Ind vs Zim, Paarl -1997 A lookback

[Rightarmfast]

Just stumbled upon an old match, the match between India and Zimbabwe played in 1997, and one we have discussed quite a lot. This is the match in which Javagal Srinath was supposedly clocked at 157kph. I noticed a few things here -

After researching on this match for years, reading Campbell's interview, discussing with Eddie Smith from Australia extensively on this subject, I know for a fact that Srinath was bowling at his fastest around this time. Easily quicker than Donald and Waqar. He was touching 145-150 quite consistently. But if you notice his bowling in this video, you will see that its not very apparent how quick he is bowling. His action seems normal, his pace also looks the same as any of the other times that would bowl. My conclusion - If you are not looking at the speed gun reading, its impossible to tell the speed of the ball. There are some bowlers, who because of their action, always look to be bowling quick ( eg- Ajit Agarkar, Waqar, Ntini etc ) There are some, no matter how fast they bowl, it is not possible to understand the speed coz of their action. Srinath was the latter.

If you notice the 3rd seamer, Salil Ankola, he was bowling quite well. He was a pretty quick bowler. Infact, Indian seam bowling looked quite strong, much better than now. Makes you wonder the policy of cricket board to not encourage such fast bowlers. No wonder we had such few fast bowlers from India!

 

[thongale]

Srinath in this clip looks quick. Because he had such a predictable action, it always looked slower than what he was. Malinga in his pomp was similar paced, but flurry of limbs and difficulty in picking the ball made him a daunting bowler to face.

[sandeep]

Ankola was always quick, got decent bounce too on certain pitches.  Just wasn't consistent enough to hack it at the international level.  Had some injury issues too.  Those were the dark ages with respect to fitness and physiotherapy in Indian Cricket....

[rkt.india]

Don't remember Ankola bowling much. Wasn't old enough then. Even Srinath, I mainly remember him from 96 onwards.

[Rightarmfast]

Ankola and Vivek Razdan were genuinely quick. Even Atul Wassan was a genuine pace bowler.  I think if Ankola had been persisted with, he would have been a good backup bowler.

 

[sandeep]

Ankola and Vivek Razdan were genuinely quick. Even Atul Wassan was a genuine pace bowler.  I think if Ankola had been persisted with, he would have been a good backup bowler.

 

Made their debuts @ Sialkot together IIRC..