India's Crop of Pacers
Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and RP Singh form the current pace battery.
... and then the guy who will almost surely join them very soon ...
VR Singh ~ rated highly, regularly clocks 140 kph, mainly an outswing bowler who bangs it in
... and the guys who are just about done ...
Zaheer Khan ~ he's lost fitness, pace and consistency .. 90% chance his career is over unless he pulls off a miraculous recovery with Gloucestershire
Ajit Agarkar ~ somehow managed to last this long, but a single failure or fitness issue will likely mean the end of his stint, at the cost of VR Singh
... and the guys who were doing fine before they got injured ...
Ashish Nehra ~ was bowling quite well at the beginning of the Chappell-Dravid era, his only hope is if he returns from Australia a fit man and finds favor with the selectors
Lakshmipathy Balaji ~ was a promising seamer but it will be near impossible for him to knock over the likes of Sreesanth, Munaf and VRV, who are pacier versions of Balaji
... and the domestic performers who are always overlooked ...
SS Paul ~ very disciplined bowler, did well against England in the warm-up match but the lack of pace means his chances of a national call-up are very limited
Gagandeep Singh ~ another wicket-taking bowler, but he'll be overshadowed by his much-hyped, pacy partner VRV
Sahabuddin ~ if the two guys above don't get a call-up, he doesn't stand a chance
Siddarth Trivedi ~ don't know enough about this guy, but if he was pacy he'd be more talked about, so I'm assuming he'll run out of luck as well
Avishkar Salvi ~ needs to dominate at the domestic level ... still, just because he was a top prospect a few years ago doesn't mean he'll be one right now, India's pace standards have rocketed since then
... and the wild-cards ...
Abid Nabi ~ should be higher up, has impressed the likes of Laxman, Lillee and Chappell with his pace and swing, needs to show results at the domestic level, has a real chance because the upside is huge, apparently the quickest seamer in the nation
V Yomahesh ~ impressed in the U-19 setup but hasn't had a long domestic stint yet, should be tried out though, at least as a Challenger reserve
Vinay Kumar & Aiyappa ~ Karnataka seamers who were highly touted at one point, maybe it was just by the lower pace standards of the past
Ranadeb Bose ~ SS Paul's partner who is pacier but rather low in the pecking order of pacemen