Indian Bowlers are famous for their spin bowling.They produced most of the great spin bowlers all time.Even though Indian team is famous for their spin bowling there are good pace bowlers who made Indian team strong.
Lets see “Top 10 greatest Indian bowlers of all time “
10)Erapalli Prasanna Prasanna was Right-arm offbreak bowler with the ability of flight and arm ball which are his weapons. He was like a chess player in the guise of an off spinner his victims had often been out-thought before the ball had been delivered. After playing a few Tests in 1961-62, Prasanna decided to finish his undergraduate studies, and was absent from the Test scene for five years. Returning in 1967, he promptly became Pataudi’s favorite weapon.
Prasanna was highly successful not only on Indian turning wickets, but on foreign pitches too. He achieved the fastest 100 wickets in Tests for an Indian Bowler in 20 Tests, which is still an Indian Record. He took 186 test wickets with 10 five wicket hauls in 49 matches. In 1970 he received Padma Shri Award, In 2006 he received Castrol Lifetime Achievement award,and in 2012 he was Awarded from Board of Control for Cricket in India for playing more than 50 Test matches.
9)Ajit Agarkar (Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar) - Ajit Agarkar was right arm fast medium bowler who usually opens bowling attack for India. He has good run up and ability to bowl 90mph (145 kmph). His weapon is reverse swing with the old ball
Ajit Agarkar served India mostly as a ODI Specialist. He is currently the 3rd highest wicket taker for India in ODI’s after Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble. At one time, he was also considered the fastest bowler of India, bowling with average speed of 140 km/h. He broked the Lillee’s world record for the fastest 50 wickets in ODIs, achieving the feat from only 23 matches. He held the record from 1998 until 2009, when Ajantha Mendis achieved the feat from just 19 matches. At Adelaide Oval in 2003, Agarkar took 6/41, to help India to win their first test in Australia in over 20 years.He got a runner up medal in 2003 world cup which was a surprised achievement for him. At total he took 288 wickets in ODI’s and 58 wickets in tests with 2 five wicket hauls in ODI’s and once in tests .
8)Venkatesh Prasad (Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad) - Venkatesh Prasad was Right-arm medium fast bowler with a weapon ‘slow ball’ which struggled the batsmen to play. Prasad’s great strength was that he could move the ball both ways.
Prasad was more effective on wickets that helped seam bowling even though his best Test bowling figures of 6 for 33, achieved against Pakistan in the 1999 Test series in India, came on a docile pitch in Chennai. These figures included a spell of bowling in which he took 5 wickets for 0 runs.
In 1996/97 he was awarded as ‘Ceat International Cricketer of the Year’ and in 2000 he received Arjuna Award.
7)Javagal Srinath - Javagal Srinath was the Right-arm fast bowler,with a great pace. He was a front line fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement.
His one ball during the 1996 tour of South Africa measured 156 km/h(97 mph).He also clocked 93mp/h at the 1999 World Cup.He was the 2nd bowler after Kapil Dev who took 200 wickets in Test Cricket and with his 236 test wickets and He is also the top ODI wicket taker with his 315 ODI wickets and the first Indian to take 300 ODI wickets. He was the fastest 100 wicket taker in ODI and highest wicket taker in World Cup (44).
Javagal Srinath is the only Indian fast bowler who played four world cups for India.
6)Bhagwath Subramanya Chandrasekhar - B.S. Chandrasekhar was a leg break bowler who used to take a long run up for his bowling. He often bowled at medium pace substituting his leg break for. He was not a big turner of the ball for his googly or flipper to much success.
Batsmen didn’t know quite what ball to expect from
B.S. Chandrasekhar and sometimes neither did Chandra himself as he once admitted.He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972 and won the
Wisden’s “Best bowling performance of the century” award in 2002, for his 6 wickets for 38 runs against England at the Oval in 1971. He took 242 wickets in tests with 16 five wicket hauls and he also took 3 wickets in ODI’s in the only ODI he played.For a nation starved of wins abroad, Chandra was a rare jewel. He was for long India’s biggest match-winner overseas. No one among India’s famed spin quartet was more likely to deliver an unplayable ball than Chandra.
5) Zaheer Khan - Zaheer Khan is a Left arm fast medium bowler with the ability of swinging the new ball and reverse swinging the old ball. He does well on flat subcontinent pitches and relishes the helpful ones away, and he controls all three balls well – SG, Duke and Kookaburra.
Zaheer along with Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra helped Indian team to make into finals in 2003 World Cup. He was the 4th highest wicket taker in that tournament with 18 wickets in 11 matches(average-20 runs per wicket).Zaheer Khan was the strike bowler for India in 2013 World Cup. He lead the pace attack. He was the leading wicket taker in 2013 World Cup(along with Afridi). His bowling performance in this tournament lead India to win a world cup after 28 years.Zaheer Khan took 295 wickets in tests and 282 wickets in ODI’s with 10 five wicket hauls in tests and once in ODI’s. He is famous in the world Cricket for his reverse swing.
4)Harbhajan Singh - Harbhajan Singh is the second highest wicket taker in test cricket after Anil Kumble. First time he came in limelight 2001 against Australia where he took 32 wickets in three Tests against Australia, including the first Test hat-trick by an Indian.
Among off spinners, He is the second highest wicket taker in Test cricket, behind Muralitharan of Sri Lanka.He is the third-highest Test wicket-taker among all Indians. He took 411 test wickets and also 259 ODI wickets with 25 five wicket hauls in tests n thrice in ODI’S.
He is one of the best offspinner India ever produced
3) Bishan Singh Bedi : Slow left-arm orthodox bowler with the ability of flight, loop, spin and pace without any perceptible change in action. Bishan Singh Bedi is indeed the first and genuine spinner who recognized internationally
His best Test bowling was 7/98 against Australia at Calcutta in 1969–70, and his best match figures 10/194 at Perth in 1978–79, also against Australia.
He is the second best bowler in the world after Lance Gibbs in terms of maximum maiden over per test which stands as 16.35 against 16.62 of Gibbs. He finished his First class career with 1560 wickets which are more than any other Indian. He took 266 test wickets with 15 5WI. and also got 7 ODI Wickets.
2) Kapil Dev: Kapil Dev is undoubtedly the best fast bowler India has ever produced. He is the first skipper to won the ODI World Cup and in 2010, Kapil was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
He established himself as India’s premier fast bowler when he took two 5 wicket hauls and ended the home series against Australia with 28 wickets (Average:22.32) . Kapil never missed playing a single test or one-day game on fitness grounds .He became the second International bowler to take 400 wickets in test cricket in 1991–92.
He became the leading wicket taker in Test cricket breaking the record held by Sir Richard Hadlee in 1994. Later his record was broken by Courtney Walsh in 1999. He got 434 test wickets which are highest by Indian pacer so far. He also got 253 ODI Wickets. He took 5WI 23 times in tests and once in ODI’S. He was the greatest pace bowler India has produced.
1)Anil Kumble :
Anil Kumble Aka Jumbo is the leading wicket taker in both test and ODI for India.
With his 619 wickets, at present he is the third highest wicket taker bowler in the world (behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne). He also got 337 ODI wickets which are most by Indian so far.
He has taken 5WI 35 times in tests and twice in ODI’S. Kumble is only second bowler in the test cricket after Jim Laker who took all the wickets in an inning against Pakistan (10/74) in 1999 at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.Anil Kumble was awarded Padm Shri in 2005 and Arjuna Award in 1995.
