Best fast bowlers in India

Cricket in India, while it can be compared to a game of masses, generally isn't such a good scouting ground for bowlers, especially fast bowlers. They usually bowl at lightning speeds right throughout the air, where it appears like the ball had zipped past the batsman, many times ahead of the human eye! The following-person is simply a list of some of the best fast bowlers that India, sporting-wise, has produced over the years: Let's see who was the best bowler in India, etching his mark in history. Let's take a sneak peek into the den of Indian express bowlers and talk about what made them the best—occasionally, at least.

Best fast bowlers in India

1. Kapil Dev:

The Greatest All-Time Great All-Rounder. And most importantly, he took vital wickets. He was a wonderful batsman too, so he turned out to be an all-rounder. His bowling spells won India the 1983 World Cup. He was one of the best bowler in India. So, if you kids aim to become a famous cricketer in the future, then Kapil Dev should be your borrowed idol.

2. Javagal Srinath: Fast Machine

Javagal Srinath is the raw paceman who has the bowling capabilities of bowling fast and more importantly regularly. This question often asked him, "Who is the fastest bowler in India?" The answer would generally always turn out to be Javagal Srinath. Having played for India from the early '90s through and out in the first decade of 21st century, his fast speeds scared quite a few batsmen.Srinath is also considered one of the best fast bowlers in India because of his ability to take wickets even on pitches that didn’t help fast bowlers.

3. Zaheer Khan: The Master of Swing

Zaheer Khan can probably be considered the best swing bowler in india simply on his ability to make the ball curve through the air. Swing bowling just implies that the pace ball actually deviates in the air and beats the bat, to leave the batsman guessing. Zaheer Khan was a master in this art. He used to swing the ball both ways, because of which he is rated one of the best bowlers in India. He does this against such big games like the 2011 World Cup; that is why he was called a real cricketing legend.

4. Irfan Pathan: King of the Swing

He was a rated swing bowler too, something on the lines of Zaheer Khan, and many have voted him at different times in his career as being the best swing bowler in India. The ability to swing it both ways made him a real tough cookie to the best of the batsmen. He also took a famous hat-trick against Pakistan in 2006—the match that overnight turned him into an idol. Irfan Pathan’s ability to swing the ball at a young age made him one of the best fast bowlers in India.

5. Mohammed Shami: The Consistent Performer

One of the main stars of India cricket at the moment, Mohammed Shami has turned really quick, highly accurate, and the master of reverse swing. It is his dedication to fitness and practice that has made Shami one of the best bowler in India today. He can bowl fast and was often considered the best fast bowler in India due to his incredibly consistent performance in all three genres of the game –Test matches, One Day Internationals and T20s.

6. Jasprit Bumrah: The Yorker Specialist

Bumrah has an out-of-the-extraordinary bowling action and can bowl deadly Yorkers. A Yorker is a ball aimed directly at the feet of the batsman, so it is very difficult to play it. He has happened to be one of the best fast bowlers in India because of his accuracy and speed. When people ask, "Who is the fastest bowler in India?" Bumrah’s name often comes up because of his ability to bowl at high speeds consistently.

7. Bhuvneshwar Kumar:

Then there was Bhuvneshwar Kumar - a swing bowler. He made a big impact when he started playing for India, with many people believing that he is India's best swing bowler of today. It made him unlike any other except Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, who had the knack of picking up wickets with the new ball, making them some of the best bowlers in the India.

8. Sreesanth: The Energizer

Sreesanth was known for his fiery attitude and fast bowling. He could bowl at high speeds and was often considered the best fast bowler in India during his time. His energetic playing in the field and swaying in the delivery would greatly please the crowd. He is the man batsman behind the winning Indian 2007 T20 world cup and on the home grounds is considered to be one of the great bowler to have come out of India.

9. Ishant Sharma: Fast bowler, tall and mighty

Ishant Sharma is one amongst the tall sapling bowsman in the Indian cricket team. Being very tall, his height is key for his bowling, as he is able to get that extra bounce out of the wickets. Ishant Sharma is always used for bowling a long spell or to get some important wickets. It so happened that over the years, he continued to emerge as one of best bowler in india , specifically in Test cricket. All this experience and slogging for years has made him one of the great products for the Indian side.

