In recent years, Indian bowlers have become a force to be reckoned with in international cricket. Their fast bowling unit has been picking up wickets both in India and abroad. The recent Test series against Australia demonstrated how effective Indian bowlers have gotten in the contemporary game. In the absence of the first-choice pacers, who were all struggling due to injury, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, and Shardul Thakur accomplished the impossible.
Though India has acquired a reputation as an absolutely dominant batting team capable of putting up large totals on the board, this does not detract from the bowlers’ abilities. Many Indian bowlers have proven to be highly successful, as we have witnessed. India is known for making high-quality spinners.
However, there have been certain pacers who have made a name for themselves with some spectacular performances.
1.Harbhajan Singh – 102 Wickets in 40 Matches (2002)
Harbhajan Singh holds the record for most wickets taken by an Indian bowler in a calendar year in international cricket. In 2002, he got 102 wickets, the most by an Indian bowler in an international calendar year to date. In reality, only two Indian bowlers have taken 100 wickets in international cricket in a calendar year: Harbhajan Singh and Kapil Dev, Kapil Dev did so in 1983. He was a member of the 2011 Cricket World Cup-winning squad. After Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan, he is a specialist spinner who has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off-spinner.
2.Kapil Dev – 100 Wickets in 36 Matches (1983)
Kapil Dev is a former cricketer from India. He was a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and a quick medium bowler. He is widely considered one of the finest all-rounders in the game’s history and one of its greatest captains. In 1983, he guided India to its first Cricket World Cup victory. In 2002, Wisden named him the Indian Cricketer of the Century. Dev was the captain of the Indian cricket team that won the World Cup in 1983. Between September 1999 until September 2000, he was the Indian national team’s coach. He retired in 1994 as the all-time leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, a record that was eventually beaten by Courtney Walsh in 2000.
3.Ravichandran Ashwin – 97 Wickets in 31 Matches (2016)
Ravichandran Ashwin is an Indian cricketer who has represented his country at the international level. Ashwin is a right-handed batsman and right-arm off-break bowler who represents Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. Ravi Ashwin is a well-known player who has proven himself in the past.
He began his career as a limited-overs bowler before moving up to the Test team. His Test bowling has improved dramatically over the years, but his limited-overs bowling has deteriorated. The off-spinner is one of the finest bowlers in the country.
4.Anil Kumble – 90 Wickets in 40 Matches (1996)
In Test cricket, Anil Kumble is the only Indian bowler to have taken over 600 wickets. He is the only Indian bowler to take all ten wickets in a single Test inning. Anil Kumble was a guy whose unwavering precision caused batters to doubt themselves. Kumble appeared in 132 Tests for India in his illustrious career and took 619 wickets, including 35 five-wicket hauls and 8 ten-wicket hauls. Kumble made a name for himself and won respect in the process, eventually becoming India’s all-time highest wicket-taker.
5.Zaheer Khan – 89 Wickets in 37 Matches (2002)
Zaheer Khan is a former Indian cricketer who represented his country in all forms of the game from 2000 to 2014. After a career-changing run with Worcestershire in county cricket in the summer of 2006, when Zaheer claimed an astounding 78 wickets, the swing bowler began to excel in both formats like Pakistani left-arm pacer Wasim Akram in his prime. And Zaheer’s actual skill was not so much in getting the ball to swing as much as he could, though that was a big part of his arsenal, in the control, he was able to exercise and the inherent ability he seemed to have in dismissing opposing batsmen.
