Fast bowling has not particularly been India’s strength, but there have been some great speedsters who have donned the Indian jersey and taken the team to several victories.
The saying ‘bowlers win Test matches’ can be tweaked to ‘pacers win Test matches overseas for India’.
Whenever India had a good fast bowling attack, they did well in overseas conditions, away from the subcontinent.
On the eve of India’s 500th Test, which they will play against New Zealand at Kanpur, The Quint takes a look at India’s top five fast bowlers of all time.
1. Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev is by far the best fast bowler India has ever had. He is one of the few Indian fast bowlers, who is considered one of the greatest in the world.
The Haryana lad, who helped India win a series against England in their own backyard in 1986 and draw a series against Australia in 1981, finished his career with 434 wickets.
It was the highest number of wickets taken by an Indian at that time. At present, the record is held by Anil Kumble, who took 619 wickets in his Test career.
2. Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan became the leader of India’s bowling attack once Javagal Srinath hung up his boots in 2002. But he struggled to perform consistently for his first four years in international cricket.
However, a stint with the Worcestershire County Cricket Club in England, helped Zaheer mature as a bowler and he began leading the attack with consistent performances for India thereafter.
The Mumbai lad helped India win a series against England in 2007 and tormented the Australians with reverse swing in the 2008 series at home.
3. Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath’s Test career spanned through a difficult time for Indian cricket (1991-2002). The team was mostly unsettled with Sachin Tendulkar being the only consistent performer in the batting line-up, until the late 90s at least.
But Srinath still made his mark. The Karnataka lad, who was renowned for his pace, is mostly remembered for his performance against South Africa in the Ahmedabad Test in 1996.
After the Proteas were set a target of 170 runs, Srinath took on the batting line-up and scalped six wickets to help India win by 64 runs.
In the return series, the fast bowler took 18 wickets in three matches.
4. Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma was first recognised in India’s tour of Australia in 2007-08. No cricket fan can forget the spell when Ishant made Ponting dance to the tune of bowling in the Perth Test before getting him out.
The Delhi lad went on to help India win many more Test matches in his career, including the victory in Lord’s in 2014 and the victory against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2015.
Ishant’s 7/74 helped India win their first Test at Lord’s for the first time in 28 years and the fast bowler’s eight-wicket haul helped his team win a series against Sri Lanka in their backyard after 22 years.
5. Karsan Ghavri
Karsan Ghavri picked up over 100 wickets in a short career of 39 Test matches. He had the unique ability to bowl left-arm pace and left-arm spin accurately.
Ghavri is mostly renowned for his performance against Australia Down Under, when he picked up ten wickets in three Tests in the 1981 series. He helped India draw the series 1-1.
Ghavri had recorded his best match figures of 7/120 against West Indies in the Eden Gardens Test in 1976.
(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan)
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