Fast Bowling is a mad art and these Indian bowlers are proving it!

   Right from the stories of Harold Larwood and Sydney Barnes to the great fast bowling quartet of the West Indies to the days of Lillee and Thompson to the glorious years of Waqar and Wasim to the great trio of Lee,Mcgrath and Gillespie and now dare I say the best days of fast bowling in Indian Cricket history, fast bowlers have always made our game exciting. A couple of quick bouncers to keep the batsman on his toes and honest and then fuller length delivery just curling away to get the nick! Wow, is there a better love story! There is something about 'fast' bowlers that you just like at first sight and it's often the speed and the aggression rather than the line and length. We all like to see an out-and-out fast bowler touching 145 clicks regularly, occasionally 150, having batsman hopping and jumping around the crease. Fast bowling is a mad art and fast bowlers are a rare breed. Bowling fast is a great skill and one is blessed if he can bowl fast!
    The terrifying stories of bodyline and Harold Larwood send sheivers down our body but that wasn't exciting stuff. That was some real hostile and dangerous fast bowling which could hurt people and my god it did hurt the Australians a great deal! But the real era of fast bowling began after the second world war when the West Indies were rapidly starting to take over World Cricket from England and Australia. They hijacked World Cricket in 1960s with 3 world class fast bowlers in Wes Hall, Charles Griffith and Roy Gilchrist playing under the great Sir Frank Worell. Then came the quartet of Marshall-Holding-Roberts-Garner under Clive Lloyd which helped West Indies dominate for another decade. And then arrived unfortunately the last pair of great West Indian quicks in Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose who were absolutely world class considering the fact that there wasn't much of a support from the rest of the team. Fast Bowling was even more dangerous when the helmets were not discovered. Dennis Amiss once famously said to Jeff Thompson after recieving a few vicious 150 kph bumpers-" How in frigging hell am I supposed to play this shit!" Facing fast bowling is not easy and Wasim and Waqar bowling in tandem was one of the best spells of cricket to enjoy, with the new ball but more so with the older ball!
    There are probably three recent pairs of fast bowlers that we can think of. One is Lee and Mcgrath. Lee was quick and Sharp while Mcgrath was an artist. Second one is Anderson and Broad, peobably the most successful one as far as stats are concerned. And the third and my favourite one is Steyn and Morkel, two out-and-out quick bowlers who could swing it, seam it and bowl it at 145 on regular basis.
    Now we come to the Indian fast bowlers and boy has there been a better group of Indian fast bowlers in the past. We can stick our tongue out and say no, this is the best group of 'fast' bowlers our country has ever produced. Taking 20 wickets outside of the subcontinent was a once in a year kind of a thing for Indian fast bowlers but these fast bowlers are taking wickets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They took all the 60 wickets in South Africa, more than 80 in England and now all 40 in the two test matches in Australia which is quite stunning when you think of the days gone by. No matter what the conditions were like, a spinner was always India's best option but Ishant,Shami,Bhuvi and Bumrah have changed all that. And the fact that Virat likes to play with fast bowlers helps them a great deal. But what is it that makes them the best fast bowling line up in the world at the moment? It is the variety becsuse they are all right arm but completely different in some way or the other. Ishant, the most experienced of them all is not as quick as Bumrah or Shami but he is taller than all of them and  the bounce he gets on even flat pitches can be a bit of a problem for the batsmen. The perfect example of it is the spell he bowled at Lord's 2014 when he literally bounced England out to win India a famous test match. Though he hadn't fully realised his potential, he has been a workhorse and the control he brings is invaluable especially while bowling to left handers from around the wicket. Shami is probably the most skillful of the lot. I have not seen a better seam position from any bowler in a long long time. The only problem with Shami is that he 'blows hot and goes cold' often enough to make the captain scratch his head though he has found some consistency in the past couple of tours. Bhuvi is without doubt the most underrated and the unluckiest as well. He played the first test in South Africa, bowled well and was left out for the second test because they thought the pitch might not suit him. He came back in the third test and won India the match! For some reason or the other, they still don't consider him what they call-' the man for all conditions' which is sad because he has qucikened up a fair bit since he came back. He is not the quickest but he can be sharp and quicker than what batsman think and expect. While Bumrah is just 8 test matches old, the maturity he has shown is incredible. Jasprit Bumrah is 'the' fastest bowler India has ever produced. Bowling at 145, with control and that sort of an action can be difficult but he is causing batsmen problems left,right and center! And last but not the least and the one who has to get a mention here is Umesh Yadav because of the way he has bowled in India on those slow wickets. In the home season of 2016-17, watching Umesh Yadav bowl his heart out was one of the most pleasing sights for an Indian fan. It's a shame that he hasn't been able to find the same rhythm when the pitches are actually offering him something.
    The fact of the matter is that with all these fast bowlers playing under a charasmatic leader such as the great Virat Kohli, there are some really exciting days ahead for Indian cricket. Because scoring 600 doesn't win you test matches but taking 20 wickets does!