pakistani fast bowlers ROCKS... scandal is made to defame pakistan cricket & yound talanted fast bowler muhammad amir..
pakistan will come out of this controvercy INSHALLAH.

Not to forget the village near Peshawar which produced squash champions who dominated game for decades.

Well said Mr. Akash. Pakistan has been producing quality fast bowlers since the cricket begin here. You dig deep to find the reasons and the motivation behind in producing men of this art consistantly, appreciated. Remove fast bowling from the cricket and there will be a no-sugar tart; bland. That means Pakistan contributed a lot into it. I am happy you mention. Regards.

Its simple man , I am from pakitan and here in pakistan we use to eat a lot of beaf (cow's meat) , it contains a large amount of protein and other nutrient which are required for developing a strong arm , shoulders and back ... so we produce great fast bowlers .
Indian wont be able to produce good fast bowlers ever unless they eat cow's meat and that's it !

After what Amir and Asif have been involved in I just don't have the stomach to comment on your article Akash. But yes, I must say that you are a wonderful writer and I usually look forward to your articles.

I thought the credit goes to ever lasting match fixing and money involved in it ... They can easily be maligned and are the first persons approached by bookies ... but you too well said ...

The timing of this blog is not quite right. But its well written and lets hope they will not be proven guilty.

While I agree that people from certain areas are hardier and more rugged that others based on teir genes and upbringing, I feel that the main reasons for Pakistan producing an assembly line of great fast bowlers is firstly, that they have the great Imran Khan as an inspiring role model and secondly, because the players do not have too many distractions in Pakistan through which young players can go astray. So their motivation is recognition as someone similar to Imran Khan. This is what explains the perfect cartwheeling action in almost all their pace bowlers, the weight transfer and the use of the wrist when delivering the ball.This can only come through total dedication at a young age when it is easier to immitate their heroes. If we are unable to produce fast bowlers it is because our players go astray with so many distractions. Fast bowling calls for hard work. I wonder if the Rohits and Yuvrajs have the capacity for the same. Wasim Akram is spot on in his assessment.

I guess Pakistan doesn't need an Aamer any more..wrong time for this article

You are right Akash Pakistan will keep on producing fast bowlers as long as they feel proud of their achievments. Taht is why it is all important that Amir and Asif come clean of this mess.

very good article. that explains why they seem to produce so many class quickies.

Yes!pakistan has certainly produced some world class fast bowlers.
And even now the likes of Asif,Aamer hauve made it very difficult for all time greats like Ricky Ponting,Ross Taylor etc.If we compare our indian fast bowlers they certainly lack in that aggression and the body language full of activeness and agilement.
They really do create pressure fo batsmen with their quicks and constantly bowling at 145 kph +

Nice article Akash.Compared to Pakistan India is a small scale industry when it comes to producing Fast Bowlers...But,they atleast dont ball big no balls and they don't need any gel or vasline to create swing..But, the article was awesome..The only only thing is the timing of this article turned out to be bad.

Great article Aakash bhai.
Thanks a lot for not throwing stones at Pakistan cricket (like all the other Indian writers of cricinfo) at a time when there are unproved allegations surrounding them.
Why is everyone forgetting the fact that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
As for your article, that tennis ball wrapped in tape does a lot more than produce fast bowlers for pakistan, it also has a lot to do with reverse swing. I know many bowlers playing in the streets of Pakistan and bowling reverse swing almost naturally.

If only they had the same respect for the game itself.

You'e got the flair for writing, Aakash & you are obviously very articulate. Nice hypothesis neatly drilled out & justified. Keep it coming!

Hi Akash,

Spot on! Well it wasn't a secret but a lot of people didn't pay attention to what bowling with a tennis ball does to a would be fast bowler. If they can hurl a lighter ball through with a good speed imagine what they would do with the heavier one. Also, taped ball immediately give them a an object of intermediate weight (between tennis and hard ball) which is a good graduation as they learn to control and reverse the ball (chinks in the tape showing rough skin of the ball) I know that's what happened to me. We were reversing the ball on the streets way before it broke on the int'l scene.

