Venky Prasad on India's fast bowling woes

India's depleted pace bowling cupboard can be explained by a lack of discipline and drive among some of those in the attack, Venkatesh Prasad, the former India bowling coach, has said. The last decade has seen more than a few bowlers fading after a good series or two but that, he said, was because of their attitude and not merely failings in their bowling.

"It's about their attitude, it's about their commitment", Prasad told ESPNcricinfo. "Bowlers need discipline to get up every single day in the morning, hit the gym and bowl long spells. I have not seen many bowlers bowling one-two hours. You can't bowl 20 minutes in the nets and then bowl 20 overs in matches."

Prasad coached the Indian bowlers from May 2007 to October 2009 and is now bowling coach for the Chennai Super Kings. During his India stint, he said, he found the bowlers' work load in the nets to be inadequate. "I was very disappointed with the amount of bowling that was going in nets. And with the amount of training: they weren't training hard, the bowlers weren't pushing themselves."

Bowlers - he did not name any - could not be pushed to put in more than 20 minutes in the India nets, and he said that, as a member of the support staff, he could not be after them every day. "I can't keep saying, 'Come on XYZ, whoever they may be, bowl for one hour." He said he did so on many occasions but it wasn't always appreciated. "It's a thin line. There were lots of players who, when you told them something, didn't like it. The player needs to be honest.

"Things can't change until and unless the players are honest to their team, the coach and, most importantly, to themselves.

Henry wrote:But Zaheer is India's one decent quick, and he's injury prone. Not surprised he doesn't go full throttle in the nets.

I think one of India's main problems is that they play more cricket than any other nation, and the fast bowlers can't handle it. It leads to them cutting back on pace and therefore, effectiveness.

Zaheer should perhaps give up T20 cricket, and Ishant and Sreesanth's workloads need to be carefully monitored.