Indian cricket is blessed to have a lot of quality batters, who took the world by storm. But the same cannot be said about Indian bowlers. The country having a population of a billion people have managed to see only a few good bowlers. In contrast to our neighbour and arch rivals Pakistan, India has managed to produce only a handful of good bowlers like Zaheer, Nehra, Srinath, Irfan,Shami, Bumrah. Some of these had good pace, while some of these had great accuracy. Indian lacked a bowler who had both of it together. That's exactly when Mayank Yadav got going in this IPL, showing the world that he has got both, speed as well as discipline. And just when he was said to be a great prospect, the same old injury concern for Indian bowlers came up.

Everyone who was excited to see him play in the match against Gujarat Titans, were left a little worried to see him in pain as he left the ground mid way. Initially thinking it to be just a side strain, not much was spoken about it. But later when one got to know about his injury and abdominal soreness and the possibility of him missing few matches, everyone was left concerned. With him and Mohsin both injured, woes just added up to Lucknow Super Giants squad. But more importantly the injury of Mayank gets us back to the older question of, if at all India finds good bowling talent, then are we failing to nurture them? And if yes, what are the possible reasons for it, and what is the solution?

It's a well-known fact that India has failed to live up to the expectations of world cricket when it comes to pace bowling. Not able to scout the right talents has has led us to have a significantly less talent pool of world class bowlers. Its not possible for a nation of a billion people to have just one Bumrah and one Zaheer. The result of which, the only good available good options for us have to play in every single match for the good of the team. When a bowler plays every now and then without a rest, its a high possibility that the bowler will either lose his pace, or his swing due to the constant restless days. And if a bowler still somehow manages to overcome these, the constant bowling for long days eventually leads to injuries.

And that's exactly what is happening with Indian bowlers. Barring Kapil Dev, there is not a single India bowler who wasn't injured in his career. The likes of Zaheer, Nehra, Irfan were at the receiving end of this. The earlier generation of bowlers were able to remain fit due to the lesser number of matches being played. But today, with extensive cricket happening, one hardly gets time to rejuvenate and breath a sigh of relief. A result of which one sees chronic injuries happening to Mohammad Shami, who's the best bowler for Indian in ICC tournaments. The same heavy dependency on Bumrah, fuelled by lack of rest and rehab saw him get badly injured. The consequence of injury was that the best bowler in the world had to be out of action for year and a half.

Number of matches played by the team at international level has already increased exponentially. And what further snatches away the opportunity to rest from these players is the Indian Premier League, which happens straight for 2 months. The cash rich league attracts a lot of money and spectators, but it also attracts a lot of injuries. Tremendous amount of cricket played leads to the result which no one wants. The franchise wants their best bowlers to play for all the 14 matches, and the knockouts if they get selected. It happens even when ICC tournaments lie ahead of the league. The intervention of BCCI in this league, giving clear instructions to franchise to limit playing matches for bowlers could aid the bowlers and prevent the injuries to a greater extent. However, the board fails to do so.

And the solution exactly lies there. Workload management is the key for longevity of the bowlers. The best example of it is England team, which rotates the bowlers constantly. They know the importance of James Anderson, yet they don't make him play all the matches which result in almost zero injuries. The longevity of James Anderson who still plays at the age of 41 and has 700 test wickets to name, is due to the same reason of properly managed workload. He plays alternate matches, and delivers because of the rest he gets. And the same is missing in Asian countries. Constantly asking Bumrah and Shami to play every match and bowl with same pace, is a direct invitation to evident injuries. The same also happened with Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah for Pakistan when they were asked to bowl in spite of discomfort they faced, which eventually left them injured.

And now unfortunately it is happening with Mayank Yadav. The only speedster India has found, who possesses great pace and accuracy is now injured. Its sad as well as frustrating to see a 21 year old getting injured on the 2nd occasion after he started to play first class cricket. And he is not to be blamed for it. It is the inability of board and management to not nurture him properly. If the board seriously cares about the young talents, they should work on all the above factors. First of all if they scout more talents, it increases the talent pool. Increased talent pool will allow them to swiftly rotate bowlers and thoroughly manage workload of the players without affecting the efficiency of the team. And only if all these continue to happen, India will produce and groom injury free bowling talents which will rule the world. Let's hope it happens soon.