The Current Indian Team boasts of a formidable pace attack that is capable of picking up wickets all around the world. The current crop of fast bowling unit has pace, aggression as well as artistry that makes them one of the quality units going around.
The Paradigm shift has been evident but it has not been so traditionally. The Indian Cricket Team has produced some really world class spinners over the years but when it comes to producing a quality fast bowler there have not been many such instances when Indian Cricket Team has ticked the right boxes. There have been a few instances when a bowler burst on to the international arena but fizzled out more often than not before reaching their full potential.
We can blame the quality of domestic pitches as well as the rehabilitation infrastructure for the dearth of “fast” bowlers in the country. Also, the injury concerns to the bowlers due to the inefficient workload management has often costed India many yards of pace if compared to other international pacers.
Fast and Furious. Generally, these are not the terms that we associate with the Indian Pacers often. But there have been one off instances of Indian paces hitting the red mark in the Speedometer.
Today we will be discussing the list of Top 5 Indian Pacers who clocked the quickest deliveries for India.
•Navdeep Saini: IPL has truly been a revelation in Indian cricket when it comes to spotting the right talent and Navdeep Saini genuinely features in that list. The tall and lanky fast bowler from Karnataka has consistently hit the 150 speedmark whenever he got his chance in International cricket or in the IPL. Saini bowled his quickest delivery till date in IPl 2019 when he hit 152.85 kph in the speed-gun. The Karnal Express held the record of bowling the 5 quickest balls by an Indian bowler in IPL history for a long time before it was breached by our next entrant.
•Umran Malik: This name might come as a shocker but the young Jammu and Kashmir pacer has already made it to the list of top 5 fastest bowlers in the country. Having a bowling action similar to Waqar Younis, Umran Malik donned the jersey of Sunrisers Hyderabad and bowled the quickest ball of IPL 2021 by an Indian pacer clocking 152.96 kph. Malik also holds the unique record of bowling 5 consecutive balls clocking above 150 kph in an over. His raw pace has made him into the retention list of SRH for IPL 2022.
•Mohammad Shami:
Mohammad Shami has been one of the vital cogs of the Indian Pace battery in recent times. His ability to swing the ball into the batsmen at a lethal pace has made him one of the hottest properties of Indian cricket. The Speedster from Bengal bowls at his lethal best when he balls with the Red Ball and it was in a Test match against Australia at the MCG in 2014 where Shami clocked a whopping 153.20 kph. Shami went on to scalp six wickets in that test that ended in a draw.
•Jasprit Bumrah:
The emregence of Jasprit Bumrah has been one of the biggest bonuses of Indian cricket in terms of pace bowling concerned. Bumrah known for his prowess of bowling accurate line and lengths consistently at a genuine pace ranks him as one of the highest rated pacers in World Cricket. However not many would know that Jasprit Bumrah holds the record of bowling the second fastest delivery bowled by an Indian pacer. Bumrah clocked 153.26 kph in a test match against Australia at the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 2018. Bumrah was exceptional at that series India won as he ended up scalping 21 wickets in that entire series.
•Javagal Srinath:
After the Great Kapil Dev and before the emergence of Zaheer Khan, India's sole answer to all the thunderbolts on the cricket pitch was Javagal Srinath. Infact, Srinath was India's pace bowling spearhead for a decade, a rare feat considering the longevity of the bowlers. Srinath remains the only Indian pacer till date to scalp 300 ODI wickets. The Mysore Express as he was popularly known as bowled the fastest delivery ever bowled by an Indian pacer in an ODI match against South Africa in 1996/97 when India toured there. Srinath clocked a 157 kph delivery in that match which showed a whopping 98 mph in the speedgun. This remains the fastest ball bowled by an Indian pacer till date.
Other notable mentions are:
•Ishant Sharma:
152.6 kph vs Australia in CB Series 2008.
•Umesh Yadav:
152.5 kph vs Srilanka in Brisbane 2012.
•Varun Aaron:
152.5 kph vs Srilanka in 2014.
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