India has lacked wicket takers in LOIs since 2003

[Trichromatic]

It has been constant problem for Indian cricket team for long time now.

 

There was a time when Bhajji would bowl at 5 RPO doing nothing and set batsmen used to create havoc in the end. So called decent bowling would take us nowhere.

 

Zak carried LOI bowling attack for some time in ICC tournaments and we had few bowlers like Irfan, RP Singh etc.

 

Then Ashwin and Jadeja entered the picture - India started facing same issue of lack of wickets in middle overs/flat pitches. Kulcha replaced them for very same reasons.

 

Although pacers were inconsistent/erractic earlier, at least they could pick wicket with new ball. But it seems with Bumrah we are consistently struggling to get early wickets even bowling well.

[Trichromatic]

It seems India badly needs 2 strike bowlers who can pick wickets in different situations even if they are expensive.

[Adamant]

You are right. 

Actually I think we never had a wicket taking spinner in our LOI team ever!  and that is so embarrassing for the greatest spin bowling test nation(except maybe Chahal and Kuldeep for some duration) . 

 

Pakistan had Saqlain (avg 21), Qadir (avg 26) and Ajmal ( yeah I know he was a chucker, but still....). 

 

SriLanka had Murali, Mendis and even now they have Hasaranga and Theek sana. 

 

The fact that we have failed to a produced even a single great loi spinner is pretty shocking. 

 

[Jamadagni]

56 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

It seems India badly needs 2 strike bowlers who can pick wickets in different situations even if they are expensive.

Shami could and did use to take wickets especially in middle overs. Guess what...he was replaced by the fraud Bhuvi in 2019 semis for the latter's supposedly defensive skills at death...

[Adamant]

54 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

Zak carried LOI bowling attack for some time in ICC tournaments and we had few bowlers like Irfan, RP Singh etc.

I really don't get this constant praise for Zaheer Khan on this forum, he was highly inconsistent and was prone to getting hit. 

On flat wickets he didn't really have much to offer, only in the later part of his career where he developed a slow off cutter and managed to control his line and length he became a class bowler, which I think is the only thing fans remember, his performance in the world cup 11 has really helped to raise his reputation so much so that some posters even consider him better than Bumrah .

If he played in this era, he would have been our third best bowler, at best. 

[Jamadagni]

Just had a look at Shami's odi stats.

 

Amazing: 148 wickets in 78 matches. 2 wickets per match. Don't think any other bowler in the history of odi cricket averaged 2 wickets/match? 

 

In comparison, the fraud's stats below:

 

140 wickets in 120 matches...

[rangeelaraja]

The OP claim is not backed up by hard facts. 

 

The bowling average among top ODI teams since 2011. Almost all the teams have bowling averages around 31.xx. 

 

 RSA and NZ have the lowest bowling averages because their pitches are bowler friendly. 

 

India's winning ratio is by far the highest over the last 10 years in spite having a median bowling average because of its batting strength.

 

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;orderby=won;spanmin1=01+Jan+2011;spanval1=span;team=1;team=2;team=25;team=3;team=4;team=5;team=6;team=7;team=8;team_view=bowl;template=results;type=team

[rangeelaraja]

Last 5 years..India's bowling average is again best after RSA and NZ  ( again outliers because of bowler friendly low scoring pitches )

 

 

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;orderby=won;spanmin1=01+Jan+2017;spanval1=span;team=1;team=2;team=25;team=3;team=4;team=5;team=6;team=7;team=8;team_view=bowl;template=results;type=team

Edited November 6, 2021 by rangeelaraja