Pace bowling has become a key in the modern day of the game of bat and ball. Countries who possess good quality pacers, have the ability to stop any team in their team. Speed has become a factor nowadays where a bowler bowling at 150 is judged quite good.
Currently, almost all the International teams have got a great pace bowling attack, but, the best belongs to the likes of Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand. While Australia have the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, India boasts of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
However, the one area that the Indian team is lacking behind almost all the team is the lack of left-arm pacers. Indian team currently don’t have an established left-arm pacer in the team.
There was a time when Team India had the services of pace kings and left-arm pacers like Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and even count Irfan Pathan.
But, since they all have retired, Team India have tested a number of players, but of them have failed. So today in this article, we take a look at the 5 left-arm pacer Team India tried after them Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, but failed to live-up to the expectation.
Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat is a big name present in the Indian domestic cricket. But, when it comes to playing for Team India, he hasn’t live-up to his true potential. Unadkat was involved with the Indian team even before Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra had retired, but he couldn’t make his opportunity count. He played a total of 18 matches in all formats for India and has picked-up 22 wickets.
Khaleel Ahmed
The left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed impressed everyone with his bowling in the domestic cricket. But, he has failed on the given opportunities to play for the Indian team. He impressed everyone in the U19 World Cup and was called-up to the Indian team, but couldn’t utilise the opportunity well. He has got good number of chances, but failed in everyone of those. He has played a total of 25 matches including the ODI and T20I and has taken 28 wickets. Given he is just 24-years-old, he can still improve and make a return to the team.
Sreenath Aravind
S Aravind or Sreenath Aravind was another left-arm pacer tried and tested by the Indian team. He got the opportunity after he was impressive with the ball in the IPL while playing for the RCB franchise. However, once he took the jump to International stages, he couldn’t do the same. He played only 1 match for India and picked only 1 wicket. But most importantly, he gave away runs at an average of 44 and economy rate of 12.
Barinder Sran
Barinder Sran was called-up to the Indian team after his performance in the domestics and the in the IPL 2016. Sran got opportunities in total of 8 matches for Team India including the ODI and the T20I. He took a total of 15 wickets in those matches, but lost among the talents coming through. His numbers were especially impressing in the T20Is, taking 6 wickets in 2 matches against Zimbabwe.
