The Enigma known as Indian Pacers
India might have the best batsmen in the world in their lineup, but the absence of quality pacers in their side has made them lose more matches than they could have won. Any side would have never lost with players like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820, but it is the players at the bottom of the table that Indian supporters should be more concerned about.
While the averages of most of the Indian batsmen is above the 50 run mark, which is considered as very good from a batting perspective, the bowling averages of Indian speedsters paint a different and gloomy picture. While the top run getters include Indian batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar at the top, followed by Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar, no pacer from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 with 619 wickets while Harbhajan Singh tops the current crop with 356 dismissals.
The Indian pace department has been helpful to opponents than to India if one takes a look at their pathetic performances in recent years. Zaheer Khan is the only Indian pacer who can win matches even without the aid of the other bowlers. He has taken 242 wickets in 72 tests and his record speaks for itself. He is the only pacer with a 10-wicket. The captain’s over dependence on Zaheer Khan has led to him getting injured, but whenever he returns, he proves his worth.
Had he got an able partner on the other side, someone quicker like Kapil Dev, he might have crossed 300 wickets by now. But his only partner in wicket taking is Harbhajan Singh who has 356 wickets in 85 matches. Harbhajan doesn't usually share the new ball with Zaheer since he is an off-spinner.
A lot of pacers have been tried by the Indian selectors who can be like Zaheer Khan but none, except fellow left-armer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293 has taken just 44 wickets in his 17 appearances. Sreesanth has also taken 60 wickets in his 17 appearances yet no captain would like to be burdened with his troubled presence in the Indian side.
Irfan Pathan, with 100 wickets in 29 matches which include 7 five-wicket hauls and 2 ten-wicket hauls may not be in the best of his bowling form but he is certainly better than what India has to offer these days. An out-of-form Irfan is 100 times better than an in-form Ishant or an out-of-control Sreesanth. Even the combined tally of wickets of part timers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag is more than the total individual dismissals of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 and Sreesanth.
Gone are the days when Kapil Dev used to trouble batsmen with his swinging deliveries. He single-handedly changed the ambition of the Indian youth who before his ascent wanted to turn the ball and dismiss the batsmen like the Indian spinners. Kapil Dev came, saw and conquered the imagination of all, and continued to do so till the mid 90’s. Since his retirement, not many bowlers have managed to take wickets and terrorize the batsmen and that include Venkatesh Prasad and others. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javagal-Srinath-c66513 improved immensely during the latter part of his career which was cut short by the failure in the 2003 World Cup as well as the emergence of some young guns which proved to misfire in the days that followed.
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