoming Australian series the most asked question is: Can this team even step on the field to take on Australia if Dravid is lost due to injury?

India’s only strike bowler Irfan Pathan, having bowled more than any other is doubling up as the stock bowler — how else would you explain what a young fast bowler is doing sending down 2500 deliveries in his first season?

With four energy-sapping Tests against Australia, Pathan stands in danger of being overworked and stressed. Without further ado the most important thing right now would be to pick a bunch of bowlers immediately as a contingent plan for the inevitable breakdown of another fast bowler.

The only ray of hope for Pathan and Indian cricket is it is the spinners who will be twisting their wrists more than the pacers have to bend their backs on the sub-continental wickets.