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It would be nice if the BCCI encourages coaches / selectors to pick atleast one pacer with extra pace and bounce and one spinner who gets big side spin, in the playing 11 of every A-team, State team and Zonal team.


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Posted

Please define extra pace. Let me take a shot and if you have lower requirements go ahead and correct. So requirement is avg speed of 140. Min 2 deliveries of an over above 145. Pace in final session not to fall below 138. 

 

Lets be honest. We dont have anyone with that kind of pace. Bowlers who were called up to play for India as soon as they showed some speed/ promise. Umran, Mayank, Harshit. All 3 injured and 2 of them haven't been able to regain fitness. Even in past Umesh Yadav, Varun, Mavi, nagarkoti all were backed by selectors with Umesh showing some success. Few more names taken in this thread but non of them meet the criteria. You can blame system for not unearthing an out and out fast bowler but not for not backing anyone.  

Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, jf1gp_1 said:

Please define extra pace. Let me take a shot and if you have lower requirements go ahead and correct. So requirement is avg speed of 140. Min 2 deliveries of an over above 145. Pace in final session not to fall below 138. 

 

Lets be honest. We dont have anyone with that kind of pace. Bowlers who were called up to play for India as soon as they showed some speed/ promise. Umran, Mayank, Harshit. All 3 injured and 2 of them haven't been able to regain fitness. Even in past Umesh Yadav, Varun, Mavi, nagarkoti all were backed by selectors with Umesh showing some success. Few more names taken in this thread but non of them meet the criteria. You can blame system for not unearthing an out and out fast bowler but not for not backing anyone.  

 

 

Let's keep things simple.

 

A pacer with extra pace and bounce means someone who troubles batsmen with visible pace and bounce on lots of occasions. Someone who gets the ball to fly through to the keeper. Ball thuds into keeper's gloves often enough.  Ball often keeps rising to the keeper if pitch is not too low. Batsmen are constantly hurried. They hop and jump on more helpful tracks. There are vicious short balls from time to time. Ball kicks up from back of a length on occasions. There are hits to the body and head at times.

 

From 2011 onwards we have produced lots and lots of such pacers. Even more so if we consider 2020 onwards.

 

Average speed of 140 kph is very rare in test matches even for Australian or SAF pacers. Any average speed above 85 mph or 136.8 kph is considered quite fast.  T20s are different, where higher average speeds are often reached.  Fastest ball in the mid 140s or higher is good.

 

List of such prominent pacers  [ Year is year of debut or coming to prominence  ]

 

P Salgaokar 1970s

TA Sekhar  1984

Salil Ankola 1989

J Srinath 1991 

Ashish Zaidi .. 1990s

Harvinder Singh 1998

A Agarkar  1998 

 

Rakesh Patel 2000s

Zaheer Khan 2000

Munaf Patel 2005

VRV Singh 2005

Sudeep Tyagi  2006

Sreesanth  2006  ?

Ishant Sharma 2008

 

Umesh Yadav  2011

Varun Aaron. 2011

Md.SHAMI  2013

J BUMRAH  2016

Basil Thampi  2017

N Saini. 2018

S Mavi  2018

K.Nagarkoti  2018

Prasidh Krishna. 2018

KM Asif. 2018

 

Kartik Tyagi  2020

Umran Malik 2022

Kuldeep Sen 2022

Mayank Yadav  2024

Mohsin Khan 2024

Harshit Rana 2024

GURNOOR BRAR  2026

Ashok Sharma  2026

Onkar Tarmale  2026

Sushant Mishra  2026

 

1 )  Objective is not to have very strict or unusually high speed gun reading cut-offs. Objective is to find high quality wicket takers in all conditions ... and they usually come from either quick or bouncy pacers or preferably those who have both.

 

2 )   For reference, Pat Cummins, who is known for his pace and bounce, has average speeds around the 137 k / 138 k mark with fastest ball of the innings in the 143 k to 147 k range in test matches. 

 

3 )  Since 2020, most of the pacers listed above have not played regularly for their states even. And have not been the favoured picks in India A. And many were forgotten after a minor injury. 

 

4 )  This thread is also about State Associations unearthing more and more such pacers by giving them chances.

 

 

 

 

Edited by express bowling
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, jf1gp_1 said:

.You can blame system for not unearthing an out and out fast bowler but not for not backing anyone.  

 

 

1 )  India A played a 3 nation tournament a few days back in the 50 over format.  4 pacers were chosen. Ashok Sharma, who was the highest wicket taker in SMAT and picked loads of wickets in VHT, was not picked. He got a chance in 1 match only after Yudhvir Singh got injured. Pacers like Yudhvir and Arshad were preferred ahead of him.

 

2 )  We just played an A-team Unofficial Test and Gurnoor Brar was dropped while Kamboj and Yash T were preferred. 

 

3 )  Sushant Mishra, who had a great 2026 white ball domestic season, is nowhere in the picture.

 

4 )  Kuldeep Sen was injured after getting a chance in ODIs in late 2022. Nothing that big. But he has never been picked for India or India A again.

 

5 ) Kartik Tyagi generated a lot of excitement among the Aussie experts on our 2020/21 tour. Was removed immediately after that and got lost.

