Why do our bowlers lose pace all of a sudden

[The Outsider]

I agree that we all share the same gene markers in the Indian Subcontinent ... but the ratio of super quicks to the population in Subcontinent is just so negligible compared to the rest. Actually Sami ' date=' Malinga and maybe Waqar , Srinath are the only ones that bowled super quick for any length of time(Akthar is a souped up chucker IMHO) which is why Doc says genetics plays its part.[/quote'] Heck the ratio of quality batsmen to the population in the subcontinent is also negligible compared to say, Australia. Comparison with the total population of developed nations to a countries where 80% of the population cannot look beyond the next square meal is absurd, sorry.

[zen]

Why our bowlers lose pace? May be it is due to work load where a strike bowler is not only required to ball as a SR bowler but also act as a work horse to support the spinners You have to keep the pace bowlers fresh and rotate them well. Someone like Srinath was made to bowl so many overs that he burnt out. If I remember correctly, he was the 2nd fastest bowler in 1999 WC (after Shoaib) and in SA even clocked 150 plus. And was also reported to beat McGrath in pace in Ind-Aus series. What do India do with such a bowler, make him bowl and bowl in games Fast bowlers don't hang on trees, but whenever they show up Ind will have to learn to handle them properly Below is a nice article on Srinath: http://www.cricketnetwork.co.uk/main/s119/st67157.htm

