Is Srinath the best Fast bowler India ever produced?

[express bowling]

Kapil ( first half of his career ) Srinath Zaheer Kapil ( 2nd half of his career ) Srinath was a very quick bowler. He had pace in the air as well as lots of pace and bounce off the pitch. During the mid 90s, he was the fastest bowler in the world. He bowled some really hostile spells and hit more batsmen on the body and face than most other pacers of his time but had a pretty meek body language to go with it. His stock delivery was the indipper which bounced from a length. Most of them were inseaming deliveries and some were inswingers. He was very bouncy. If short legs were more regularly placed for him, he would have got many more wickets. Lots of deliveries used to pop up from the indipping rising deliveries to the body. Even after his rotator cuff injury, he still retained a lot of pace . Bowled some quick spells even during his last year, although his out and out fast bowling was from 1991 to 1996. With experience, he became a very potent wicket taker. If he had a decent pace partner and more frequent short leg fielders, his record would have been really top class. He was the most complete package among the successful Indian pacers. Had pace, bounce, seam, swing and control.

[coffee_rules]

Kapil ( first half of his career ) Srinath Zaheer Kapil ( 2nd half of his career ) Srinath was a very quick bowler. He had pace in the air as well as lots of pace and bounce off the pitch. During the mid 90s, he was the fastest bowler in the world. He bowled some really hostile spells and hit more batsmen on the body and face than most other pacers of his time but had a pretty meek body language to go with it. His stock delivery was the indipper which bounced from a length. Most of them were inseaming deliveries and some were inswingers. He was very bouncy. If short legs were more regularly placed for him, he would have got many more wickets. Lots of deliveries used to pop up from the indipping rising deliveries to the body. Even after his rotator cuff injury, he still retained a lot of pace . Bowled some quick spells even during his last year, although his out and out fast bowling was from 1991 to 1996. With experience, he became a very potent wicket taker. If he had a decent pace partner and more frequent short leg fielders, his record would have been really top class. He was the most complete package among the successful Indian pacers. Had pace, bounce, seam, swing and control.

He didn't have a slower ball (for ODIs) with all the experience. Also, mentally he could give in very quickly. AFter a few hits, he would be a different bowler all of a sudden

[vvvslaxman]

Now I have read everything. Bit more guile, bit more variety - an extra yard of pace. A new heart to keep bowling all day. Dev, Zaheer Khan and Srinath combined dont equal Walsh.

Walsh >>>> All the England fast bowlers in history (including the stolne ones from various countries) :cantstop:

[express bowling]

He didn't have a slower ball (for ODIs) with all the experience. Also' date=' mentally he could give in very quickly. AFter a few hits, he would be a different bowler all of a sudden[/quote'] Srinath was a very good test bowler . That is what we are primarily discussing here. He was quite average in the ODIs because of the reasons you mentioned.

[express bowling]

Walsh >>>> All the England fast bowlers in history (including the stolne ones from various countries) :cantstop:

This is inspite of the fact that the Poms have the best seaming and swinging conditions in the world. :cantstop:

[CG]

Dhoni and india gangrape srilanka every match.Last odi one of srilankas pace sensation was hammered to death in last over.

[shortbread]

For me Srinath just sneaks it past Kapil and then Zaheer. The reason is the latter part of Kapil's international career was quite painful to watch. Srinath on the other hand retired once he saw the likes of Zaheer step up.

[Ram]

Its a joke to even compare what Kapil accomplished with what Zak and Srinath did. Your success/legacy should be judged not in the isolation of your career numbers, but in the totality of how likely a player was to succeed, given his time and circumstance. Kapil became a fast bowler for India during a time when we didnt know what the 'term' fast bowler meant. He was the Milkha Singh of Indian fast bowling. Unless another Indian quick comes along and rattles off 350 wickets in 80 tests with multiple wins home and abroad, Kapil will always remain India’s best. Between Sri and Zak, it is way too close to call. Having said that, pound for pound, Sri at his best was slightly better than Zak at his best. It is also fair to say that while Zak over-achieved in his career, Sri under-achieved. Srinath’s temperament probably cost him 50-60 wickets. He was never the naturally aggressive bowler (he once apologized to Ricky Ponting for hitting him in the face with a bouncer and Ponting duly asked him to ‘eff off’). Often he gave up too soon, without being persistent enough. His shoulders would droop like a two day old flower if someone dropped a catch of his bowling or the batsmen scored a boundary. He would constantly yell and berate at the fielders in frustration. But to be fair to him, the Indian team nearly ran him to the ground with a ridiculous workload in the mid-90s because he was their only half decent quick (with all due respect to Prasad). That rotator cuff tear injury he suffered was a direct result of that inhuman workload. Not only did it cost another 50-60 wickets, it killed that incredible rip he had going in his shoulder and bowling arm during the delivery stride and nearly neutralized his award winning inswinger. Pre his rotator cuff tear injury, he was quick too. Not a lot of people remember that Srinath registered one of the fastest balls of the 99 world cup. Zak’s way more sophisticated with a much better temperament suited for fast bowler. He is the ultimate bowler to probe a batsmen’s technique and will persist all day till he succeeds. To his credit, he was able to successfully re-invent himself in 2007 with his new avatar, armed with the dark magic of reverse swing. Srinath never did that. He was a mostly a one-dimensional bowler, with that sharp, bouncy inswinger being his primary weapon. For a bowler who was that accomplished, Srinath never really had a verifiable outswinger and that really hurt him against right handers. In summary- Kapil’s the all time best. Sri at his best was marginally better than Zak at his best, but it is close to impossible to pick b/w the two.

