A fast bowler India might have had

[CG]

At the time lee debut even 145ks seemed real quick as batsman had not faced such pace for some time.Both akhtar and lee initially were 145-150ks and both peaked at same time 2003 wc.

[Rightarmfast]

In 99-2000, even shoaib hit a fastest of 154.5kph. It was only later that they started bowling at extreme pace of 155+ . btw, Salil Ankola, vivek razdan, atul wassan were supposed to be the fastest in the country, and as far as I remember, Ankola was the fastest amongst them. Prashant vaidya was another genuine quickie then.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

No, he didn't. 

He did.

[fineleg]

Ankola was more of a seam/swing than out-and-out fast.

What was the reason

Ashish Zaidi

Salil Ankola

Vivek Razdan

These 3 didn't play much? Selectors or they (players) didn't utilize chances they got?

[zen]

If I recall correctly, Vivek Razdan used to ball too short .... Bowling short with fast-medium pace might have worked in domestic cricket but for quality international batsmen it would have been like eating a piece of cake 

Edited October 27, 2015 by rett

[zen]

Thanks for sharing this. Never heard of him and don't know why no one ever shared his name either. Interesting read indeed. I believe Praveen Amre had a similar fate. He could have easily played for decent amount of time. 

Amre was a fighter. IIRC, he got a test 100 on debut in SA. 

[tweaker]

Ashish Zaidi never got chance,

 

[vishalvirsingh]

vivek Razdan and Salil Ankola were also possibly good talents.. I heard some good things about prashant Vaidya and Raju Kulkarni too...

 

[vishalvirsingh]

I heard ashish Zaidi was a swing bowler and a under 130k bowler..

[vishalvirsingh]

vivek razdan ,Salil,Raju Kulkarni and prashant Vaidya were possibly 140+

[Rightarmfast]

If you check Sachin Tendulkar's interview which Tom Alter took in 1989, the young Sachin Tendulkar mentioned that Raju Kulkarni was the fastest Indian bowler he had faced till then.

[rkt.india]

If you check Sachin Tendulkar's interview which Tom Alter took in 1989, the young Sachin Tendulkar mentioned that Raju Kulkarni was the fastest Indian bowler he had faced till then.

Fastest Indian bowler. Indian standard of pace weren't too high back then.

[maniac]

Salil Ankola was never 140+ bowler....I saw him bowl in the 96 South African series on bouncy pitches....he was a 130-135 K bowler at best and that too in 10 over ODI games....I am pretty sure he would gave stuck out if he was hitting 140's given our bowling attack which had Srinath who was obviously quick and Venkatesh Prasad who was having a good tour bowling at 125-135.

He was just not good enough and was way too injury prone.

When I was younger I remember hype about Kuruvilla being really quick and then when he finally got a chance he was a maha mega trundler.

Ashish Zaidi may or may not have been quick but given the culture we have,he might have been eventually lost....so good for him he remains a myth than an actual failure.

Atul Wassan,T.A.Shekhar and Bharat Arun are 3 more names who were known to be quick but If I had to bet they were 135+ bowlers at best.

There is a reason why Srinath clearly stuck out amidst all these names because he was quick.

One thing I have definitely a problem with is that some of the names mentioned never got a consistent run or were backed apart from Kuruvilla for a short period of time who got a shot way past his prime....if there was a thinking that these guys had atleast some amount of potential.

To some extent I blame Kapil Dev who was my hero as a cricketer but  Kapil Dev the  person I am not a fan, as he never ever backed or groomed other fast bowlers both as a captain and a senior mentor.

 

[Rightarmfast]

Salil Ankola was never 140+ bowler....I saw him bowl in the 96 South African series on bouncy pitches....he was a 130-135 K bowler at best and that too in 10 over ODI games....I am pretty sure he would gave stuck out if he was hitting 140's given our bowling attack which had Srinath who was obviously quick and Venkatesh Prasad who was having a good tour bowling at 125-135.

He was just not good enough and was way too injury prone.

When I was younger I remember hype about Kuruvilla being really quick and then when he finally got a chance he was a maha mega trundler.

Ashish Zaidi may or may not have been quick but given the culture we have,he might have been eventually lost....so good for him he remains a myth than an actual failure.

Atul Wassan,T.A.Shekhar and Bharat Arun are 3 more names who were known to be quick but If I had to bet they were 135+ bowlers at best.

There is a reason why Srinath clearly stuck out amidst all these names because he was quick.

One thing I have definitely a problem with is that some of the names mentioned never got a consistent run or were backed apart from Kuruvilla for a short period of time who got a shot way past his prime....if there was a thinking that these guys had atleast some amount of potential.

To some extent I blame Kapil Dev who was my hero as a cricketer but  Kapil Dev the  person I am not a fan, as he never ever backed or groomed other fast bowlers both as a captain and a senior mentor.

 

You saw Salil Ankola in 1996, whereas he made his debut in 1989! Thats a difference on 7 yrs, and by 96, Salil Ankola had reduced his run up and changed his bowling action, bowling much slower than his normal pace. ( If you doubt my words, please do a thorough study on this, it was Frank Tyson who changed his run up).