Who is the fastest bowler India has ever produced? Old timers may get misty eyed recalling the name of Mohammad Nissar, who no less astute a judge than C.K. Nayudu believed was faster than Harold Larwood, the tormentor of Bradman and villain of the Bodyline series, at least in his first spell. But undoubtedly the fastest Indian bowler on a consistent basis, who routinely clocked faster on South African speed guns than "White Lightning", Alan Donald in 1996, was Javagal Srinath also known as the "Mysore Express". Srinath easily out paced others like the younger Glenn McGrath, as well as seniors like Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Courtney Walsh during the World Cup of 1999 despite reconstructive surgery on his shoulder. Thus it is quite likely that the man fondly known as the "Mysore Express", for periods of time during the mid 1990s, may have been not just the fastest bowler from India, but on the planet. However nobody will know for sure, as speed guns were not the norm in his heyday, and many Indian journalists are notoriously biased against believing that an Indian could be genuinely quick. However batsmen who played him knew how quick he could be - just ask some of those who had bruises on their ribcages or dents in their helmets after some of his more fiery spells. When Srinath first burst on the scene, it was a sight few Indians had seen. On bald, turning wickets that should have been a paceman's graveyard, an Indian was running in hard and extracting hostile pace and bounce - frequently going over 150 kmph, while often rocking opposition batting lineups with sheer pace and effort. Srinath's record in India is a stellar 106 wickets in 32 Tests at an average of just over 26 runs per wicket. Any fast bowler would be proud of such statistics on the generally unhelpful tracks of the Indian subcontinent. Armed with the new ball and despite a dearth of talent at the other end, especially after the legendary Kapil Dev called it a day, and before the advent of Venkatesh Prasad, Srinath would always run in, using a high arm windmill action to generate extra bounce off a length with near pinpoint accuracy, and more often than not, give the man 22 yards away a genuine challenge; the sort of trial by pace rarely expected by visiting batsmen on an Indian wickets. India’s spin centered attack began to change in the late 70s and 80s, as Kapil Dev became India's cutting edge, assisted by Karsan Ghavri and several others including Roger Binny, Chetan Sharma and Madan Lal. Slowly, but surely, the seam and swing bowling talent in India was recognized, and pace began to form a greater part of the bowling attack. But as late as the mid 1990s India relied on Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar, two all rounders whose performances with the bat meant that in home games, they could be consistently used as part of a batting lineup to still accommodate a formidable spin trio. Srinath who had impressed at a young age for Karnataka, with raw pace and an ability to move both the new and old ball off the pitch to good effect, had caught the selectors' eye. However, a more conservative approach to selecting seamers meant that while he was often included in the squad of 14, he rarely made the final eleven, especially at home where selectors picked Kapil and Prabhakar's all round prowess to also bolster the batting. It didn't help that Kapil Dev was single mindedly pursuing Richard Hadlee's world record tally of Test wickets, and thus held on to a place in the test XI as his speed and incisiveness waned. Srinath finally had the chance to play his first game at international level when he was selected for a One dayer against Pakistan at Sharjah. Bowling first change after Prabhakar and Kapil Dev shared the new ball, the youngster impressed. India had a low total of 238 on the board, but managed to defend it successfully, with the three seamers excelling and taking six wickets between them. Despite only getting the wicket of Wasim Akram, Srinath showed a good deal of control and heart bowling on a fairly unresponsive track as India pulled off a 60 run victory. Just a month after his One-day debut, Srinath was given his maiden Test cap when India toured Australia in the winter of 1991. Making his debut in the five-Test series against Australia and playing in all five, Srinath impressed as he showed that he could generate genuine pace, hit the deck hard, and extract movement from most surfaces. While not taking many wickets, the youngster showed a good deal of discipline and heart bowling to a top class batting lineup, and gave a number of pundits and viewers the impression that they had a future Test spearhead in the making. However after that series he still mostly got to play One dayers, and with a number of games being played abroad, the One day attack now was spearheaded by the trio of Prabhakar, Kapil and the young Srinath. Despite some impressive showing in the pyjama version of the game, Srinath didn't get another chance to show his skills in Tests for quite a while, having to wait until India toured Zimbabwe and South Africa in late 1992. On the faster South African wickets, and with a year of experience under his belt, Srinath impressed, particularly in the final Test of the series where he earned the man of the match award. Even after that performance, Srinath, however, was not selected for home Tests. He just couldn't find a place due to Prabhakar's consistency with the bat at the top of the order, Kapil's continuing chase of Hadlee's tally, and the performances of Raju, Chauhan and Kumble on turning tracks in India. The winning combination of three spinners and two seamers, who also batted a bit, that Mohammad Azharuddin and Coach Ajit Wadekar designed led to a string of huge Indian Test victories at home including 0-3 whitewash of Graham Gooch's Englishmen, the first team from England to suffer such a fate in India. Srinath, understandably, though