How many times have we heard discussions and debates surrounding India's fast bowling and it being pedestrian? Innumerable times, right? Most such debates also end up blaming the so-called 'pace bowlers' the root cause of most, if not all, problems in Indian cricket. The popular criticism includes pacers not taking wickets when the ball is new (now there are two new balls these days), the fact that they can't contain in the middle overs and finally leak buckets in the death overs.


India off-spinner R Ashwin during the second ODI against NZ in Hamilton last month. Pic/AFP 

What if I were to tell you that it isn't the first 15 or the last 10 overs that are hurting India the most, but the overs between the 15th and the 40th that wreak havoc. It is this period between the 15th-40th overs when we are allowing the game to quietly drift away, which in turn sets up the stage for an onslaught in the last 10.