The Indian Express - India's search for a tearaway fast bowler

Over the years, India has produced a number of wristy elegant batsmen and bamboozling world-class spinners. What they have, however, failed to produce even in moderate quantities is a tearaway quick. There has been the occasional speed merchant but, more often than not, he has tended to sell out his wares at a very early pace and settle for line and length on the unrewarding Indian featherbeds.

Which is why Mohammed Shami’s performance in Ranchi was heartening. Without compromising on lateral movement, he bowled consistently at over 140 kmph – which is a heartening sight for an Indian fast bowler. It may be a tad too early in the day but he has already been hailed as the next quickest thing this side of the Himalayas. In any case we are used to clutching straws in this department – we can only hope that his body allows him to maintain his pace (and swing) for the years to come. In the meanwhile we take a look at some of the other Indian bowlers who have touched 140 plus sometime or the other over the years.

Mohammed Nissar

Long before the speed guns came into force, there was Mohammed Nissar. A bull of a man, Nissar is probably the fastest bowler India has ever produced if not the fastest in the world. Those who had faced him conceded that he was faster than Harold Larwood – no mean feat considering the fact that Larwood was considered the fastest bowler of his time. In any case, over 50% of his victims were bowled or LBW – a statistical testimony to his pace. It’s good and bad that Nissar played in the thirties – bad because he could get to play only 6 Tests and good because if he had been born twenty years later he would have been playing for Pakistan.

For the next express bowler, India had to wait for over 50 years. While its neighbours rolled out an assembly line of some of the craftiest fast bowlers of the world, India stayed content with an embarrassment of spinning riches and the stock option of the swinger like Kapil Dev and his likenesses – Madan Lal, Roger Binny and Chetan Sharma. Which was ironical as, barring Binny, most of these bowlers came from the northern part of India and shared a common lifestyle with their Pakistani counterparts except for one thing – they did not consume beef and consumed little of other red meat which was touted to be the reason for building muscles which enabled one to bowl fast.