10. Umesh Yadav: The Speedster

Moving to Umesh Yadav, the man is known for raw pace and strength. He can be very rapid while bowling and hence becomes one of the finest fast bowlers in India. Umesh has bowled at pace and has troubled India occasionally. In fact, if we're talking about the biggest or the fastest bowler in India, then of course, it is Umesh because he has bowled at an average speed all these years.

The Importance of Fast Bowling in Cricket

Surely, the fast bowler in any cricket team is playing a key role. They peg back a batting team, bowl faster, break partnerships, and, most of all, keep an upper hand on a batting team. From a pacer in a bowling team, it is only the good deliveries that really alter the course of a match in minutes. An added dimension comes when these blistering fast bowlers come out of India—the country whose traditional forte has been good spin options.

And so a fast bowler has to practice hard to assure himself that his perfection in accuracy of speed and swing when bowling a swinging delivery or a fast bouncer. The best bowlers in India work hard to stay in top shape and always give their best on the field.

What Makes a Fast Bowler Great?

So, what does it take to make somebody the best fast bowler in India? Worry not, for here are a few things that any best bowler in india will have in his armory: 

Speed- A fast bowler really bowls fast. He usually throws most of his deliverables, mostly overs, at speeds of 140 km per hour. Such high pace makes it very hard for any batsman to respond on time.

Bowling the right areas, in other words, accuracy is at the top in the list of things that fast bowlers must do, bowling in just the right areas that will keep batsmen in trouble.

Swing and seam- The ability to either swing the bowl or seam it after the hit on the pitch—is what a fast bowler excels at. It is, basically, what creates all the confusion for a batsman, and this is how all fast bowlers clock up a bucket full of wickets.

Fitness Fast bowling is an extremely physical vocation. A bowler has to be fit and strong enough to bowl fast over any period of time.

Mental Strength Apart from being physically able to take the grind that a quickish bowler is subjected to - weariness and climax situations - it is their immense mental strength that keeps them going.

Future Stars: Young Fast Bowlers to Watch

There is so much hope for fast bowling in the country with the way young bowlers are coming up through the ranks, with the likes of Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, and Arshdeep Singh all looking promising — probably the best example after the big names. Along with this and sharing the dressing room with experienced cricketers, many young boys learn the techniques and toil hard to make their presence felt at the international level.

Most of the critics comment that Navdeep Saini is a pacer whose potential is to take the title of the fastest bowler in India, in due course. The tall frame being similar, Prasidh Krishna generates appreciable bounce and is likely to be a big find, just as Arshdeep Singh has been a bright prospect in Left-Arm Pace and Swing Action.

Conclusion: 

India has really come a long way in producing outstandingly fast bowlers in cricket, from the legend Kapil Dev to now perspiring with the modern-day fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who are much frequented. It was quite a while since Indian fast bowlers put themselves in a position to weave their magic with the arc and bring forth their team into the reckoning. This would quite often be seen in cricket games—the idea of any possibility hailing from bowlers with hard work, dedication, and a true passion for the game could only be raised with rigour.

These are stories behind every kid's dream in 6/6 vision of being a fast bowler—that he either wants to be another tearaway pacer like Jasprit Bumrah, a swing bowler as good as Zaheer Khan, or the next best swing bowler for India. Remember, it's only hard work and perseverance that makes a man taste success.

Then, the next time you get your hands on that ball, try bowling with the same speed as your favourite fast bowler and think about getting those wickets for India. Who knows—you could be that sensation talked about as the best fast bowler in india!! 

FAQs : 

What is the fastest bowling speed in India?

Umran Malik - 157 kmph

In 2022, Umran Malik of SRH set the record for the fastest ball bowled by an Indian in IPL cricket, reaching 157 kmph against Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Does India have good bowlers?

India has since became a pace-bowling superpower, highlighted by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Siraj at the centre of it all and well supported by other stalwarts like Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and more.

Why is fast bowling important in cricket?

The faster a ball is bowled the less time the batsman has to react, and even shaving off a tenth of a second can make a huge difference. Cricket coach Ian Pont says today's best bowlers are pushing the limits of what batsmen can deal with, and at 95mph “you start to get to the top end in terms of human reaction time.”

What is the average bowling speed?

around 17-18 mph

The average rpm's for a bowler is around 325. So, anything between roughly 300 and 350 rpm's is considered average. Likewise, the average ball speed for bowlers is around 17-18 mph. Deviations from these average ranges will inform whether a bowler is rev dominant, speed dominant, or balanced.

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