why was Agarkar excluded deliberately?

super article......always have had the same doubts.....but why was Agarkar not included??:)

The above article is apt and is in sink with every indian cricket lover.i remember perth test for an example when ishant sharma was bowling a realy hostile spell of fast bowling making ponting dance out on the pitch and me in front of my television screen

Good article! India have always had the batsmen to make up for the lack of pace bowlers, and though Sami was fast, a Test average of 50 is not something worth shouting about!

Can you pls. elaborate YOUR "Post Script"?

Good article... yes it's really a shame to know that there does not exist a single bowler in our country who bowls genuinely fast and can represent India. On the contrary, Pakistan (a country less than half the size as that of India's)is dishing out Fast bowlers by the dozen! The pitch conditions and climate are hardly any factors which can shield our quickies... Despite The MRF Pace Foundation being there, why is it that India can't produce bowlers who can bowl at 145+ kph on a regular basis???

Hilarious!

You forgot Binny and Madanlal!

as a lot of people say, india probably struggles to find super quicks because most are vegetarians and you just don't get the protein needed? i dunno. not sure whether Indians and Pakistanis are genetically different, but the long twitch fibres required to be a FAST bowler might not be there. Sri Lanka has suffered the same fate until only a few years ago. Rumesh Ratnayake was the only guy from the 80s who could make a batsmen bleed. But since we got Dilhara and Malinga, it's been an absolute pleasure watching the pace attack. Quite a few newbies are geniune quickies too, hitting 140+ regularly. But Malinga's the only one i've seen hit 150+
Hope India gets some genuine quicks soon, no matter who they play for, i always love watching them :)

"Srinath, for all that he was, was also vegetarian and ate the odd egg when a gun was held to his head" LOL Nice piece on rare sightings of an Indian fast bowler. I have waited for 20 years to see sustained pace. Briefly, Irfan Pathan allowed me to live the dream of seeing an Indian Wasim Akram, when he could bend/swing the ball to left-handers. Still praying for a meaningful comeback from Pathan Jr.

oh i remember world cup 03 not because Sachin tore Akhtar or Caddick apart but because of Nehra against England when he blew venom 145+ even after puking at the side of the pitch.
That was some day!

Muski

Nice one. Completely agree about the Agarkar bit. Although to be fair to our light eyed toothpick he is still the quickest Indian bowler to get to 50 ODI wickets.

Well said Rahul. U forgot to mention RP Singh and VRV Singh who hit the 90 MPH marks. I remember the One day series against Australia some time in 2005-2006 when RP and Sreeshanth was clocking 148+ Consistently. But that didnot stop Gilli from smashing them all over the park. A series of injuries and expsensive spells has restrained Sree from achieiving similar speeds. RP seems to be emulating Praveen Kumar these days and has slipped into a 128kph Bowler. Ishanth may still has it in him to be around 140 kph. The most remarkable one is VRV Singh. With his physique u would expect him to be matching Shaun Tait for Pace, but he cannot go beyond 135kph and that to these 130 kph dollies come at a very expensive rate. The lesser said about Munaf is better as he is a bad role model to the aspiring fast bowlers. I suggest the coaches to thrash the budding bowlers if they happen to hear them chanting Munaf's name any where near the nets. he got a lazy approach to bowling.

Agarkar was practising in the nets along with Kummble on an England tour. Kumble had bowled for an hour already and had left footmarks, which had become a couple o finches deep. Poor Agarkar, on a cuople of occasions, tripped and fell on Kumble's footmarks.

Is this Rupak Oak from Vile Parle East.
I can imagine why Agarkar was excluded. Though he has more ODI wickets than Kapil.

Continuing on Munaf, it is disheartning and annoying to see some one who made Steve Waugh hop around in the MRF nets to be delivering the balls at a gentle pace of 125kph. Abimanyu Midhun was said to be clocking around 140kph, but hae not seen him clocking over 137 kph+. Dinda seems to be one chap who got a good attitude towards bowling. He gives everything when he bowls nad have seems him clock around 89 Mph. But poor chap doesnot have it in his body to bowl quick continuosly. I remember Abid Nabi been mentioned as Kashmir's Whirl Wind. I came across a chap with the similar name in ICL who was clocking around 122-125 kph. I couldnot beleive and refused to beleive that it is our own kashmir brother and had to visit some blog posts by Pakistanis mocking at him. Seems like they had also heard abt him being termed as India's Shoaib Akthar. I think only hope is Sreeshanth and Ishanth and they should be encouraged to bowl fast. It was heartning to see Sree clock 90 mph in the bangalore test

Nice Article. One name that should have featured here was that of Debashish Mohanty who was for a few years atleast opened the bowling for India. In the Toronto series he was a good asset in the team.
But the point of worry now would be as to who can succeed Zack.