perhaps a bit unfortunately, would thus have to spend a number of his earliest years in the dressing room, when he could have been terrorizing batsmen with his sheer pace. However, Srinath continued to bang on the selectors' door, with a number of fine performances in domestic cricket and in One dayers, particularly on flat, unresponsive sub continental wickets. Finally, Srinath's break came. After playing all his early Tests overseas, Srinath made his home debut in November 1994 - almost 3 years after his first Test. Kapil Dev's retirement would normally have left a massive void in the Indian side, but the youngster proved a worthy replacement, at least with the ball. However when India took on the West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium, Srinath first made his his mark with bat rather than ball. After having just taken 1 wicket in the first innings, Srinath began to mix dogged defense with some magnificently aggressive hitting. In fact he became the first man (officially, at least) to hit the ball right out of the Wankhede stadium, on his way to a ferocious 60 in 72 balls, ensuring India set the West Indies a stern target of 363. His heroics with the bat were just a prelude, as Srinath made his mark with the ball immediately after. After Prabhakar had removed Phil Simmons and Brian Lara in successive overs and with the score reading 2/2, it looked as if things couldn't get worse for the West Indies. Srinath however, had other ideas. On a fourth day pitch that was supposed to assist the spinners, Srinath bent his back and removed Stuart Williams and Carl Hooper to get West Indies reeling at 48/4. Jimmy Adams and Junior Murray both battled back with 80s, trying to somehow pull the game out of the fire, but soon after Murray fell, Srinath trapped Adams LBW before finally removing Walsh to help clean up the tail. India went 1-0 up against the West Indies in a memorable victory, and fittingly, Srinath was the man of the match in his first home Test. After three long years during which he had waited patiently to play a test match in his home country, Srinath had risen to the occasion when given the opportunity. Courtney Walsh, the West Indies skipper was so impressed by the young Mysore speedster that upon hearing that Srinath was keen on playing some county cricket and experiencing English conditions, Walsh - one of the game's greatest gentlemen – not only recommended Srinath to his own county Gloucestershire, but ensured that Srinath got a contract with them to replace him while he fulfilled international commitments. The experience would benefit Srinath vastly, along with Walsh's subsequent tips on the art of bowling fast and consistently. The West Indian giant served as a mentor for some time after that tour, and Srinath was one of the standout performers for Gloucestershire - taking 87 wickets in the first class games at an average of 19 (with best figures of 9/76). Srinath soon established himself as a consistent performer with the new and old ball in both forms of the game at the international level. The next highlight was when Srinath took 5 key wickets in a Test against New Zealand on his home turf at Bangalore to help India to a comprehensive win. It was at around this time when his Karnataka state-mate Venkatesh Prasad, taller, slower, but with a bigger leg cutter, joined him on the international scene. The duo immediately made an impact in the Test series India played in England in summer of 1996. Though Srinath's performance may have looked ordinary on paper - 11 wickets in 3 tests at an average of just under 40 - the figures did him no justice, as anyone who saw the series would agree. Srinath kept moving the ball off the seam and swinging it in the air, troubling all the batsmen time after time - only to have perhaps the worst run of luck any international bowler has ever suffered from. Plays and misses occured, convincing appeals were turned down, and in situations where there wouldn't have been any doubt with the batsmen providing huge nicks, Srinath was consistently let down by the keeper and slip fielders. While some at home lambasted him for not taking more wickets, Srinath had bowled some stunning spells - and if he had even one quarter of the support that other bowlers around the world had, he might have not just gone home with far better numbers, but might have bowled India to a victory or two in the Tests. Srinath was now in his pomp and glory, so to speak and the home Test series against South Africa produced one the golden moments of his career. With India defending a paltry 169 runs to save the Test at Ahmedabad, India's stellar home record of the past decade or so was under severe threat. Plenty was expected of the spin trio. Instead it was Srinath who rose to the occasion with one of the most stunning spells by an Indian fast bowler in Test cricket. With the new ball, he ripped out Andrew Hudson and Daryll Cullinan in his first over before a run was even on the board, and then ran through the middle and lower order. Richardson edged one from him behind to Nayan Mongia for 7, Rhodes was trapped LBW first ball, and to wrap things up, Donald and Adams saw their stumps rattled by lethal full and straight deliveries. South Africa had been shot out for 105, and Srinath was the hero with figures of 6/21 - this too, on the usual bald, grassless, slow low turner that Ahmedabad seems to specialize in. India, at long last, had a lethal spearhead for their bowling attack who could run through batting lineups on the basis of sheer pace. Srinath's success against the Proteas had continued with a successful return tour of South Africa, where he took another 18 wickets in just 3 games - and to the shock of the South African press topped Allan Donald and a young Lance Klusener consistently on the speed guns averaging in the low 150 kmph range. In fact he made headlines at home by having one particular ball clock 156 kmph, i.e. just a notch or so