I refuse to believe we don’t have better fast bowlers than Thakur and Kamboj in Indian domestics.

[express bowling]

It is bad enough if you have a specialist newbie pacer who bowls at the speed of a medium pacer nearing retirement.

 

It is even worse if you have a specialist newbie pacer who bowls slower than a fat medium pacer nearing retirement and a thin part time military medium pacer.

[vvvslaxman]

7 minutes ago, express bowling said:

It is bad enough if you have a specialist newbie pacer who bowls at the speed of a medium pacer nearing retirement.

 

It is even worse if you have a specialist newbie pacer who bowls slower than a fat medium pacer nearing retirement and a thin part time military medium pacer.

Sandeep sharma would have been more effective as he atleast swings the ball bowling at similar pace

[express bowling]

We must make all our 140 k+ pacers play full Ranji seasons. And as many A team games as possible.

 

As of now only Eden Apple Tom and Yash Thakur have bowled 140 k+ regularly last Ranji Season.

 

But Eden Apple Tom played just 1 match last season, the final. Did well. Is just 20 years old. Has a lot of potential. Has a good seam position too. Looking forward to how he does this season. Must get an IPL contract.

 

Gurnoor Brar has played Ranji, has height of 6'5"+, gets bounce and is maybe 137 k+. Can bat a bit. Averages 25.7 with the ball in FC. Can be in the pool.

 

Edited July 25, 2025 by express bowling

[express bowling]

 

Eden Apple Tom bowling in 2025 Ranji Final. The wicket balls are in the 129 k to 135 k range but he was regularly hitting 138 k to 142 k on speed-guns which maybe gave slower readings.

 

He is seen angling the ball in and seaming it away, which is quite skilful at age 20. Bowling a fuller length as well as generating bounce ftom back of a length.

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2025 by express bowling

[express bowling]

Want Umran Malik and Kuldeep Sen to play this Ranji season with full seriousness. 

 

Can't pick them if they are not playing FC regularly and showcasing FC fitness as well as bowling ability.

Edited July 25, 2025 by express bowling

[Sean Bradley]

Rana would have been a better choice over Kamboj. Kamboj is an outdated product of 1980's, feels like Manoj Prabhakar/Mohinder Amarnath all over again, with the formers atleast they had a ability to swing with trundle, and could bat a bit. This guy is an atrocious selection. 

[lemsip]

There has to be a minimum criterion of pace for selection into the Indian team as an opening bowler. The sight of Kamboj opening the bowling and trundling in at 128 kph from his first ball ( which was probably the high point of his spell) was ridiculous. It was clear from the first ball that international batsmen would have no trouble against him at all and so it turned out. There was no pressure on the batsmen right from the second over onwards.

The weird thing is that the TM should have been aware of his lack of pace yet fast tracked him into the side and had him opening the bowling with Bumrah ! Bought back memories of a waddling RP singh who was pulled out of a beach vacation and parachuted into the side in 2011 when he could barely get through his runup without looking exhausted.

[Lone Wolf]

Watched Eden Apple Tom, Yudhvir Singh ,Umar Nazir Mir ( on Speed guns he was bowling with top speed of 135-136ks with good bounce) in Ranji 

 

Among Trundlers Kerala pacer MD Nidheeesh was impressive.  He is an Uber Trundler but with some skill and great accuracy.  Old warhorse.

 

I have watched Kamboj in emerging cup ( idk how he got there) he was downright pathetic there as well.

Edited July 25, 2025 by Lone Wolf

[Lone Wolf]

1 minute ago, lemsip said:

There has to be a minimum criterion of pace for selection into the Indian team as an opening bowler. The sight of Kamboj opening the bowling and trundling in at 128 kph from his first ball ( which was probably the high point of his spell) was ridiculous. It was clear from the first ball that international batsmen would have no trouble against him at all and so it turned out. There was no pressure on the batsmen right from the second over onwards.