By the time Kuruvilla started playing for India, he was already past his prime. He had already lost his pace. In any case, there were no speed guns to really tell the pace at which these guys were bowling, so one can never be sure!

Atul Wassan was most definitely a 145+ bowler, I have no doubt about that.

[Rightarmfast]

 

 

Fastest Indian bowler. Indian standard of pace weren't too high back then.

By then, Sachin had already faced Imran, Wasim and one bowler by the name of Waqar Younis! And he was referring to Raju Kulkarni, with respect to these bowlers. I am not saying that raju was as fast as Waqar, but certainly he may not have been so slow. 

[Rightarmfast]

A very old article from 1993 on fast bowling reserves from then. It also suggests that Prashant Vaidya was perhaps faster than Javagal Srinath.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/javagal-srinaths-emergence-likely-to-herald-a-pacy-phase-in-indian-cricket/1/301669.html

[maniac]

You saw Salil Ankola in 1996, whereas he made his debut in 1989! Thats a difference on 7 yrs, and by 96, Salil Ankola had reduced his run up and changed his bowling action, bowling much slower than his normal pace. ( If you doubt my words, please do a thorough study on this, it was Frank Tyson who changed his run up).

By the time Kuruvilla started playing for India, he was already past his prime. He had already lost his pace. In any case, there were no speed guns to really tell the pace at which these guys were bowling, so one can never be sure!

Atul Wassan was most definitely a 145+ bowler, I have no doubt about that.

While I don't disagree with you that we do not have a great history of handling or grooming fast bowlers,I did not see Ankola in 1989 but he was hitting 140+ consistently that would be similar or atleast in the range to the speeds of Akram and Younis in that series which would have definitely gotten attention but since there is no proof of that, I will go with you on this.

As far as Aatul Wassan goes, he played in the series against Newzealand and England who all had 125-135K trundlers in that series except maybe Devon Malcom.

England had likes of Fraser,Pringle and Newzeland had Hadlee(great bowler but not fast),Morisson and Snedden.

So if Wassan was hitting 145+ K I will bet right now that it would have got a lot more attention then for sure.

There was a reason why Srinath got the attention and as many chances he did end up getting because it was clear that he was the quickest Indian bowler till then, Was fit(till about 96 when he had that shoulder injury) and had some skills...he was clearly head and shoulders above anyone Indian cricket has seen in terms of fast bowling since Kapil Dev. 

[rkt.india]

You never know what speed they really bowled until they go under speed guns. There aren't too many videos of them bowling. Can never believe what someone wrote in an article until there is proof. Two years back Sandeep Warrier emerged like this. There were articles about him being very quick and tear away but it wasn't to be. Jharkhand coach Tarak Sinha was singling him as the best fast bowler he has seen in Indian domestic cricket after a long time. When he went under the radar, it turned out that he was a 135k bowler, occasionally going over.

[Rightarmfast]

 

While I don't disagree with you that we do not have a great history of handling or grooming fast bowlers,I did not see Ankola in 1989 but he was hitting 140+ consistently that would be similar or atleast in the range to the speeds of Akram and Younis in that series which would have definitely gotten attention but since there is no proof of that, I will go with you on this.

As far as Aatul Wassan goes, he played in the series against Newzealand and England who all had 125-135K trundlers in that series except maybe Devon Malcom.

England had likes of Fraser,Pringle and Newzeland had Hadlee(great bowler but not fast),Morisson and Snedden.

So if Wassan was hitting 145+ K I will bet right now that it would have got a lot more attention then for sure.

There was a reason why Srinath got the attention and as many chances he did end up getting because it was clear that he was the quickest Indian bowler till then, Was fit(till about 96 when he had that shoulder injury) and had some skills...he was clearly head and shoulders above anyone Indian cricket has seen in terms of fast bowling since Kapil Dev. 

I am going to correct you here. Even after Srinath was officially clocked at 149.6kph in WC99, and was the official 2nd fastest bowler of the world after Shoaib, he was still considered medium pacer by the world. Srinath has never been considered genuine pace by world cricket, like they sing praises of Imran's and Wasim's pace ( Imran at best was Ajit Agarkar's pace of 139-140, not faster than that. Wasim at his fastest was no more than 145). They also consider Courtney Walsh as genuine pace, who at his fastest used to bowl at 130-133kph. 

Please also go through the tags that these pacers used to have. Srinath always used to have the tag of ' Right Arm Fast Medium' whereas a medium pacer like Glen Mcgrath used to have a tag of ' Right Arm Fast'.

What I am trying to get at is, the world has been biased towards Indian pacers. They have always underplayed indian fast bowlers and there is a general concensus that Indians can never be fast. There was no way that Salil Ankola, Atul Wassan and the ilk would be spoken of by world media as being genuine quick, even if they were. Thats because World media and commentators never wanted to give credit to Indian pacers and wanted to maintain that Indians can only be medium pacers.

[Debutant]

Every Tom Dick and Harry who gets a couple of wickets is hyped to be the next Alan Donald till he gets in the team and turns out to be just another trundler