Unless and until PCB Headquarters are shifted from Lahore to some other city, Pakistan and World Cricket will continue to face such humiliation. All players are picked from one province only and vast majority of them come from Lahore which makes it very easy for them to form a cartel and a betting syndicate. All those named in betting malpractice in the past come from this very elite & corrupt club. Only three were punished while others escaped accountability due to PCB in Lahore with Lahorites and they made millions subsequently. If the team is picked on merit and without any regional bias such situation would never arise. THE RACISM AND THE HEDGMONY OF PUNJAB ON PAKISTAN CRICKET MUST END ICC SHOULD NEVER EVER ALLOW PCB HEDQUARTER TO BE IN ANY OF THE CITY OF PUNJAB.

The dream of many budding cricketers is to bowl as fast he can. Hence it is best that at the school level India introduces the bowling action films of various fast bowlers with smooth action. I feel having a smooth bowling action which is least damaging to body is the single most important factor in a fast bowler. Ramakant Desai once opened the bowling for India and despite his slight build 5'-4" , he was one of the fastest bowlers India has ever produced. Sprinting ability is next big item. Every fast bowler must be a good sprinter. The third attribute is the body strength & flexibility. Having a height of 6 feet plus helps a lot. Last & most important aspect is hard work & practice to bowl controlled length & direction. I think the Pakistani pace bowlers have all these attributes & hence are confident. Ishant Sharma is good but lacks control in length & direction which Zaheer has.
BCCI - Catch them young & imbibe these attributes to produce good Indian fast bowlers of future.

Nice article, I don't understand one thing though, Pakistan and India have the same kinds of wickets then why does Pakistan produce better bowlers and India better batsmen?

Mate, where are you...? Not following the news about spot-fixing allegations ? Not a good time to write about Mohammad Amir or Mohammad Asif or for that matter any other Pakistani cricketer... :-)

Right now, the top production is lost amid the controversy.
if Aamir and Asif do get life bans, it will take some time even for this perennial factory to produce such quality products again!

You hit the nail at the head Chopra...Great observasion...

well thought out article. i really agree with this as a west indian because those same factors caused west indies to have so many fast bowlers back in the day. after all the injustice of colonialism, west indians were angry. also they were naturally agggressive and talented, so fast bowling was the obvious thing for them to get into. and i think is the same for pakistan now

Thank you Aakash. Yes its always about respect. I wish other people realize it too and stop making judgements on the basis of some fake videos.

First, I guess its the Pak tradition of producing fast bowlers which encourage youngsters to become fast bowlers themselves. If a 10 year old has Wasim, Waqar, Akhtar, Imran Khan to emulate, there isn't much to be said.

Second, yeah, its the genes. Fast bowlers from Pak are generally tall and well-built being Punjabis/Pashtuns. If you've seen Hamed Hassan or the other fast bowlers from the Afghan team you could see the similarity. Hamed Hassan, although not in the same league as Wasim/Waqar, bowls at 90mph!

Lastly, I disagree that tape-ball cricket is the predominant contributor to producing fast men (even though most Pak bowlers played it and honed their skills in that format). I'm saying this because, in Sri Lanka, a lot of young kids play tennis ball cricket. However, we still haven't produced anyone in the Wasim/Waqar mould.

This shows that a culture of producing fast bowlers and suitable genetics are key to producing the next generation of fast men. Cricket boards, TAKE NOTE!!

Save Amir, 18 year olds wont be knowing jack about Match fixing.
He can be brought back into the fold of sane cricket if the influences above him are discarded.

An Indian

With All the Controversies going on about spot fixing that article made me smile and right now i pray and pray hard for only one person and that is Aamir. I am shocked till the hearing of Scotland yard, Thanks Aakash.