below the magical figure of 100 miles per hour. It wasn't the only time Srinath outdid the bigger names on the speed radars - in 1998, he was clocking 148 kmh in comparison to the Aussie pace spearhead of the time, Glenn McGrath, who didn't top 141 kmh. It was crystal clear that India now possessed an express quick who was fit to be ranked along side the fastest of all time, men like Frank Tyson, Wesley Hall, Jeff Thomson, Michael Holding, Alan Donald, etc. However just at his moment of glory, Srinath’s rotator cuff flared up. This injury, the bane of many an overworked quickie soon sidelined Srinath from the upcoming tour to the West Indies. India’s pace spearhead who had looked in devastating form prior to that, with lionhearted performances both at home and abroad, was now out. India picked Abey Kuruvilla the Mumbai medium pacer, to replace him and though Kuruvilla did surprisingly well, taking 25 wickets in the 10 Tests he played in combination with Prasad and Dodda Ganesh, India clearly missed Srinath’s pace and fire in the Caribbean. When Srinath finally recovered from his injury, many wondered if India would need to find a new pace spearhead. But they were quickly silenced as Srinath, on a flattish wicket at Mohali, picked up 7 wickets against Sri Lanka. Next India played Australia at home in a three test series and Srinath continued his come back taking 8 wickets for 22 runs each in three Tests. Sharing the new ball with Saurav Ganguly at Eden Gardens, Srinath ripped through the Aussie top order in the second test to reduce the tourists to 15/3 on a fine batting track. Australia never recovered as the spinners capitalized to bowl them out, before the Indian batting piled on a mammoth score. The draw was their only option remaining, but Srinath prevented any thoughts of it, taking another three key wickets in the second innings to finish with the Man of the Match. With India 2-0 up in the series and looking at the prospect of a whitewash, injury hit Srinath again. Harvinder Singh was called in to replace him as the strike new ball bowler in the third Test at Bangalore, Srinath’s home ground. Harvinder was promptly thrashed for 61 runs in the 10 overs he bowled in the match which India lost. Critics once again were reminded of Srinath's worth, while fans rued his absence, having more than good reason to speculate that the 194 Australia scored in the fourth innings to win the match would have been much so more difficult to chase if Sri was around. But once again, as he's done so often throughout his career, Srinath bounced back. And by the time India played Pakistan in the Asian Test Championship, a triangular tournament, with Tests being played between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Srinath returned to top form. Prior to the triangular championship, which was the first time three Test countries had played a series against each other since England, Australia and South Africa did way back in 1912, India had played a very keenly fought series against Pakistan which had ended as a 1-1 draw. Wasim Akram, the Pakistani captian won the toss, in the first Test of the triangular, played at Eden Gardens Kolkata, and decided to bat. An hour later, Pakistani fans were looking on in horror as Srinath after 5 overs, had figures of 4/13 and the opposition were reeling at 26/6. In a superb comeback, Pakistan fought to make a competitive total of 185 and restricted India to a small lead. In the second innings Srinath topped the 5-for in the first innings with stunning bowling performance, the best of his Test career. After 27 overs of toil and sweat, Srinath ended up with figures of 8/86. It was an awesome piece of fast bowling, combining pace and accuracy with sheer bloodyminded grit. India, set a target of 279 however fell 46 runs short. Srinath who had taken 13 wickets in the match, in what should have been a match-winning performance and one of the greatest moments of his career, ended up on the losing side, once again let down by his batsmen. In the face of such gut wrenching defeat, Srinath continued to be an one-man army for India, especially overseas. The likes of Kumble and Ajit Agarkar occasionally chipped in with wickets abroad, but with the rest of the bowlers proved too inconsistent and it was a task beyond Srinath - or any other bowler - to keep delivering the goods day after day for the side. However, things slowly started to turn around for Srinath and India when two promising young young left arm seamers, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, emerged, and it seemed as if Srinath might finally have the support overseas that he had so often lacked in the past. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra made rapid strides under Srinath, and the new look of the attack showed when India toured West Indies in 2002. While Harbhajan Singh, the new off spinning sensation and hero of India’s magical home series win against Australia in 2000-01, took 14 wickets, Nehra, Khan and Srinath took 12, 15 and 13 respectively. This tour included a fantastic win at Port of Spain in Trinidad, where for the first time abroad, India were bowled to victory by her pace bowlers. The trio of Srinath, Khan and Nehra, showed immense heart and despite strong resistance from the home team led India to a famous win - its third at their happy hunting ground in the Caribbean. The next test however was at India's bogey ground, the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, where their batsmen once again surrendered the early advantage in the series provided by Srinath and Co. It was a huge let down for Srinath and with age slowing down the raw pace he'd shown early in his career, and a number of other youngsters stepping up to the plate, the pressure began increasing on Srinath's place in the One day and Test teams. Calls for him to retire or to be axed slowly became louder, and eventually, after that Test series in the West Indies, Srinath was