Sometimes we look so far and wide for solutions that we forget that there is a an answer in our own backyard. While this is true of many countries, it is almost a tradition in India. When we need the domestic structure revamped we hire Geoff Marsh at a cost of Rupees 26 lakhs. He makes three trips to India, collects his fees and nothing changes. We need to have an off-spinner's action sorted out and the land that produced Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan sends him all the way to England to have a chat with Fred Titmus. And now, we need to sort out our mediumpacers.

The MRF Pace Foundation has always opened its doors to upcoming fast bowlers. It has been the training ground for players from all over the world. It is perhaps a little known fact that only the West Indies have not sent their pacemen to the MRF Pace Foundation. Then again, which man from the Caribbean would put aside the fast bowling legacy of years and come to India of all places to learn his trade? Leave the Windies out and you have at least one example from every Test playing country.

At the moment, cricketers frequenting the pace foundation are limited to local hopefuls, National Cricket Academy trainees and visitors from abroad. One trainee last year told CricInfo that he considered Dennis Lillee the 'God of fast bowling.' While that might be carrying things too far, there is certainly more than a bit of foundation in that. To coach someone at the lowest level, requires a certain skill, a focus on the basics and on cultivating the right habits. That however, is not what a coach needs to look at when attempting to assist Test cricketers.

Often it is deft fine tuning that a Test cricketer needs to make the difference between a good cricketer performing in average fashion and the same cricketer playing to full potential. And it is for this reason that Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Harvinder Singh, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra (when fit) must make it a point to spend a week with Lillee.

The former Australian great will be in Chennai from September 14 onwards and the Board of Control for Cricket in India should make it compulsory for the Indian quicks to be in attendance. In an ideal situation, the Board would not have to come into the picture at all and cricketers would find their way to the MRF Pace Foundation on their own. Then again, which Indian cricketer demonstrates that kind of maturity? Perhaps our stars feel that they have already learnt everything they need to know about fast bowling. Recent results however, tell a different tale.

Recent India discard Ajit Agarkar once came to the MRF Pace Foundation, spent a day there, decided he had enough and left. Even now, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka understands the value of sending their wards to the MRF Pace Foundation. Only recently they requested permission to send two trainees along with former mediumpacer Pramodya Wickramasinghe to the MRF Pace Foundation to sharpen their skills. A small country like Sri Lanka is showing so much foresight and yet India fall short of the mark.

If there is anything to take heart from, it is the fact that Zaheer Khan is following up his Sri Lanka tour with a two week stint in Chennai. Then again the Baroda left-arm seamer is an MRF product. The fact that he keeps coming back suggest that he understands the value of the place. Then again, it might just be the fact that Zaheer Khan has the work ethic in him.

© CricInfo