The Indian Fast Bowling Talent Is Mind Boggling – Sunil Gavaskar

Former India opener, Sunil Gavaskar heaped high praises on India’s fast bowling riches. Gavaskar’s comments came after India bowled out Australia for 195 in the ongoing Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

India, who always had spinners as their bowling strength, under Virat Kohli has emerged as a new factory of fast bowling in world cricket. With the help of the pace bowling trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Ishant Sharma India won its first-ever Test series in Australia — a couple of years ago. While the spinners keep dominating at home, the fast bowling has been a revelation for India outside Asia.

The bench strength for fast bowling is unbelievable: Sunil Gavaskar

The former India captain is in awe of the abundance of quality pacers India has. In the MCG Test, India was without two senior pacers – Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma – but still didn’t give much breathing space to the Aussie batters as Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and debutant Mohammed Siraj tied them down.

Gavaskar pointed out that another highly talented seamer, Navdeep Saini is sitting on the bench- along with several others who are knocking on the door of the selection panel.

“The bench strength for fast bowling is unbelievable. When you look at the amount of talent available in the fast bowling department, it’s just mind-boggling,” Sunil Gavaskar told 7 Cricket.

“We’ve got Navdeep Saini who’s pretty quick, bowls around 145 regularly. He’s not playing (in Boxing Day Test) as he did not have good warm-up games, maybe that’s the reason why Siraj got the nod ahead of him. But he’s there, there’s Umesh Yadav, and there are lots of other young fast bowlers who are knocking on the doors,” Gavaskar added.

The 71-year-old opines that the bowlers put in hours in gym training along with practicing in the nets to strengthen their body. The 1983 World Cup winner believes that the youngsters are willing to get better in every aspect, be it in the nets or the gym.

“I think it’s all the gym work that they do. The upper body strength is good, they are now guided by professionals and that makes a big difference. Today’s generation is willing to work and they pride themselves on their looks,” the former opener opined.

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