This World Cup has seen the return of the specialist bowlers, and a break from dibbly-dobbly all-rounders

Shahid Afridi reacts during Pakistan's World Cup match against Zimbabwe at the Gabba in Brisbane. ReutersThey have been the quintessential glamour boys of modern cricket. They can chip in with the bat, fill in and bowl a few overs, giving a cushion to captains scribbling down their playing elevens. The all-rounder, the player who can win the World Cup on his own.Or so it was believed. This has been the World Cup of the specialist.Teams relying on the dibbly-dobbly have either fallen by the wayside or looked vulnerable going into the business end of the tournament. The only sides standing tall like Auckland's amazing Sky Tower are those that have bowlers who can send down the whole quota of 10 overs, and also run through sides. Teams such as New Zealand and India have gone back to the specialists and are doing just about fine while pre-tournament favourites South Africa and Australia have shown chinks in their armour due to run-leaking fifth-bowler combinations.Sample the top bowling bracket in the cup. For every wicket against their name, the specialist bowlers have been successful almost every 20 deliveries and conceded less than 15 runs. It's a result of not just their own bowling skills but pressure and suffocation inflicted on batsmen from the other end. Over after over, no breathing space or easy runs. M.S. Dhoni and Brendon McCullum have been playing to almost similar scripts as their five specialist bowlers, bowling with aggression and wicket-taking hunger, have ensured they pedal ahead by bowling out the opposition.India's Ravindra Jadeja (left) and South Africa's JP Duminy"This has been a testing World Cup," says former India captain Sourav Ganguly. "The bowling resources have been tested and any team that takes the foot off the pedal for those 10-15 overs is staring at a big mountain. Either the so-called all-rounder has the bowling prowess of a Jacques Kallis or he is no good. You need runs on the board to win matches but you need bowlers to sustain pressure for 50 overs to win the World Cup."Kallis has long retired and, unable to fill that gaping hole, South Africa are the perfect case study to further the point. Struggling with a weak fifthbowler, they have already stumbled to India and Pakistan and even their mercurial skipper, A.B. de Villiers, has said he alone cannot win the Proteas their first World Cup title. "This is a complete paradox. Do captains worry about the lack of batting depth and play an extra batsman who can bowl a bit, or do they gamble and play a specialist bowler? Not an easy choice but I sense the depth in your bowling will win you the World Cup," Shaun Pollock, one of South Africa's greats and an all-rounder himself, tells india today. It isn't going to be easy chasing 300-plus totals every time, so best is to curtail others from posting that on the board. And for that you need five good bowlers, he emphasises.South Africa arrived for the tournament as a top side with a menacing bowling attack but if de Villiers has to bowl himself or J.P. Duminy to get through the 50 overs, the team is leaving the door open for rivals to exploit their weakness. The chasm has been as wide as the Tasman Sea: if South Africa's four main bowlers have been averaging in the early 20s for every wicket, the fifth-bowler combination averages in the mid-80s.Australia's stats are better but only just, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are aware of the breach and will look at ways to fill it. Many feel the death of the part-time bowler was inevitable once the rule of four fielders outside the circle came into play. Batsmen are no longer content with just milking the part-timer; they now map the field positions and go big. And with different balls being used from either end, the ball remains hard and travels further when big shots are hit. "The best way to stop the runs is to pick wickets," says former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming. "New Zealand have been served well as Brendon McCullum can throw the ball to any one of his five bowlers and attack the batsman. Attack is the new defence."India have been on the right track too. They had decided before the tournament began that the only way of giving their free-flowing batsmen the right platform was to plaster their weak link-the bowling. And the formula of five specialist bowlers has worked wonders for the team. They did bring in Stuart Binny as an all-rounder but he was more an option forced upon Dhoni by the selectors. Binny has not been required so far largely because in wanting to play two spinners, Dhoni doesn't trust him with the full quota of 10 overs as the third seamer.How times have changed since the days of his father, now national selector Roger Binny, who was one of the star all-rounders in Kapil Dev's 1983 World Cup-winning team!Ask Ganguly if the Indian wheels are spinning in the right direction, and he is quick to point at Ravindra Jadeja: "He will be classified as a bowling all-rounder but aside from bowling his 10 overs and picking up wickets, he has to see out the Indian innings at number 7. Dhoni seems worried about him-both bowling and batting-and if he doesn't up his intensity soon, Axar Patel is breathing down his neck."The pressure will only increase when the knockout games begin next week and the mindset, experience and temperament of captains will be truly tested. India, New Zealand and Australia have looked the best bets so far but one bad day could end the dream for any of them. And no captain will escape the blame if the trigger gets pulled by his own man, least of all by someone who can bat a bit and bowl a bit.Follow the writer on Twitter @vikrantgupta73To read more, get your copy of India Today here.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Mar 12, 2015 21:18 IST--- ENDS ---

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This World Cup has seen the return of the specialist bowlers, and a break from dibbly-dobbly all-rounders

This World Cup has seen the return of the specialist bowlers, and a break from dibbly-dobbly all-rounders, as India and New Zealand have shown with their winning spree.

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