3 Best Indian Bowlers Of All-Time

It would not be wrong to say that there was a time when Indian cricket was not known for its bowlers, as there were only a few bowlers who used to dominate batters with their pace and swing, making it difficult for batters to bat. However, looking at the current time, the Indian team has got one of the best bowlers in their team, who can single-handedly turn the result of the match, whether it's star Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah or the Arjuna Award winner Md. Shami picked the most wickets in last year's World Cup and played a crucial role in helping the Indian team reach the finals of the marquee event. Through this article, we are going to talk about 5 best Indian bowlers of all time.

3 Best Indian Bowlers Of All-Time

1. Kapil Dev

Apart from being a destructive batter and an excellent captain, the former Indian cricketer was known in international cricket for his bowling. After representing the Indian cricket team in 131 Test Matches, he picked a record 434 wickets with an incredible economy of 2.78 with 253 ODI scalps too, collected across an outstanding 16-year international career.

When Kapil Dev took retirement from International cricket, he was still the highest wicket-taker in test cricket, having just passed Richard Hadlee’s total of 431 victims, with the all-rounder subsequently being voted India’s Cricketer of the Century in 2002 on the back of that achievement, as well as also captaining his country to their first World Cup triumph at Lord’s in 1983.

2. Venkatesh Prasad

Venkatesh Prasad was a former Indian cricketer who used to dominate batters with his sheer pace and unpredictable bounce, which he used to get from high-arm action. Prasad has represented the Indian national cricket team from 1996 to 2001 in 33 Tests and 161 ODIs, where he has managed to pick 96 and 196 wickets, respectively.

Prasad was one of the Indian bowlers who could move the ball both ways with a deceptive slower ball to surprise batters. Prasad's most devastating spell came at Chennai where, in the first Test in January 1999, he brought Pakistan's second innings to an end with figures of 6 for 33, which included a spell of 5 for 0.

You might not know Venkatesh Prasad was the inspiration of hundreds of fast bowlers from India and to shape them, he decided to train the Under-19 side before taking as the coach of his stateside in Karnataka.

3. Zaheer Khan

After Zaheer Khan retired from international cricket, the Indian team is still looking for a left-arm fast bowler who holds a great ability in swing bowling and beating the batsman with his unpredictable swing. But it has been 12 years since the legendary bowler retired from international cricket. Despite having great skills, action and pace, the Indian team has been unable to find Khan's replacement yet in international cricket.

Zaheer Khan has represented the Indian national cricket team in 93 Tests and 200 ODIs, where he has taken 311 and 282 wickets with an efficient economy of 3.27 and 4.93., respectively. He took retirement from international cricket when he was mainly inconsistent with the ball and troubled by both hamstring and back injuries after helping the Indian team to lift the 2nd ICC World Cup Trophy in 2011.

Apart from these 3 bowlers, there were several fast bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Javagal Srinath and Irfan Pathan, who made India proud with their bowling skills before retiring from international cricket.