The 4 basic qualities needed to be a top pacer .... and tracking Indian pacers who have them now

[express bowling]

 

There are 4 basic qualities needed to be a top pace bowler  .... 

 

....  ability to hurry batsmen consistently.

....  ability to surprise batters with bounce

....  ability to move the ball

....  ability to bowl in good areas 

 

A pacer does not have to reach extreme levels in each quality .... but sufficient levels in all 4 and preferable extreme levels in 2. 

 

Indian pacers with all 4 qualities in 2023  .... will keep updating the list below

 

Playing for India ....

 

..  Bumrah

..  Siraj

..  Prasidh 

 

Work in progress .... 

 

..  Mayank Yadav

..  Harshit Rana 

..  Hangargekar 

..  Mohsin when he gains full match fitness

 

..  Shami had all 4 from 2013 to mid 2021 but not now. His ability to surprise batters with bounce has reduced greatly. Ability to hurry batters has reduced too.

 

..  Ishant had all 4 from 2015 to 2020.

 

Our best pace attack,  from 2018 to mid 2022,  had a bunch of pacers with all these qualities. Bumrah, Shami and Ishant replaced by Siraj. 

 

Seamers like Bhuvi, Chahar, Mukesh, Shardul have just 2 of these qualities and hence are very limited bowlers. 

 

Sen and Tyagi have 3 of the qualities. Need to add the 4th quality of bowling in good areas. 

 

Arshdeep has 2.5 of the qualities. He lacks ability to hurry batsmen. Can surprise batters with bounce only with bouncers and not with length or back of a length balls which are too floaty. 

 

If we want to be a top pace attack again then we must fill our squad with pacers with all 4 qualities. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by express bowling

[putrevus]

I would not put Siraj as a top pacer. He is good in some phases just like Shami but nothing more.He has been getting free pass for all the stinkers he has delivered.He cannot lead an attack, he will always be support bowler at best just like Ishant was even at his best.

 

Shami on his good day is better than Siraj on his best day.Bumrah we have to see how he comes from injury.

 

 

Others are too unproven to even write about them.Prasidh needs to stay fit first.

Edited July 20, 2023 by putrevus

[express bowling]

There are 2 more added qualities needed in T20s and last 6 or 7 overs in ODIs.

 

....  Ability to bowl good yorkers.

....  Ability to bowl good slower balls.

 

Bumrah is the only dependable yorker bowler we have.   Arshdeep and Tyagi are decent. Most others are hit or miss. 

 

Most of the slower ball experts lack other qualities except Bumrah and Mohsin. 

[express bowling]

10 minutes ago, putrevus said:

I would not put Siraj as a top pacer. He is good in some phases just like Shami but nothing more.He has been getting free pass for all the stinkers he has delivered.He cannot lead an attack, he will always be support bowler at best just like Ishant was even at his best.

 

Shami on his good day is better than Siraj on his best day.Bumrah we have to see how he comes from injury.

 

 

Others are too unproven to even write about them.Prasidh needs to stay fit first.

 

 

This thread is anout qualities of pacers and not their experience or whether their performances meet expectations of individuals.

 

 

[putrevus]

12 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

This thread is anout qualities of pacers and not their experience or whether their performances meet expectations of individuals.

 

 

I don’t Siraj think has ability to hurry batsmen on a consistent basis, one odd delivery which may hurry a batsman does not make him into one.

Shami on other hand can hurry any batsman .

 

Siraj also is not consistent enough to build pressure all the time as he tries too many things too soon. IMO he also has lost that zip in his bowling.

 

As far others are concerned, it is too early to even talk about them as most of them have not even faced international level batsmen on a consistent basis.

Edited July 20, 2023 by putrevus

[express bowling]

5 minutes ago, putrevus said:

I don’t Siraj think has ability to hurry batsmen on a consistent basis, one odd delivery which may hurry a batsman does not make him into one.

Shami on other hand can hurry any batsman .

 

Siraj also is not consistent enough to build pressure all the time as he tries too many things too soon. IMO he also has lost that zip in his bowling.

 

Siraj does hurry batters regularly.  But he is more of a support pacer who needs a lead pacer like Bumrah to bring out the best in him.

 

5 minutes ago, putrevus said:

As far others are concerned, it is too early to even talk about them as most of them have not even faced international level batsmen on a consistent basis.

 

 

IPL has most top international batters playing and that gives a good idea too. And others also include Bumrah. 

[Vijy]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

There are 4 basic qualities needed to be a top pace bowler  .... 

 

....  ability to hurry batsmen consistently.

....  ability to surprise batters with bounce

....  ability to move the ball

....  ability to bowl in good areas 

 

Indian pacers with all 4 qualities in 2023  .... 

 

..  Bumrah

..  Siraj

..  Harshit Rana

..  Prasidh 

..  Hangargekar 

..  Mohsin when he gains full match fitness

 

..  Shami had all 4 from 2013 to mid 2021 but not now. His ability to surprise batters with bounce has reduced greatly. Ability to hurry batters has reduced too.

 

..  Ishant had all 4 from 2015 to 2020.

 

Our best pace attack,  from 2018 to mid 2022,  had a bunch of pacers with all these qualities. Bumrah, Shami and Ishant replaced by Siraj. 

 

Seamers like Bhuvi, Chahar, Mukesh, Shardul have just 2 of these qualities and hence are very limited bowlers. 

 

Sen and Tyagi have 3 of the qualities. Need to add the 4th quality of bowling in good areas. 

 

Arshdeep has 2.5 of the qualities. He lacks ability to hurry batsmen. Can surprise batters with bounce only with bouncers and not with length or back of a length balls which are too floaty. 

 

If we want to be a top pace attack again then we must fill our squad with pacers with all 4 qualities. 