[veer]

I was in Bombay in '96 during WC .. I went to Wankhede to see India team practicing before the match against Australia. Srinath was very fast.. there was a metal advertising board right behind the stumps.. and the 'bang' sound that ball would make after hitting it was damn loud. One could sense that he is one of the better pacers we had.. On the side note, we can laugh at our batters for not able to handle fast bowlers.. but boy its not easy to face them.. Balls come at you like anything. Only those who have faced fast bowling can imagine that...

[cricketpitch]

When Srinath is considered the best,one can get the idea how awful the other pacers produced by India are...:hysterical: This joker got hammered by Jayasuriya and De Silva every time SL played against Ind in 90's... One thing for sure is that Srinath is by far the dumbest match referee the cricket world has ever seen...:icflove:

Srinath played 28 ODI games against SL involving De Silva and Jayasuriya. He took 34 wickets in those games at an average of 28.02 and at a strike rate 38. He has two 4 wicket hauls and one 5 wicket haul. His economy rate was also 4.41. Hardly a stat of someone who was smashed. Jaya always struggled against Srinath as his stock inswinger (to right handers) was deadly against Left Handers. Brian Lara had lots of problems against Srinath too because of the same reason.

[cricketpitch]

Srinath had good record against SL while these two players played in tests too. 6 games 17 wickets at 28.8 and SR of 53.4 with one 5 wicket haul. I guess Mahaa Raavana got confused Sri with Prasad. Prasad on the other had struggled against Sri lanka especially against Jaya.

[alexander]

Walsh >>>> All the England fast bowlers in history (including the stolne ones from various countries) :cantstop:

Cuddy is better then any English quick since Willis or perhaps even Snow. However, India have never had a comparable bowler.

[Desi Cartman]

No mention of Sir Aggy in this thread

[vvvslaxman]

Cuddy is better then any English quick since Willis or perhaps even Snow. However' date=' India have never had a comparable bowler.[/quote'] Bob WIlliws vs West Indies average 36.00 :phehehe: Kapil average vs West Indies 24.00. Only decent team in the 1980s.

[coffee_rules]

Bob WIlliws vs West Indies average 36.00 :phehehe: Kapil average vs West Indies 24.00. Only decent team in the 1980s.

[Muloghonto]

Cuddy is better then any English quick since Willis or perhaps even Snow. However' date=' India have never had a comparable bowler.[/quote'] Willis ? :haha::haha: I rate Willis as a bowler worse than Srinath. He was the Steve Harmison of the 70s/80s- where he would put in a performance that would make people sit up and ask ' Is Andy Roberts really better than this guy ? because i dont think it gets much better than Bob' and then follow it up with 10 performances that woul scream ' a taller Madan Lal'. Snow, neither I or you have seen, so who knows but his reputation is that of an English Zaheer Khan- an overachiever with ideal temperament but limited ability. That being said, Kapil was far more comparable to Cuddy than any English bowler I've ever seen.

[Muloghonto]

Srinath played 28 ODI games against SL involving De Silva and Jayasuriya. He took 34 wickets in those games at an average of 28.02 and at a strike rate 38. He has two 4 wicket hauls and one 5 wicket haul. His economy rate was also 4.41. Hardly a stat of someone who was smashed. Jaya always struggled against Srinath as his stock inswinger (to right handers) was deadly against Left Handers. Brian Lara had lots of problems against Srinath too because of the same reason.

Jaya was dominated by Srinath. but the one who really did dominate Srinath was deSilva. 4.41 econ and 28 average in the 90s ODI scene is 'middling performance'. Those were the days of 250 being a highly competetive score and frontline bowlers got away with 21-22 average and 3.5ish economy against the Lankans.

[alexander]

Ok a post before my morning swim. 1. To take the end of Willis career in isolation is retarded. His overall stats and performances are way ahead of Kapil Dev's. He ave ~ 25 FFS! 2. He was a genuine fast bowler. Dev was a medium pace bowler at best.

[Muloghonto]

Ok a post before my morning swim. 1. To take the end of Willis career in isolation is retarded. His overall stats and performances are way ahead of Kapil Dev's. He ave ~ 25 FFS! 2. He was a genuine fast bowler. Dev was a medium pace bowler at best.

1. A fast bowler who operated 80% of his career in England, Australia, West Indies and New Zealand should, by default, have a better average than a fast bowler who operated 80% of his career in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. That much, should be obvious. The fact that Willis averages lower than virtually every single strike bowler of repute from Australia to West Indies, speaks volumes about Willis's mediocrity. 2. Just like you say one shouldn't judge Willis solely by the weight of his last couple of years ( which I am not by the way, Willis was no great shakes, except for in fits and spurts, like Harmison), so should you extend the courtesy to Kapil. Kapil, before his knee went wonky in the mid 80s, was of comparable pace to Richard Hadlee. Ie, not express fast (ie,not consistently over 90mph) but having sharp pace comparable to that of Stuart Broad or Ishant Sharma- consistently in the 85-87mph range.

[alexander]

Perhaps 80-83 mph. You act like the world never saw these Indian pacers. Earlier, someone posted Srinath was the quickest in the world in the mid 90's. I :haha: We saw plenty of Srinath in the age of global broadcasting. He was a FM guy with a quicker ball. This was not someone akin to Thomson, Holding, Akhtar, Lee, Waqar, Bishop, Marshall, Tait et al in pace.