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5 Indian fast bowlers whose Test careers ended before the age of 28

First Test - India v Australia: Day 1
Irfan Pathan, one of the brightest prospects, played his last Test at the age of 23

India has never been a great producer of fast bowlers. For a long time after Kapil Dev's retirement, there was not a single fast bowler who looked like coming anywhere near the 431-wicket benchmark set by 'The Haryana Hurricane'.

Then, in the early and mid-noughties, a crop of talented fast bowlers emerged who seemed to have in them what it takes to succeed at the highest level. Unfortunately for Indian cricket, majority of these totally faded away after their initial success leaving Indian bowling attack in shambles.

Some of them even did not play Test cricket for India after 28, an age which is considered to be the start of any cricketer's prime years. Now with a new bunch of fast bowlers emerging, these guys are already out of the race.

Let us take a look at 5 fast bowlers whose test careers ended before actually taking off.


#5 Ashish Nehra

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Ashish Nehra's career was plagued by injuries

A career marred by numerous injuries did not flourish at Test level as much as it did in ODIs and T20s. Throughout the course of his career, Ashish Nehra underwent 12 surgeries for various injuries that he faced. Also, lack of form meant he was out of the side for a long time before redeeming himself in 2009.

Nehra made his debut in February 1999 against Sri Lanka and played only 16 Tests more after that. In one of the interviews, Nehra stated that Dhoni and Gary Kirsten had offered him a Test comeback in 2009 but his body was not ready to play the longest format back then. His unimpressive figures read 44 wickets from 17 Tests at an average of 42.

He made his last Test appearance just a few days before his 25th birthday.

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