The weird thing is that the TM should have been aware of his lack of pace yet fast tracked him into the side and had him opening the bowling with Bumrah ! Bought back memories of a waddling RP singh who was pulled out of a beach vacation and parachuted into the side in 2011 when he could barely get through his runup without looking exhausted.

Selectors don't watch Ranji games at least not Ajit.

They look at Excel sheets on pure numbers.

No eye test whatsoever.

 

India needs someone like Rob Key to look beyond numbers and select Pacers and batters based on ceiling and eye test.

 

Trust me our domestic cricket is pathetic right down to pitches.  Good Selection can only happen via eye test 

[Lone Wolf]

47 minutes ago, express bowling said:

We must make all our 140 k+ pacers play full Ranji seasons. And as many A team games as possible.

 

As of now only Eden Apple Tom and Yash Thakur have bowled 140 k+ regularly last Ranji Season.

 

But Eden Apple Tom played just 1 match last season, the final. Did well. Is just 20 years old. Has a lot of potential. Has a good seam position too. Looking forward to how he does this season. Must get an IPL contract.

 

Gurnoor Brar has played Ranji, has height of 6'5"+, gets bounce and is maybe 137 k+. Can bat a bit. Averages 25.7 with the ball in FC. Can be in the pool.

 

Bhai there are lot of such guys... Toiling in Ranji on pathetic tracks or those on the bench.

Excel sheet selectors have no idea about it.

 

You can only get quality product by watching the games... regardless of numbers but the tools they possess..

 

Josh Tongue, Hull, Carse Stone are playing coz they are different than "sucessful" county Trundlers

 

[singhvivek141]

49 minutes ago, express bowling said:

We must make all our 140 k+ pacers play full Ranji seasons. And as many A team games as possible.

 

As of now only Eden Apple Tom and Yash Thakur have bowled 140 k+ regularly last Ranji Season.

 

But Eden Apple Tom played just 1 match last season, the final. Did well. Is just 20 years old. Has a lot of potential. Has a good seam position too. Looking forward to how he does this season. Must get an IPL contract.

 

Gurnoor Brar has played Ranji, has height of 6'5"+, gets bounce and is maybe 137 k+. Can bat a bit. Averages 25.7 with the ball in FC. Can be in the pool.

 

Gurnoor doesnt get the nod coz his bowling style dont suit IPL.

He is primarily hit the deck with seam abilities...bounce is his usp at 135-140 pace...IPL flat pitches becomes hell for such bowlers who cant flick their wrist 360 degress to bowl gimmicky deliveries.

 

Same goes for Yudhvir, I doubt IPL scouts even know who is Eden Apple Tom..

 

 

[singhvivek141]

2 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Bhai there are lot of such guys... Toiling in Ranji on pathetic tracks or those on the bench.

Excel sheet selectors have no idea about it.

 

You can only get quality product by watching the games... regardless of numbers but the tools they possess..

 

Josh Tongue, Hull, Carse Stone are playing coz they are different than "sucessful" county Trundlers

 

Our selectors only watch IPL or finals of big tournaments. 

[rkt.india]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

Harshit Rana has all the ingredients of becoming an international quality pacer.

 

Pace of 136 k to 146 k in red ball cricket, zip off the deck, height, ability to hit the deck hard, bounce, ability to seam the ball, bowl big inswingers, bowl good bumpers, thinking ability, competitive mentality, low FC average before test debut etc.

 

Plus he is just 23 and has time to develop.

 

Plus there is some batting ability which GG is supposed to like. 

 

Agarkar & GG, dropping him from the squad, is the biggest blunder they made from the point of pacer pool development.

 

It is possible that Harshit still would have looked a Work in progress on this tour. But he would have developed for the future.

Losing with 23 year old rookies is better than losing with 30 year old rookie pacers. 23 year olds have the time to learn and get better.

[express bowling]

6 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Bhai there are lot of such guys... Toiling in Ranji on pathetic tracks or those on the bench.

Excel sheet selectors have no idea about it.

 

You can only get quality product by watching the games... regardless of numbers but the tools they possess..