I tend to think it's the pitches. Why be a fast bowler in India? Even if you bowl 150km/h, edges dont carry to the keeper. Bowling lots of fast overs on flat decks doesn't sound like fun.
Spin and swing are just better wicket taking options.

What's the obsession with fast men? At this point I think the worry should be really great spinners. With the retirement of Kumble, and the steady decline of Harbachan, where is the endless supply of world-beating spinners? Ojha & Mishra are unlikely to make the cut. That department has been our strenght, is likely to be in the future too.

Nice one mate!!!... I still remember Mohinder Amarnath was called a medium pacer !!!!.. oo my god that run up by him was soo funny... and the chetan sharma.. the poor guy who we still remember because of Javed miadad(i hate that guy 4 some reason).. but atleast u have some guys nowadays who can atleast run and bowl.. I am impressed with that Delhi guy Umesh Yadav... he has that Waqar flavour!!!... lets wait and see... Hey the article was superb Rahul....Would love to read something on Sehwag...I just love that guy bat... he makes me watch test cricket nowadays.. Cheers!!!

I wonder why Agarkar gets this flak. Had it not been for inconsistent captaincy, Agarkar would have never ended up in the situation he ended up in. He has tons of ODI wickets with a super strike rate. When he started he had an amazing yorker and was the perfect death overs bowler and thus the quickest to 50 wickets. Then you ask him to open and do bowling in the middle overs. After that you expect him to bat and score runs. FYI he did all that as well (century at Lords mind you, fastest Indian ODI 50 runs scored etc). Now if you are going to compare him to Kapil Dev it is going to be a big disservice to him nay any bowler. Kapil is a once in a lifetime player like Sachin. The reason Agarkar faded was he was put under such undue and might I add unfair pressure. For someone who was rated high even by Ian Chappel its a sad day when writers resort to using him as comic relief cos he was a much better cricketer and consistently faster bowler than many above (excluding Zaheer and Srinath).

To me Agarkar was fastest bowler India had (not sure about Nissar). He was consisitently clocked 140 + many occasions. He was fastest to reach 50 wkts in ODI and also having fastest fifty by a Indian in an ODI too. He was a attacking and wkt taking bowler and that's why leak runs. In one day he took around 1.5 wkts per match that is awesome. Today all the bolwlers (Sreesanth, RP, Nehra, Ishant)are much expensive than him and also not having wicket taking abilities too. He was a good ODI bowler. Good fielder in deep and also having a gr8 heart. Even he helped Mumbai to win Ranjti trophy with his all round skills. He average 50+ with bat and even got a 5 for in the final. But in the some of the last intnl matches he played he also reduced his pace may be to achieve more control.

Well written one mate. Esp comparison of guys across border. I recently read an article titled " Owners Pride, Neighbours Envy "- It was on India's world class Batters and Pakistans pace attack.

This article is a remarkable observation and shares the feelings of an Indian Cricket fanatic. All of us have been craving to see a genuine fast bowler in Team India's attack. It is still an enigma why the promising fast bowlers on debut lose their pace in a span no longer than a couple of seasons.

Agarkar was excluded because he is such a legendary bowler that there is no need to write anything about him :)
However, it would be nice if India could get some fast bowlers. The main candidate is Abu Nechim who bowled a ball of 150 kmph in the IPL on the slow Indian pitches. Maybe with a little bit of control he can do better. Yadav has been talked about a lot but he is 130 kmph bowler. It's like this:
Zaheer - 130 to 135
Ishant - 130 to 135
Sreesanth - 130 to 140
Munaf - 125 to 130
RP Singh - 125 to 130
Praveen - 115 to 120
Irfan - 100 to 110
Kumble - nearly the same as Irfan

Finally! Hilarious, yet very apt. Indeed, natural pace is something you can't train someone into. Munaf, Sreesanth, Ishant and Nehra have that and Srinath and Zaheer willed themselves to generate that. While the latter two weren't naturally pacy so with time, and increased nous they learned to conserve energy as well as other methods to get the batsman out while upping the pace for their "effort ball". Funnily, Pakistan's fast men often bowl at a few clicks higher without that "effort". It does have to do with diet, body type - but lets not use the excuse of pitches - they are as heartless over there. Also, why try to make everyone a McGrath clone? neither do they end up with his discipline, in the process ending up compromising their natural strength. Nehra and Ishant's natural rhythm generated the pace which should have never been tampered with.

