Fast to fastest: Indian cricket's pace bowling revolution

Kaustuvmoni Das

(kdas5349@gmail.com)

India has never been regarded as a breeding ground for great fast bowlers in world cricket, and we must all agree that Indian cricket has always struggled to find genuine fast bowlers, particularly on the test side. For the last decade, Indian cricket has shown substantial improvement in producing world-class fast blowers to outplay world-class batsmen. Adding to the development, the recently concluded Tata Indian Primer League (IPL) has also tapped a highly talented bunch of young uncapped pace blowers like Umran Malik, Mohsin Khan, Yash Dayal, Kuldip Sen, Mukesh Choudhary and others who have all the ability to bang the batsmen with their fearsome pace attack. It is worthwhile to mention here that Indian Cricket has gone through a pace blowing revolution in the last couple of years as the fast-blowing unit has provided some remarkable victories against strong opposition overseas as well as in-home conditions.

First India's test team in 1932, toured England with two pace blowers, namely Amar Singh and Mohammad Nissar, who both were able to trouble English batsmen to some extent, and Nissar had a five-wicket haul. Ironically, in later years, Indian cricket returned to a slower-paced attack and began to rely on a spin-blowing unit led by Bishen Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, and Srinivas Venkatraghavan to win games. Till the arrival of Kapil Dev's "The Haryana Hurricane" in 1978, the Indian team relied on part-time medium-fast blowers like Ajit Wadekar and Sunil Gavaskar. There was also a time when the wicketkeeper, Budhisagar Kundera, opened the bowling as the fast bowler for India.

As the Indian pitches suit spinners, for which at that time, youngsters had always aspired to be world-class spinners. The scene started to change when Kapil Dev was considered among the fastest bowlers in world cricket for his ability to swing the ball at the pace of 140 kmph. Observing the development in the fast-blowing department, more promising cricketers in the late 80 take the fast blowing option to develop their cricketing careers. However, despite medium pacers like Manoj Prabhakar, Madan Lal, and T.A. Sekar, along with Kapil Dev's swing, the Indian team lost many series at home against the West Indies, Pakistan, and England at the time. For which, Indian selectors were in search of a potent partner to pair with Kapil Dev.

It was in 1992 when Indian cricket found Karnataka seamer Javagal Srinath to support Kapil Dev. Srinath was selected for the Australia tour, where he displayed an excellent temperament with his pace attack, with a range from 135 kmph to 142 kmph. Later, after the retirement of Kapil Dev in 1994, Srinath was supported by the lanky Venkatesh Prasad and the fiery Ajit Agarkar. Between 1999 and 2003, the Indian team found three terrific left-arm quicks, namely Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, and Irfan Pathan, who had both pace and accuracy to beat the batsman. Things began to transform in 2017 when pacers started to contribute more than spinners to many test series wins both at home and away. As a result of that, the cricketing world has considered Indian pacers like Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Umesh Yadav as world-class fast bowlers as they have troubled the English batsmen in England, Aussies in Australia, and Kiwis in New Zealand.

The emergence of promising fast bowlers has significantly started in the last two seasons of the IPL, who can bowl 145-150 kmph consistently. The most talked-about newcomer who has grabbed the attention of the cricket world in the 2022 IPL is Jammu & Kashmir right-arm pacer, Umran Malik. The 22-year-old fast bowler took 22 wickets in 14 matches. Moreover, he has achieved the feat of being the fastest Indian blower by delivering a bowl at a speed of 157 kmph. He has also been awarded the emerging player award for the IPL, 2022. Malik has already hogged the attention after recording an average speed of 153 kmph in all the matches he played for Sun Risers Hyderabad. For his terrific performance, he has received his maiden call for the national team for the upcoming five-match T20 series against South Africa, which starts on June 9th, 2022. Other blowers who have impressed the BCCI are Moshin Khan, Mukesh Choudhary, and Kuldeep Sen. All three have put in tremendous efforts to win games for the Lucknow Super Giants, Chennai Super Kings, and Rajasthan Royals, respectively. In the IPL 2022 season, Moshin Khan became the fifth blower to deliver the fastest delivery with a speed of 151 kmph, whereas Mukesh Choudhary emerged as the key pacer for the yellow brigade.

Currently, the Indian pace attack is one of the finest blowing units across all formats. Due to the availability of numerous quality pace blowers, Indian selectors are always ready with second-string pacers who can perform for India across all formats if any injuries happen to fast string blowers. Moreover, selectors have many options to select for the national team. Gone are the days when a team always looked out for spinners to win the matches. And, in order to maintain the momentum of the pace-blowing revolution, it is critical to develop and nurture the young pacers so that they can fearlessly take on the world's best batsmen in the coming days. The current head coach, Rahul Dravid, the Director of Cricket of the National Cricket Academy, VVS Laxman, and the BCCI think-tank have enough responsibilities to develop the skills and self-belief of these burgeoning pace talents to make them assets to the country in the upcoming major ICC tournaments.