 

Josh Tongue, Hull, Carse Stone are playing coz they are different than "sucessful" county Trundlers

 

 

It is a travesty that Sandeep Warrier never got to play tests for India. Quick, tall, hit the deck, bouncy, could move the ball, had red ball bowling fitness and averaged 25 in FC.

 

Now he is 34 and his time is gone.

[Frustrated]

Shardul is not playing as a specialist pacer.  So it's not a question of finding better pace bowlers than Shardul.   It's a question of finding better Pace bowling ARs than Shardul.   I dont think we hv one right now.  N Reddy is injured.  Plus he sucks with the bat 9 out of 10 times.  (Just like Shardul).  Our cupboard is bare. Disappointing but not surprising at all.  

[Lone Wolf]

6 minutes ago, Frustrated said:

Shardul is not playing as a specialist pacer.  So it's not a question of finding better pace bowlers than Shardul.   It's a question of finding better Pace bowling ARs than Shardul.   I dont think we hv one right now.  N Reddy is injured.  Plus he sucks with the bat 9 out of 10 times.  (Just like Shardul).  Our cupboard is bare. Disappointing but not surprising at all.  

Throw guys like Bawa to the deep end?  Why wasn't he part of A tour?

This chomu Agarkar has no idea about domestic players.. or high potential players.  He is there to cater Bambi lobby 

That's the problem.

Edited July 25, 2025 by Lone Wolf

[lemsip]

The bottom line is the Gambhir TM focuses on assembling a team of journeymen as bowlers to go into tests with. The priority for bowlers  is perceived batting skills and the ability to score 20-30 runs rather than wicket taking skill. So you end up with no one who can take wickets through pure skill apart from Bumrah. Kuldeep continues to warm the bench while a person averaging 50+ with the ball is trusted more with the ball than the other spinners int he squad.

This will only be fixed after Gambhir is shown the door which should be fairly likely soon as this will possibly be the first time for a long while that India have lost 3 test series in a row.

[singhvivek141]

17 minutes ago, Frustrated said:

Shardul is not playing as a specialist pacer.  So it's not a question of finding better pace bowlers than Shardul.   It's a question of finding better Pace bowling ARs than Shardul.   I dont think we hv one right now.  N Reddy is injured.  Plus he sucks with the bat 9 out of 10 times.  (Just like Shardul).  Our cupboard is bare. Disappointing but not surprising at all.  

We all understand what Shardul can offer. Disappointing thing is does it make sense to stick with a 33-34 y.o. ?

 

Why not give an opportunity to Bawa or even Gurnoor. Shardul too wasnt an allrounder when he started, he improved gradually. Why not have the same trust on Gurnoor, Yudhvir or Harshit. Atleast you will develop a player who can be in the team for next 7-8 years atleast...Shardul is at the dawn of his career.

 

We are repeating the same mistakes which we made in 2021-22...when Bumrah was injured we brought Mukesh, Avesh, Unadkut in the mix instead of youngsters...all flopped badly.

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

2 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

We all understand what Shardul can offer. Disappointing thing is does it make sense to stick with a 33-34 y.o. ?

 

Why not give an opportunity to Bawa or even Gurnoor. Shardul too wasnt an allrounder when he started, he improved gradually. Why not have the same trust on Gurnoor, Yudhvir or Harshit. Atleast you will develop a player who can be in the team for next 7-8 years atleast...Shardul is at the dawn of his career.

 

We are repeating the same mistakes which we made in 2021-22...when Bumrah was injured we brought Mukesh, Avesh, Unadkut in the mix instead of youngsters...all flopped badly.

 

 

Agarkar has no idea that Gurnoor even exists.  He probably knows 4-5 names only that include Undercutter, avesh Mukesh Krishna and latest addition is Kamboj.

[express bowling]

46 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

Losing with 23 year old rookies is better than losing with 30 year old rookie pacers. 23 year olds have the time to learn and get better.

 

Gambhir says he is building a pace attack for the future. But all the newbies are either 28+ or are medium pacers.