PS: Forgotten or not, Agarkar is by some distance the best ODI pacer India has ever had

Very nice read :-) We envy your batsman for the same reason. Although it must be said that quite a lot of talent is wasted on our side of the border too. Muhammad zahid was quicker than shoaib akhtar according to ramiz raja who opened against them together in a practise match. One of my biggest regrets will be that his speed was never recorded. Bucknor and hooper called him the fastest ever. Mohammad Irshad, the supposed successor to akhtar has never been picked. However, all that said, about the exhiliration of speed etc, I would still trade zaheer khan for sami and shoaib. Mohammad Asif would always be selected ahead of akhtar and shoaib for the same reason...its all about picking wickets at the end of the day. Pace is overrated in the helmet era, you cant kill anyone now.

Watching cricket from 1958 and so of all the fast bowlers of India ,the fast were only Ramakant Desai, Kapil and Srinath.
They were all in the 130-135 at time beyond 140 kmph . While furiously fast like LEE, Akhtar and Steyn helps alot still it is not the be all and end all. Macgrath and Asif are prime examples of controlled bowling without much speed. Indian bowlers like Sreeshant and Zahir have to do more to reach Kapil's prowess.

Hey guys, Thanks for the comments.

@Nirav: I was not Rupak Oak when I last checked.

I can't believe the number of Agarkar fans here. The reason he was not included was that someone who exclusively dishes out full-tosses, half-volleys and wide and short lollies (at whatever pace) does not count. But then I have to agree with 'worldofcricket.net': Sami probably does not warrant a mention either for the exact same reason.

@Deep - I beg to disagree with you. If ever there were any bowlers with innate ability to Bowl fast, it was Srinath and Agarkar. I do remember 1999 Tri series in Sharjah. Srinath was bowling as relaxed as ever and he was clocking 148+. So was the case with Agarkar. I suppose they generated the pace from the effortless actions they possessed. Zaheer was all muscle when burst into the scene and that is where he generated his pace from. I think with a little more confidence, Sreeshanth and Ishanth can Hit late 80mphs consistently. Dhoni will have a strong part to play here. i been hearing abt a guy called Tarun Arun who was in the Kolkatta Back up team. Ganguly says that he is pretty sharp. I have to say that Sreeshanth was pretty impressive in last day though where he reverse swong the ball at speeds of 140+. Munaf is at his best when he bowls 85+. Now if somebody can make him understand this fact. I still think that he can bowl 137+ and with his nagging length he can be a handfull.

hi...its a nice article n i would like to read such detailed data about ALL ROUNDER in india as kapil..

Indeed. All Indian bowlers seem to lose speed once they are drafted into the international squad. I remember Irfan Pathan's Australia tour when he bowled Adam Gilchrist with a beautiful reverse swinging yorker at 140+ kmph and that too when he was just 19 yrs old. A fast bowler is supposed to build up his speed as he enters his twenties. Sadly, Irfan lost everything and nowadays can't even touch 125kmph. At that speed, no matter how much the ball swings, its gonna be smacked.

Agarkar still IS the fastest bowler around. His pace never dropped alarmingly (in fact only increased, he was slow medium when he started pace bowling). Plus, he bowled a lovely outswinger, a terrific yorker and a good slower one. But for his defective radar, he could have been the bowler sharing the attack with Zaheer Khan.

After reading the article and the comments I felt compelled to say a couple of words about Agarkar. I have been watching cricket for last 25 years, and must admit that Agarkar was one of the more effective fast bowlers India produced in that period. Only Srinath and Zaheer bowled better than him for most of their careers, and Prasad, Kuruvilla, Mohanty, Nehra and Balaji sporadically. And if one bothers to check the stats this can be confirmed. Like Prabhakar became butt of jokes due to the last spell he bowled in his career, Agarkar faces lot of unfair criticism for some ineffective spells.

How about Sunil Gavaskar and Eknath Solkar, the unsung opening bowlers, who were used to manage to take off the new ball shine in a few fiery overs? As for leaving Agarkar out, maybe it was motivated by the inability to determine as to which Agarkar would show up at the run-up?

in recent days ,one can say ABU NECHIM ,a fast bowler from assam who also plays for the mumbai indians might be better fast bowler with the unorthodox action he has(a short run up with much pace generated at the time of release.a slightly round arm action little similar to lasith malinga and kemar roach).with the very limited chances thrown at him,he has shown his capabilities as a genuine fast bowler with some air speed.he troubled ross taylor with some rising quick deliveries.he played just that one game against RCB.might be quite a revelation if nurtured properly.

I really feel sad for agarkar,it was not the form or inconsistency that led to his downfall but the selectors uncharacteristic way of backing young fast bowlers when no one was proving their mettle.still agarkar can force his way back into the squad taking into account nehra's comeback.the only thing i noticed wrong about him was that he could not master the slower ball and most of his yorkers ended up outside the leg stump.