I think Sen does have a fair amount of accuracy. can be added to the list IMO.

[putrevus]

3 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

Siraj does hurry batters regularly.  But he is more of a support pacer who needs a lead pacer like Bumrah to bring out the best in him.

 

 

 

IPL has most top international batters playing and that gives a good idea too. And others also include Bumrah. 

I disagree on your assessment of Siraj, we can always agree to disagree.Bumrah himself is suspect against high quality opponents and high pressure situations. But he is best pacer we have produced, he is one who made the bowling attack potent.

 

IPL is not international cricket, that is biggest fallacy going on. There are hardly two or three international level batsmen playing in an IPL team.

[express bowling]

16 minutes ago, MultiB48 said:

Need raw ability and then conditions to hone them ,we lack both.

 

Raw talent was visible even in the 1990s.  

 

Conditions to hone them came from 2015 onwards.

 

The only thing needed is leaving out pacers who are too one dimensional and condition dependant.  That is the part that is missing. 

 

Kohli was the only one who had the vision and ruthlessness to do this. 

[putrevus]

2 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

Raw talent was visible even in the 1990s.  

 

Conditions to hone them came from 2015 onwards.

 

The only thing needed is leaving out pacers who are too one dimensional and condition dependant.  That is the part that is missing. 

 

Kohli was the only one who had the vision and ruthlessness to do this. 

I think horses for courses works well especially in England and SA. If any bowler can swing the new ball at some pace not trundling, he will be always handful in some conditions.

[express bowling]

8 minutes ago, putrevus said:

 

IPL is not international cricket, that is biggest fallacy going on. There are hardly two or three international level batsmen playing in an IPL team.

 

Pacers can play upto 14 or 17 matches per IPL. And they may end up bowling to 20+ or 30+ international batters per season.  This gives a fair idea and not just assessment per match. 

[putrevus]

4 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

Pacers can play upto 14 or 17 matches per IPL. And they may end up bowling to 20+ or 30+ international batters per season.  This gives a fair idea and not just assessment per match. 

They may not be bowling all the time to international batsmen and still I don't think anyone in your list has stood out in aspect like Bumrah did before he made his debut for India.Still early days for them so let us see how they pan out.

 

Umran is prime example on how you cannot take progess of a bowler for granted.

[express bowling]

Just now, putrevus said:

I think horses for courses works well especially in England and SA. If any bowler can swing the new ball at some pace not trundling, he will be always handful in some conditions.

 

So you have included hurrying the batter and movement. Plus accuracy has to be there. And bounce is a must when the ball stops moving. And that invariably happens for a large part of the time. 

 

So all 4 factors are needed and even your above post implies 3 of them. 

 

The reason we lost in SA 2022 and Eng 2022 was because our pacers could not generate enough bounce in the 2nd innings when the pitch flattened. (  Shami had lost bounce in 2022, Siraj got injured in SA 2022 and Bumrah's back was troubling him in Eng 2022 and he could not use bounce enough. ) . 

 

 

[express bowling]

5 minutes ago, MultiB48 said:

Conditions as in kohli? That's short term ,our pitches and balls don't suite quicks.and there aren't many quicks either and they aren't even important in these conditions.

 

India has the largest number of 140 k+ pacers in the world in 2023 .... more than 20.  

 

And conditions mean coaches and infrastructure to develop quicks. 

 

Kohli was the 3rd factor .... Will to pick quicks. 

 

And quicks are even more important on slow pitches. And nothing wrong with the SG ball.

[putrevus]

3 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

So you have included hurrying the batter and movement. Plus accuracy has to be there. And bounce is a must when the ball stops moving. And that invariably happens for a large part of the time. 

 

So all 4 factors are needed and even your above post implies 3 of them. 

 

The reason we lost in SA 2022 and Eng 2022 was because our pacers could not generate enough bounce in the 2nd innings when the pitch flattened. (  Shami had lost bounce in 2022, Siraj got injured in SA 2022 and Bumrah's back was troubling him in Eng 2022 and he could not use bounce enough. ) . 

 

 

It is very hard to find bowlers who tick all those four qualities and if you find four bowlers who tick all those qualities you have 1980s WI bowling attack. 

 

Even Bumrah does not have all four and he is suspect under pressure , others are WIP.

 

Ordinary bowling and decent batting can make pitches look flat too.SA batting does not have any quality batsmen but Indian bowling made them look better than their reality. Once England started attacking Indian bowlers completely lost plot.

 

 

 

 

[AKane]

Siraj, Unadkat, Mukesh...... enjoy!

[express bowling]

13 minutes ago, putrevus said:

They may not be bowling all the time to international batsmen and still I don't think anyone in your list has stood out in aspect like Bumrah did before he made his debut for India.Still early days for them so let us see how they pan out.

 

Umran is prime example on how you cannot take progess of a bowler for granted.

 

 

I am talking about whether a pacer can display all 4 qualities in the IPL.  Harshit and Mohsin have. 

 

Umran has displayed just 1.5 qualities .... abiity to hurry batsmen.  And occasionally surprise batters with bounce but that is not a regular feature. 

[express bowling]

3 minutes ago, MultiB48 said:

I doubt it

 

Which part ?

[express bowling]

6 minutes ago, AKane said:

Siraj, Unadkat, Mukesh...... enjoy!

 

The only thing left is niggling out Siraj and bringing in Bhuvi or Chahar. 

 

Then the trundlerization of the attack would be complete ..... And we will see belly jiggling dance from Fatman captain and polite dance from " Good " boy " " Dravid to display their extreme pleasure. 

[express bowling]

5 minutes ago, MultiB48 said:

Sg ball is too soft,batsmen prefer it.

 

 

But Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Harshit, Prasidh, Sen have all regularly bowled fiery spell with the SG ball. It is more about the personnel.