5 Indian fast bowlers on the fringes who can rise to the occasion when needed 

In November 2014, former India captain Sourav Ganguly had expressed concern over lack of quality pace bowlers in India who can inspire the next generation.

"India have produced good bowlers at times. May not be a Wasim or a Waqar who were outstandingly gifted but someone like Srinath, who was genuinely quick. Zaheer Khan too, was an outstanding seamer. We've had good bowlers in periods but have not had the supply like Pakistan has produced,” media reports quoted Ganguly as saying.

Cut to 2017. Another former captain, Kapil Dev, has expressed gratitude over surplus in pace bowling options in the Indian team.

“Today we have started depending on fast bowlers. There was a time we didn't have any fast bowlers and today we have so many fast bowlers. The people who are sitting out could have played for India any day," said Kapil Dev. 

There was a time in Indian Cricket when quality pacers were a luxury. Today, they have a luxury of a different sort - the abundance of quality pacers in the team and in the reserves. Not many would have envisaged an India’s quickies wreaking as much havoc as the spinners during India’s long home season, on subcontinent pitches. Umesh Yadav pocketed 30 wickets from 12 matches and was the third highest wicket-taker behind Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

In the IPL that followed, young pacers were the talk of the tournament. From Basil Thampi to Siddharth Kaul, pace bowlers were on a rampage.

Besides Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya, who are playing the 3-Test series, here are 5 Indian pacers in the reserves who are proving to the world that Indian cricket does not rely on spinners alone. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 

The fact that the role of an in-form pacer like Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been reduced to a mere drinks carrier in the on-going series proves that the competition for the pacers at the international level is intense.

In the second Test against New Zealand in Kolkata last year, Kumar yanked the game in India’s favour with his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests at home. He has also three five-fers outside India in the longest format. 

However, with competition from Shami and Yadav, he has been able to make only token appearances in whites.

Ishant Sharma 

With the vast experience the bowler brings to the table, from 10 years of international cricket, he should have technically been the leader of India’s pace attack, rather than a mere onlooker from the dugout. But again, India have enough pace weapons in their attack for a spin-friendly pitch. Even with 218 wickets from 77 Tests, the veteran bowler has to face cut-throat competition at the highest level. 

Basil Thampi 

The uncapped player pocketed 11 wickets from 10 games in IPL 10 for the Gujarat Lions. His pinpoint Yorkers have propelled greats like Glenn McGrath to call him the future of Indian cricket. The 23- year-old from Kochi picked only two wickets from four games in the recently-concluded quadrangular series between India A, Afghanistan A and South Africa A, but his bowling speed of 140kmph can bamboozle even the best in the business. (We saw that during IPL, when Thampi hit Steve Smith with a dangerous bouncer)

Shardul Thakur 

Thakur was the highest wicket-taker for India ‘A’ in the ODI quadrangular series in South Africa. The Rising Pune Supergiant bowler also put in clutch performances throughout IPL, and was particularly instrumental in their last league game, when he took 3/37. He has 55 wickets from 33 List A matches, and his aggression is something to look out for. 

Siddharth Kaul

Kaul was the third highest wicket-taker in the tri-series against South Africa ‘A’ and Afghanistan ‘A’, but he is capable of much more than eight wickets from four games. He was very impressive in IPL 10 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, picking up 16 wickets from 10 games, including a career-best 4/29.