Great article. Keeping the Indian obssession for raw pace aside, speeds of 132-135kph is decent pace to keep the batsmen on their toes i.e
1. the bowler can have better cantrol
2. conserve energy for bowling long spells
3. its harder to score runs off (145kph delivery goes faster to the boundary as well!!)
I would'nt mind having a couple of decent bowlers with very good work ethics bowling at 130-135kph and then giving them enough experience to turn them into future Zaks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Mr.Oak,
Your comments on Mr.Agarkar have been unfair though agarkar has given away runs is always amongst wickets,i am not though a agarkar fan for the same reasons u have mentioned.But he also needs to be counted amongst bowlers who bowled at 140+.

P.S. :- Agarkar did not get enough opportunities of lately as well if you count no of opportunities ishant got.

Munaf bowled over 90 miles when he was last in the West Indies

This is an excellent article and and I feel that the feelings of a normal Indian fan has been expressed so brilliantly. Congrats man. One thing I do like to Say is its not the pace of the ball that win you matches, its how effectively you can control your pace and deliver the balls in the right area win you matches. So in that since Praveen Kumar and Zak are doing a good job and let wait again for the speed guns to clock 150+ before we upload the next you tube video!!!.

Rahul's travails with indian bowlers...cannot complain one bit, may be can add few names to the frustration list. one that comes to my mind is David Johnson - a one test wonder (i mean blunder) from 1996. Debashish Mohanty (Toronto specialist), Thiru Kumaran (Invisible man), Avishkar Salvi (aka Mcgrath). I am sure passionate fans can add more names to this unending list (I pray it ends)

It would be nice to see couple of Indian bowlers bowling around 140km/h consistently and at the same time make the ball talk like Wasim and Waqar used to do - not serve full tosses or wides. I think Ishant & Shreeshant both can do it only if they remain fit.

india should look at thr strong 6n points rather than looking for a quicki

It is sad to see that nobody even bothers to remember Balaji. At his peak he was quick and fast and accurate. That unfortunate injury put paid to his career, but to forget him altogether is rather unfortunate. He has been a regular of late in IPL, Champions, Mushtaq Ali, and I will not be surprised if he makes a comeback considering all the pretenders that are all around. Can I hear it for Balaji - the smiling assasin?

Nice Article..!

Unfortunately Ranji teams are giving more priority to spinners.
There are some budding talents 1.Abu Nechim Ahamed ( He is using shoulder power all other indian bowlers using the pitch to get pace.Abu Nchim is representing Assam and even Asam team management is not incuding him in the team.He is playing for MI in the IPL,but not getting chance to play all matches)
2.Pradeep Sangwan- I don;t know why he is not included even in the challenger Cup teams.He is only 19 have a good future moreover a good lower order batsaman) 3.Buwaneswar Kumar.He is also using shoulder power but not an express pace bowler.He is only 18 years of age,but unfortunatly not even in the UP team

Even though India produced the odd pace bowler, none can fall into the category like, Akhtar, Lee or great West Indian bowlers of the past. Indian culture, weather, pitch and attitude factors do not allow someone to really stay consistently fast through their career.

So, I think Indians should go back to what suits them best, spin options. Many great victories were achieved by spin alone. What's wrong with it?.

I have to say that you have a point about the diet (seem to recall a similar point being made a few years ago about vegetarianism and the lack of aggression in the Indian team!). We must also consider the natural instincts of Indians and the environment. I wonder if at the level of international cricket we regularly develop bowlers with the requisite hunger and fortitude who want to succeed as fast bowlers no matter what. I also call into question the type of pitches we have in domestic cricket, the bowling coaches we use, the international schedule that seems to leave no room for recovery between tours (hence injuries) and the fact that successful fast bowlers come in pairs if not batches. Indian cricket has to invest in its wishes rather than leaving its fortunes to a bunch of elderly but well meaning bureaucrats still preoccupied in taking credit for finding the batting talent that has taken us to No 1 in the test rankings.

MEDIUM Fast & furious...
hahahahaha.... :)

another point...while i was still at high school 13 years back a friend and i used to joke that india has no quality bowlers because every1 growin up in India wants to be batsman and if they fail to make it into any team as a batter they resign themselves to try their hand at bowling!it is hilarious but i can actually see that as a possiblity.come on guys...we love u....we need 1 or 2 of u to bowl 150kmh....the beauty of some1 bowlin at that pace is that even if u are not 100% accurate with your lenght yo still gonna make the opposition jump.and also...why cant we just have some1 bowling that speed to just make us happy and proud to say hey we got an indian bowlin 150kmh!:)

Hi Guys it not only speed that is needed . Its fine if you have it...we need a bowler with good work ethics...135 + is enough if you have swing , seem movement. Also if you can reverse swing. Remeber Shreesanth taking 5 wickets in South Africa...