All these names from Imran to Aamir have also had dubious records, cheating, drugs and match fixing. Maybe it is the class of people who bowl fast ??

Nice article... finally something other than the fixing stuff... :-)

Thanks akash wee needed this article from you and i really feeling sorry for amir to get involve in such allegations ,we really love amir and asif and praying that all the allegations proves just allegations nothing more than that,coz if they gets ban we are going to miss smiles and upcoming ms.and its tru that we play with tennis ball which makes us so fast and different from all coz the tennis ball which moves in the air quite a lot and we try to ball as fast as it reaches to batsman in the way we wants,

I would like to say that if Pakistani players are proved involved in the match / spot fixing the PCB should ban them for ever.
In sametime Mr. Yawar Saeed should be banned to enter Pakisatn as he is the man behind all the scandal. Look at the past when ever any scandal came out he was there with the team as manager.
Pakistan should appoint someone who has international reputation in the Cricket former players like Majid Khan, Rameez Raja there are many more as PCB head. But one of these two names could be best to replace Ijaz Butt as PCB chairman.
On the other hand if the allegation are proven wrong Pakistan should atke legal action against ECB, the News of the world and those are involved in the current scenario.

Hi Aakash, Thanks for writing something lovely about Pakistan in the time as the morale needs to be kept high. And u r right playing tapeball cricket myself I know that people learn to reverse swing when there is no seam on the tapeball, with hard work and sense to immulate Imran, Wasim and Waqar etc. As for everyone critising please people let the dust settle first.

Very well written article, there is no need to add any comments, its seems to me that you discover a perfect recipie producing a fast bowler in a region which has different circumstances. These circumstances have its own defination which doesn't apply every other country. This spot fixing allegations are more dangerous then whatever they could do to KILL a natural fast bowler in the past like one bouncer in an over, ball examination whenever they needed, free hit on a no ball bla bla bla....... you will see players hand examination will begun soon to find out any vaseline there.

Dear Akash. You've got it right this time. Tearaway quicks are common ingredients of a Paki squad. Wish we should learn from them in giving chance to such talents early in their careers. Ishant Sharma has been an exception though. But in recent years, thats all we have add despite perhaps the most evolved cricket echelons anywhere in the world. Pray the IPL throws some more local quicks at us. The Pace rack is empty Mr Srikanth. Are you listening?

Hi Aakash, The article is very well written. But the timing is not at all good enough to discuss this matter. but as you said, pakistan should fill proud that they have been producing very good fast bowlers in Asian soil ofr years.

You r right Akash. But then their administration should be condemned for all these controversies.

M.Amir and M.asif will come backe, indians hapiness will be fadded very soon

Thanks Akash, loved reading again, Indian bowlers come from same process i guess.

very nice article Akash!!
I m very much surprised why India could not produce quickies like Amer, Wasim and Waqar. I think for fast bowlers u have to conentrate certain part of the country like Punjab, Hariyana and Delhi. you cant produce quickies from Mumabai, Haydarabad, Bengal etc. The fast bowling needs extra muscular strength stemina and built. the best example is Kapil Dev.
Kapil was quick at the begining then he realise that he has to bowl long spells so he just started concentrating on line and length and movement instead of Speed.
You can understand what I mean if u want fast bowlers ln India, start looking in that provinces without politics.
thanks

superb article aakash..
yes..the wickets in pakistan are nowhere as fast as perth or durban but still when they can produce quickies who torment batsmen on slow wickets it shows the attitude and the will to survive and to prove a point...most of the bowlers are from small towns and have no access to proper training facilities..but when a small town kid can make life miserable for someone like ponting,it just goes to show that u dont need someone like imran khan to look upto..u just have to sieze the moment and show the world why u trust urself..i really like this kid aamir...i just hope he s proved innocent because i really love the way he bowls..

Good observation!
Aamer, I believe, is the most talented young fast bowler today. I would love to watch him play. I would always back him n urge others too to do so, don't wanna loose a gem like him...