At Kingsmead in 2007, watching the Indian team prepare for the second Test after a miraculous win at Wanderers, it seemed like an odd time for Dilip Vengsarkar to bring up a young fast bowler from Delhi.

“You haven’t seen his action?” the then-chairman of selectors asked a section of the media from Mumbai. “I’ve followed his performance,” someone replied. Dilip waved him away, implying that it wasn’t the same thing. Then he repeated his words, this time not as a question: “You haven’t seen his action.”

A few months later, we knew what he had meant.

When Ishant Sharma charges in — tall, strapping, head still, ball held loosely in his fingers — there is a moment when it seems his flawless run-up will unravel. But he shifts his weight forward, still perfectly balanced as his right arm goes up high to smoothly release the ball.

His waist doesn’t seem to have a mind of its own like Ashish Nehra’s, his back isn’t cocked forward like Irfan Pathan’s; there is no hint of stiffness like Zaheer Khan, and no extra fluidity like Sreesanth.

Over the last two seasons, Ishant was the brightest trophy in an Indian bowling cupboard full of shining silverware — if Zaheer was the wily senior partner at the peak of his powers, R.P. Singh had disconcerting bounce, Munaf Patel accuracy, Irfan Pathan swing, and Sreesanth a certain X-factor. But somewhere in the last few months, the treasure chest has started to lose its glitter.

Effective swing bowlers are springing up in every part of the country (from Kamran Khan to Anureet Singh during the IPL) but there is a growing sense that India’s frontline international seamers are now appearing jaded and predictable.

... contd.