 

6 ) Umran Malik picked 13 wickets from 10 ODIs and 11 wickets from 8 T20Is averaging 22. Why was he permanently dropped ?

 

7 )  Pacers like Gurnoor, Tyagi, Prasidh, Nagarkoti, Umran, Kuldeep etc. did not get regular chances or enough chances to play for their states while innocuous trundlers were preferred. 

Edited by express bowling
Posted

 

Gurnoor Brar in the 2nd Unofficial Test vs SL-A

 

4 wickets + 6 wickets = 10 wickets  on a very flat deck.

 

Wins match for India-A by bowling out SL in less than a day on a 4th day pitch.

 

On the same pitch Aquib Nabi picks 0 + 1 = 1 wicket in the match. I guess this settles the Gurnoor vs Nabi debate for the time being.

 

On the same pitch the SL pacers pick 0 wickets in the match. 

 

Gurnoor is a gem !  He can pick wickets in conditions where other pacers can't.

 

Why was Kamboj preferred over him in the first Unofficial test  ?

 

Posted (edited)
On 7/5/2026 at 3:42 PM, express bowling said:

 

Gurnoor Brar in the 2nd Unofficial Test vs SL-A

 

4 wickets + 6 wickets = 10 wickets  on a very flat deck.

 

Wins match for India-A by bowling out SL in less than a day on a 4th day pitch.

 

On the same pitch Aquib Nabi picks 0 + 1 = 1 wicket in the match. I guess this settles the Gurnoor vs Nabi debate for the time being.

 

On the same pitch the SL pacers pick 0 wickets in the match. 

 

Gurnoor is a gem !  He can pick wickets in conditions where other pacers can't.

 

Why was Kamboj preferred over him in the first Unofficial test  ?

 

 

 

Selectors should now get in 

 

Gurnoor, Ashok, Tarmale, Eden for A-team Unofficial Tests 

 

Ashok, Mayank, Tyagi for A-team Unofficial ODIs.

 

 

Edited by express bowling
Posted (edited)
On 7/5/2026 at 3:53 PM, express bowling said:

Selectors should now get in 

Gurnoor, Ashok, Tarmale, Eden for Unofficial Tests 

 

Ashok, Mayank, Tyagi for Unofficial ODIs.

 

 

 

:hatsoff: to Agarkar and GG for making the part in bold come true in Zimbabwe T20Is.

 

Now they will build a vicious pace attack.

Edited by express bowling
Posted
2 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

:hatsoff: to Agarkar and GG for making the part in bold come true in Zimbabwe T20Is.

 

Now they will build a vicious pace attack.

Tyagi must be feeling hard done by .. but there are lots of games coming especially T20s vs Afg,  maybe BD and then WI + NZ.

 

He should focus on red ball Challenger and try to impress selectors and Agarkar 

Posted
2 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Tyagi must be feeling hard done by .. but there are lots of games coming especially T20s vs Afg,  maybe BD and then WI + NZ.

 

I guess Ashok and Mayank have been groomed at the COE recently while Tyagi has not been.

 

So he is being mentored a bit.

 

What I have seen recently is that run up, action and ball release of pacers are becoming better after work at the COE. Just a recent phenomenon in the last 18 to 24 months max.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

He should focus on red ball Challenger and try to impress selectors and Agarkar 

 

Exactly !

Posted
13 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Tyagi must be feeling hard done by .. but there are lots of games coming especially T20s vs Afg,  maybe BD and then WI + NZ.

 

He should focus on red ball Challenger and try to impress selectors and Agarkar 

Atleast Tyagi has some hope now..seeing the new preference of selectors by going away from trundlers for now

Posted
Just now, Need4Speed said:

Atleast Tyagi has some hope now..seeing the new preference of selectors by going away from trundlers for now

I feel selectors are surely reading ICF in last couple of months... Otherwise no way:giggle:

Indian cricket fans are mostly brain-dead on social media 

They want Rasikh Salam and Cumbhoj, Khaleel lol

Posted
2 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

I feel selectors are surely reading ICF in last couple of months... Otherwise no way:giggle:

Indian cricket fans are mostly brain-dead on social media 

They want Rasikh Salam and Cumbhoj, Khaleel lol

 

Rcb sub on reddit is *ing pissed that Rasikh is not selected :laugh:

Posted
31 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

RCB ones are crying for Rasikh, CSK ones are crying for Cumbojh.
Both are calling Ashok as Gujrat Titans quota pick. :facepalm:

Troll them back with Ashok being highest SMAT trophy wicket taker and bowling at 154k

 

Rasikh age fraudiya got pounded in emerging cup.

Posted
3 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

 

:hatsoff: to Agarkar and GG for making the part in bold come true in Zimbabwe T20Is.

 

Now they will build a vicious pace attack.

Dream come true bro. Hopefully within a year we will have them playing test alongside gurnoor :isalute:

Posted

For decades, Indian teams have suffered from not having even 1 pacer bowling with extra pace and bounce in the playing 11.

 

The same thing is happening in this T20I series vs England.

 

While our batters are to blame too ... but they have to face Archer at 147 k+ and Tongue at 143 k+ on bouncier pitches and larger grounds ... the English batters have to face our trundlers bowling 135 k+ without bounce.

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