axed from the one-day lineup in mid 2002. Srinath immediately announced his retirement from Test cricket as well, as captain Saurav Ganguly reeled in shock. Ganguly had made no secret about his team's need for Srinath, especially in England, where he had been so successful in the past. Srinath, however, was adamant, and refused to play for India in England in 2002. India managed to draw that series 1-1, but with Srinath in the side the result almost certainly would have been India’s first overseas win outside the subcontinent. Now even with Srinath approaching the twilight of his career, Ganguly virtually was begging him to return to the side. The selectors though didn't concur, and Srinath got himself a contract with Leicestershire, until the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately Ashish Nehra was injured just before the final between India and Sri Lanka, and the selectors finally had to bow to Ganguly's demands and ask Srinath to return from England immediately and Srinath played in the following Test and One-day series against the West Indies. He was also included in the One-day team to New Zealand, though he continued to insist that he was not interested in playing Test matches. The visit to the Elysian green fields of New Zealand, were like a visit to the fountain of youth for Srinath. He returned rejuvenated in body and mind, and ready for the World Cup. The excessively bowler friendly pitches of New Zealand which dented the confidence of India's vaunted batting line up had the opposite effect on India's pace bowlers. Srinath stood head and shoulder above all others with 18 wickets in the 7-ODI series at an average of 11.16, and his selection for World Cup was a mere formality. But few expected to see Srinath play such a major part in India's fortunes during the World Cup. It was soon clear that Srinath wasn't just taking up the mantle of strike bowler or stock bowler, he was playing a major role as a senior statesmen in the team, and serving as a mentor to the other seamers, Nehra and Zaheer. Srinath began the tournament by helping India avoid what could have been a humiliating start to the series. After being bowled out for 203 by Holland, Srinath struck with early wickets and finished with a four wicket haul as Holland were bowled out for a meagre 136. From there on, with the exception of a league game against Australia, the Indian pace triad looked superb. Srinath and Khan provided excellent support as Ashish Nehra ran riot through the England batting at Durban, the trio restricted Pakistan from getting a total that was anything more than competitive on a flat wicket, and the new-ball duo of Zaheer and Srinath repeatedly prised out early wickets to rock opposition lineups. However, perhaps the peak came for Srinath in the Super Six game against Sri Lanka. After the batsmen had piled on a mammoth total of 292, Srinath promptly put it out of the Lankans' reach. After 8 overs, the Islanders were 40/5 with Srinath having bagged four wickets - and the game was as good as won as Nehra wrapped up the lower order. A similar bowling performance followed at Centurion where Zaheer blasted through the New Zealand top order, with Srinath and Nehra cutting off scoring opportunities at the other end and complementing Zaheer superbly. It was one of the most heartening sights of the tournament for any Indian fan - the two raw youngsters being guided by Srinath's experience and leadership, and the three ripping their way collectively through the opposition as India made it to the final of the World Cup. With the expectations being that Srinath would bow out after the tournament, it would have been the perfect farewell for him to have seen Ganguly raise the trophy at the end of the final. It was not to be, and the Australian juggernaut crushed any Indian hopes of winning the World Cup after a 20 year gap. Srinath and Khan in particular were taken to the cleaners by a merciless assault – though Ashish Nehra managed respectable figures. However the shell-shocked Srinath seemed to be at the end of his career. A few months later, it was confirmed. Amidst the questions whether he would in fact tour Australia, Srinath declared on November 11th that he would hang his boots up and retire from playing international cricket. It had been coming for some time, but yet it was a body blow for Indian cricket to lose a man whose haul of 551 international wickets would be hard for any replacement to emulate. Yet, Srinath's contribution to Indian cricket was more than just the wickets he took. As a youngster, Srinath had never received the support of Kapil or Prabhakar, who probably due their own reasons, saw him as a rival, and were content to let him languish. Srinath vowed to not repeat this and ensured that the next generation wouldn't suffer as he did, stepping aside at the right time to let the likes of Laxmipathy Balaji and Irfan Pathan earn their caps. In his last couple of years, Srinath went out of his way as he adopted the role of the senior bowler in the team, taking Nehra, Zaheer and Agarkar under his wing and helping them turn into match winning bowlers, giving them the support that most young bowlers needed - the sort of thing he had rarely had early in his career when sitting in the dressing room. This mentorship could be seen during Nehra's matchwinning 6/23 in Durban, as Srinath ran to him from the infield to advise him on where and how to bowl at certain points, such as after he'd taken a wicket or had conceded a few runs. It was even more visible whenever either of the young quicks, Nehra or Zaheer took a wicket, with Srinath either being the first man to congratulate them or the young bowlers running straight to him. Ashish Nehra perhaps summed it up perfectly in an interview with Wisden Cricinfo... "If I'm having problems when I'm bowling, I'll look back at mid-on and he [srinath] won't be there. I'll miss not having him there." And so will Indian fans...

