India made its test debut on 25th June 1932 against England. Pace bowling is an important domain of all forms of cricket especially test cricket. Today, the Indian Cricket team has some top quality pace bowlers including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah who have the ability to change the course of the game with top quality pace bowling.
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Trent Boult from New Zealand, Mohammad Aamir from Pakistan, Kagiso Rabada from South Africa, and James Anderson from England are some of the top quality fast bowlers from other countries in modern day cricket.
The fast bowlers challenge the opening batsmen of opposition with their speed and swing. The entire course of the match depends upon first half to one hour of each day’s play. If they pick up early wickets with the new ball, the opponents become defensive or bundled out cheaply.
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Sometimes they need to have the stamina for long spells if the conditions are favouring for batting. With the old ball, the fast bowler needs to learn reverse swing the ball and focus on bowling stump to stump. Known for its spin, The Indian Cricket had some top quality fast bowlers that were successful in Indian conditions and also on foreign soil.
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Here we look at the 5 most successful Indian fast bowlers who left a mark in test cricket:
- Kapil Dev
One of the best all-rounder’s that India had, Kapil Dev made his test debut on October 16th, 1978 against Pakistan. He had played a total of 131 test matches (227 innings) and picked 434 wickets. His best figures in an innings were 9/83, bowling with an economy of just 2.78 runs per over.
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In his long test career, one of the great fast bowlers of Indian Cricket, Kapil Dev took 10 wickets in a match twice and 5 wickets haul in an innings 23 times. Kapil Dev became the second bowler to take 400 wickets in test cricket after Richard Hadlee of New Zealand. He left his mark as a decent batsman lower down the order scoring 5248 runs from 131 matches with the best score of 163. Kapil Dev played his last test match against New Zealand in March 1994 at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
He is ranked 7th among the leading wicket-takers in longer format overall.
The current match referee and one of the good quality fast bowlers in test cricket for India, Javagal Srinath made his test debut against Australia on 29th November 1991. He had the ability to bowl with quick pace and surprise the batsmen with his bouncers.
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He played a total of 67 test matches (92 innings) and picked up 236 wickets. His best figures in an innings were 8/86. Srinath bowled with an economy of just 2.85 runs per over. During his great test career, he took 10 wickets in a match once and 5 wickets in an innings 10 times. He played his last test match West Indies on 30th October 2002.
Retired from test cricket in 2014, Zaheer Khan a left arm pace bowler who troubled top quality batsmen around the world made his test debut for India against Bangladesh on 10th November 2000. During his time, on pacer friendly pitches especially overseas, Zaheer Khan became a dangerous bowler and led India to many famous victories.
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He played a total of 92 test matches (165 innings) and picked a total of 311 wickets. His best figures in an innings during test matches were 7/87. Zaheer Khan bowled at an economy of 3.27 runs per over.
(Pic Source: Reuters)
During his brilliant test career for India, he picked up 10 wickets in a match once and 5 wickets in an innings 11 times. He struggled with injuries in his later part of the career and decided to retire from test cricket on 14th February 2014 against New Zealand. Zaheer Khan also featured in 200 One day internationals and 17 T20I matches for team India.
He is currently second in the list of leading wicket-takers for India with 311 wickets behind Kapil Dev.
Ishant Sharma another top quality young fast bowler for India, still a part of the current Indian test team, who made his test debut against Bangladesh on 25th May 2007.
With the advantage of his tall height, Sharma extracts extra bounce and surprises the batsmen. So far in his test career, Ishant Sharma has picked a total of 238 wickets from 82 test matches (146 innings). His best figures in an innings were 7/74 against England during the 2014 test series at Lords.
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If India needs a third genuine pacer apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma could be an option for the team depending upon the conditions. He bowls with an economy of 3.23 runs per over.
Despite being in the test team for 11 years, Ishant Sharma has taken 10 wickets in a match only once and 5 wickets haul in an innings only 7 times. He is currently the 3rd best pace bowler for India in test matches.
Chetan Sharma, the key person who helped India to win the overseas series against England in 1986. He is another impressive fast bowler for India who made his test debut against Pakistan on 17th October 1984. From his debut, he played a total of 23 test matches (39 innings) and picked a total of 61 wickets.
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His best figures in an innings were 6/58. He was prone to injuries frequently that kept him out of many test matches for the country. In his test career, Chetan Sharma took 10 wickets in a match only once and 5 wickets in an innings 4 times.
He played his last test match for India against West Indies on 3rd May 1989.