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Asian fast bowlers since Wasim Akram's retirement

Shri

Mr. Glass
sinceakr_LI.jpg
Nine Asian fast bowlers have taken at least 100 test wickets after Akram played his last international game on March 04, 2003. Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah makes it 4 out of 9 from India. Gul, Amir and Asif from Pakistan and then Malinga and Lakmal from Sri Lanka.

Is India finally catching up to Pakistan's fast bowling stocks? Can we surpass them eventually? Will the IPL and the monetary value that it places on fast bowlers turn us into a fast bowling factory like no one has seen before in another decade?

I don't care about any of the above questions so please feel free to tell me who your best pacer from the above list is and why is it Bumrah? ?

* The 3 bowlers with the red dots next to them in the picture above debuted before Wasim's retirement so aren't counted.
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
Bumrah isn't just quite simply the best bowler in the above list, he also has the best average among any asian bowler with 100+ wickets.

Also, as mentioned in one of the other threads, he is the only asian bowler with match winning 5 wicket hauls in every continent test cricket is played. And by the looks of it, he is only a third into his already celebrated career.

By the time he hangs his boots, he could go down in books as the best asian quick of all time. Not exaggerating it one bit.
 

Slifer

International Captain
Bumrah is just amazing. He'll go down as not just the top Asian pacer but one of the best of all time. I do fear for his body though. And yeah India is catching up to Pakistan but it'll be a while before they are remotelt on the same level.
 

Slifer

International Captain
A 150+ bowler is one thing but to catch up to Pakistan India will need a few more Bumrah level bowlers, which quite frankly they donot have. That and assume Pakistan doesn't produce any world class bowlers at the same time. Pakistan has Imran, Fazal, Shoaib, Waqar, Wasim, Asif, etc.
 

PaulLennon

U19 Vice-Captain
A 150+ bowler is one thing but to catch up to Pakistan India will need a few more Bumrah level bowlers, which quite frankly they donot have. That and assume Pakistan doesn't produce any world class bowlers at the same time. Pakistan has Imran, Fazal, Shoaib, Waqar, Wasim, Asif, etc.
I'd say Shami has already surpassed Asif and Shoaib.

Asif's 106@24.36 average is purely due to him playing only 4 out of his 23 matches at home (where he averaged 42.3). With a far more fair home/away split it would have been way higher.

Shoaib's minus Bangladesh (who he played in their 1st and 2nd years of test cricket) is 161@26.8 (o/w 178@25.7)

Shami is at 214@27.05 (has never played Zimbabwe/Afghanistan etc) (his last 179@24.94, last 110@24.39). Will prolly end at 300ish at 26.xx

Shami and Bumrah will prolly round up the Asian top 5 pacers along with Wasim, Waqar and Imran by the time their careers end. Shami at position 5. Bumrah anywhere from 1-4.
 

weeman27bob

International Vice-Captain
I'd say Shami has already surpassed Asif and Shoaib.

Asif's 106@24.36 average is purely due to him playing only 4 out of his 23 matches at home (where he averaged 42.3). With a far more fair home/away split it would have been way higher.

Shoaib's minus Bangladesh (who he played in their 1st and 2nd years of test cricket) is 161@26.8 (o/w 178@25.7)

Shami is at 214@27.05 (has never played Zimbabwe/Afghanistan etc) (his last 179@24.94, last 110@24.39). Will prolly end at 300ish at 26.xx

Shami and Bumrah will prolly round up the Asian top 5 pacers along with Wasim, Waqar and Imran by the time their careers end. Shami at position 5. Bumrah anywhere from 1-4.
You're forgetting to allow for the Pakistani fielding adjustment which means that Asif and Shoaib both actually average 21
 

Window

U19 Debutant
Similar to how we’re having a conversation about <40 batting averages being acceptable again due to more bowler friendly pitches, surely the same should be considered for bowlers, that today’s acceptable/atg bowling averages are lower than their past counterparts because of pitches? i feel like a comparison between 00s and 10s bowlers will be quite unfair to 00s bowlers when looking at averages alone.
 

PaulLennon

U19 Vice-Captain
Similar to how we’re having a conversation about <40 batting averages being acceptable again due to more bowler friendly pitches, surely the same should be considered for bowlers, that today’s acceptable/atg bowling averages are lower than their past counterparts because of pitches? i feel like a comparison between 00s and 10s bowlers will be quite unfair to 00s bowlers when looking at averages alone.
Yeah but Shoaib played late 90s to mid 2000s mostly. He skipped the late 2000s early 2010s era.

During Shoaib's career,
McGrath had 401@21
Pollock 376@23.13
Ntini 319@27.67
Gillespie 227@26.68
Walsh 175@21.78
Donald 168@20

Akhtar 2004 onwards - Average 30.18
Pre 2004 - 23.41

So he did take advantage of some good fast bowling years.

Asif might be a late 2000s player but he mostly played in favorable conditions due to bans/injuries. He skipped a lot of the flat pitch series that were there in the 00s (tour of Ind 07, Pak in SL 09 aka the bus attack tour etc).
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
Bumrah is just amazing. He'll go down as not just the top Asian pacer but one of the best of all time. I do fear for his body though. And yeah India is catching up to Pakistan but it'll be a while before they are remotelt on the same level.
On pace bowling front, yes, India has some catching up to do. Though that is the topic of the thread, on a side note, as an overall balanced attack is concerned, India's is comparable.

A bowling attack of Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain and Qadir have 1593 wickets@25.58. On the other hand, Kapil, Bumrah, Shami, Ashwin and Jadeja have 1455@26.06. It is a matter of debate though whether Pakistan will pick 2 spinners.
 

Slifer

International Captain
On pace bowling front, yes, India has some catching up to do. Though that is the topic of the thread, on a side note, as an overall balanced attack is concerned, India's is comparable.

A bowling attack of Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain and Qadir have 1593 wickets@25.58. On the other hand, Kapil, Bumrah, Shami, Ashwin and Jadeja have 1455@26.06. It is a matter of debate though whether Pakistan will pick 2 spinners.
Unless Pakistan is trying to self sabotage, no way Qadir makes it in their At xi. Especially outside Pakistan.
 

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