[achilles]

^ Srinath... what a legend :two_thumbs_up:

[Sooda]

Good read that.. well, an article written by Gaurang and Salil. Expect nothing less. :winky:

[achilles]

^ Can you recommend me some more?

[Sooda]

Yeah, if you look at the 'features' link of that site http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s119/st67829.htm#Classics has a few articles, incl a 'hall of fame' section in which the Srinath write up is. The hall of fame and cricket classics sections esp are pretty ace..but generally some very good reads there...

[zen]

For a period of 6 years from 1 Jan 1996 to 1 Jan 2002, Sri was also the most effective pace bowler from the subcontinent.

Overall figures   Player  	Span  	Mat  	Inns  	Overs  	Mdns  	Runs  	WktsDescending  	BBI  	BBM  	Ave  	Econ  	SR  	5  	10  	
GD McGrath (Aus) 	1996-2001 	62 	120 	2494.5 	776 	6199 	302 	8/38 	10/27 	20.52 	2.48 	49.5 	18 	3 	investigate this query
M Muralitharan (SL) 	1996-2001 	47 	83 	2868.3 	764 	6557 	301 	9/65 	16/220 	21.78 	2.28 	57.1 	26 	9 	investigate this query
SM Pollock (SA) 	1996-2001 	58 	106 	2197.3 	684 	4970 	249 	7/87 	10/147 	19.95 	2.26 	52.9 	14 	1 	investigate this query
AA Donald (SA) 	1996-2001 	46 	84 	1607.4 	438 	4400 	221 	6/53 	11/127 	19.90 	2.73 	43.6 	15 	1 	investigate this query
CA Walsh (WI) 	1996-2001 	52 	92 	2155.3 	534 	5154 	218 	6/61 	10/117 	23.64 	2.39 	59.3 	11 	1 	investigate this query
SK Warne (Aus) 	1996-2001 	54 	101 	2367.1 	587 	6586 	218 	7/165 	11/109 	30.21 	2.78 	65.1 	10 	2 	investigate this query
A Kumble (India) 	1996-2001 	43 	75 	2277.1 	548 	5750 	191 	10/74 	14/149 	30.10 	2.52 	71.5 	12 	3 	investigate this query
D Gough (Eng) 	1996-2001 	44 	73 	1497.0 	289 	4930 	185 	6/42 	9/92 	26.64 	3.29 	48.5 	8 	0 	investigate this query
J Srinath (India) 	1996-2001 	39 	73 	1578.2 	371 	4747 	170 	8/86 	13/132 	27.92 	3.00 	55.7 	10 	1 	investigate this query
AR Caddick (Eng) 	1996-2001 	42 	71 	1464.4 	343 	4359 	158 	7/46 	8/89 	27.58 	2.97 	55.6 	8 	0 	investigate this query
CL Cairns (NZ) 	1996-2001 	40 	69 	1276.4 	295 	4067 	151 	7/27 	10/100 	26.93 	3.18 	50.7 	10 	1 	investigate this query
CEL Ambrose (WI) 	1996-2000 	39 	69 	1372.2 	406 	3007 	147 	6/51 	9/72 	20.45 	2.19 	56.0 	9 	0 	investigate this query
WPUJC Vaas (SL) 	1996-2001 	45 	77 	1649.3 	376 	4362 	143 	7/71 	14/191 	30.50 	2.64 	69.2 	3 	1 	investigate this query
Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) 	1996-2001 	31 	55 	1604.0 	400 	3955 	138 	8/164 	10/187 	28.65 	2.46 	69.7 	11 	2 	investigate this query
Waqar Younis (Pak) 	1996-2001 	36 	65 	1104.4 	208 	3521 	132 	6/78 	10/133 	26.67 	3.18 	50.2 	2 	1 	investigate this query
DL Vettori (NZ) 	1997-2001 	36 	61 	1579.5 	443 	4035 	125 	7/87 	12/149 	32.28 	2.55 	75.8 	7 	1 	investigate this query
Wasim Akram (Pak) 	1996-2001 	36 	64 	1224.1 	284 	3250 	125 	6/48 	11/110 	26.00 	2.65 	58.7 	5 	2 	investigate this query
HH Streak (Zim) 	1996-2001 	37 	60 	1310.0 	354 	3426 	124 	6/87 	9/72 	27.62 	2.61 	63.3 	3 	0 	investigate this query
JN Gillespie (Aus) 	1996-2001 	30 	55 	958.1 	257 	2918 	115 	7/37 	9/88 	25.37 	3.04 	49.9 	6 	0 	investigate this query
Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak) 	1996-2001 	29 	50 	1281.4 	251 	3741 	111 	6/78 	10/106 	33.70 	2.91 	69.2 	7 	2 	investigate this query

