The slower ball India has told Mayank Yadav to forget

Gautam Gambhir has handed Mayank Yadav the shortest coaching manual in the game: bowl fast and leave the rest alone. The occasion was a handful of slower balls that West Indies' batters sat on in Lucknow, one for 40 from four overs in the series opener, and the proof of the manual was three for 36 from three overs in Ranchi, where the quick went back to running in and letting it go.

It is a tidy story, the sort a dressing room tells itself after a bad night, and it has one problem. Across every T20 he has bowled in the last two years, IPL and internationals together, Mayank has paid 35.14 runs for each wicket, against 26.64 over his whole career. The expense was there well before the slower ball was.

The IPL season the mantra skips past

The case for raw pace rests on two good nights against Zimbabwe in July and now one in Ranchi. Lined up against them is this year's IPL for Lucknow Super Giants, where he bowled out his four overs in four matches and did not take a wicket in any of them, the sort of run that makes a franchise start looking at its bench. Every wicket in his last ten matches came in an India shirt, against Zimbabwe and West Indies, and none came against IPL batting.

What a side forty runs clear can afford

India can run this experiment because they can run almost anything. Our ratings have them top of the men's T20 list, 39.52 runs a match better than an average side. Even after losing in Ranchi, our forecast still gives them a 67% chance in Indore on Sunday. A team that strong can hand a young quick one delivery, tell him to live on it, and absorb the evenings it goes for 50.

Whether it should is a different matter. Ranchi was three overs, and the Zimbabwe nights were against Zimbabwe; the Lucknow evenings were four overs against IPL batting, and no mantra has yet explained them. Gambhir has diagnosed one delivery when the record shows a bowler who has been expensive at full pace for two seasons. Keep it simple is sound advice; keep it fast, on its own, is a plan for the Zimbabwes of the schedule and a bill waiting to come in against everyone else. The shortest coaching manual in the game needs a second page.