stats In 39 tests in that period, he took 170 wkts at an avg of 27.9 and a SR of 55.7 (and that by doing the dual work of strike bowler and a work horse! In the same period, Waqar and Wasim picked up 132 and 125 wkts in 36 tests respectively. Wickets per tests: Srinath 4.3 Waqar 3.6 Wasim 3.4

[achilles]

@ Sooda... Thank you very much. Awesome articles :two_thumbs_up:

[Texan]

Indian pace bowlers getting slow! Watching Ishant Sharma bowl today was so disheartening. He was bowling in the 130 - 135 kph range and hardly ever going beyond that. Sometimes, I get the feeling if this is the same bowler who was cracking 145+ in Australia just a couple of years ago. Few days ago in India, he was operating in the 135 - 140 range, so he's getting slower every passing day. Unfortunately, Ishant seems to have joined the Munaf, Zaheer and Pathan club

[Laaloo]

The fastest ball bowled by both teams from what I have seen is 138 kph. That tells you a lot about the speed guns being used.

[punjabi_khota]

You have to take into account where the speeds are being registered. a lot of bowlers seem to bowl 135-140 in subcontinent, and suddenly start clocking ~145 in australia or even england. One thing I can bet is that the speed guns everywhere are not similarly calibrated. Look at aamer for example. he was throwing 130 k pies in SL but was sending down 150k thunderbolts in australia 2 months later.

[falcons360]

no man our bowlers are not slow the pitch in Bangladesh is very slow

[Texan]

Well, even then I saw Rubel Hossain hit 140+ a few times. Regardless, Ishant has definitely lost lot of pace. The good thing though is that he still can get wicked bounce from the wicket often. Zaheer of course has become a much better bowler now, but Pathan and Munaf have just withered away.

[Texan]

no man our bowlers are not slow the pitch in Bangladesh is very slow

Speeds are measured from the hand, not off the pitch.

[rahulrulezz]

Rubel was bowling consistently in 140s.. no excuse.. I am watching under-19 cricket..India vs England..English bowlers are bowling near 135 without.. man, its so annoying when you see English Teenagers bowling faster than our bowlerss

[davidcooper]

Why Are Indian Fans so Obsessed with Fast Bowlers?? indian fans on here are always moaning about indian bowlers not being fast enough one of the greatest bowlers of all time mcgrath was not express either, a pace bolwers greatest assets are accuracy and swing, we've seen plenty of so called phasst bowlers come and go without great success, so u guys need to relax:giggle:

[Mr. Wicket]

[davidcooper]

wtf

[Texan]

Out of 3 pace bowlers, one should be out and out fast. McGrath wasn't but he had Brett Lee who could bowl out and out fast and Gillespie also was fairly quick. Having a fast bowler in the team helps other bowlers too. If you want proof, look for statistics of New Zealand bowlers for the last few years with and without Shane Bond in the team. All bowlers have better averages when Bond has been part of the team.

[davidcooper]

Out of 3 pace bowlers, one should be out and out fast. McGrath wasn't but he had Brett Lee who could bowl out and out fast and Gillespie also was fairly quick. Having a fast bowler in the team helps other bowlers too. If you want proof, look for statistics of New Zealand bowlers for the last few years with and without Shane Bond in the team. All bowlers have better averages when Bond has been part of the team.

no ur wrong large part of his career mcgrath bowled with kasprowiz and gillespie none of whom were express, that aussie still won everything under the sun so chill out