Bowlers win matches. Every cricket fan and aficionado has heard this saying. It doesn’t matter how many runs you score, unless you have bowlers who take 20 wickets it is not possible for a team to win Test matches. While bowling has traditionally being India’s weaker suit, they have produced some world class bowlers over the years, both in the pace and in the spin department. Here is a brief career description of India’s 5 best bowlers.

Kapil Dev

He is considered India’s finest ever all-rounder and the best pace bowler ever to play for India. He was fast-medium and was known for his lethal out-swinger. At one point of time he held the record for the most wickets taken in Test cricket. During the 1980s and early 1990s he was one of the best all-rounders in the world and was capable of winning a match for India both with bat and ball. He played 131 Tests for India and took 434 wickets at a bowling average of 29.64. He took 23 five wicket hauls in an innings and 2 ten wicket hauls in a Test. He is without a shadow of doubt India’s greatest ever all-rounder.

Anil Kumble

He is one of the greatest leg-spinners of all time and is the 3rd highest wicket-taker in Test history with 619 Test wickets to his name. He is the highest wicket-taker for India in Tests. He had a lot of variety in his bowling and had the ability to bowl the leg-spinner, googly and the flipper. He was not a big turner of the ball but was lethal on tracks which offered a bit of assistance to the spinners. He is one of only 2 bowlers who have taken 10 wickets in a Test innings. He took 10/74 against Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi in February 1999. These are the best ever figures by an Indian bowler in Tests. He took 619 wickets in 132 Tests at a bowling average of 29.65. He has 35 five wicket hauls in an innings and 8 ten wicket hauls in a match. Both of these are Indian records.

Zaheer Khan

He is the finest left-arm pace bowler produced by India. When he started his career he had genuine pace but gradually sacrificed pace in an effort to move the ball. He had the ability to move the ball both ways and was capable of doing it both in the air and off the pitch. It is no exaggeration to say that he understands the art of swing bowling more than any other Indian bowler. His name has been mentioned as a future bowling Coach of India. That in itself is a tribute to his achievements and knowledge of the game. He took 311 wickets in 92 Tests at a bowling average of 32.94 with 11 five wicket hauls in an innings and 1 ten wicket haul in a match.

Harbhajan Singh

Among off-spinners, our Harbhajan has the most Test wickets for India and was the first Indian bowler to perfect the doosra. He came of age during the home Test series against Australia in 2001 where he took 32 wickets in the 3 Test series. He holds the record for the most wickets taken by an Indian in a 3 Test series. He single-handedly won that epic series for India with the ball. He has tremendous variation in his armoury and bowled the off-spinner, the doosra and the floater. He has played in 103 Tests and taken 417 wickets at a bowling average of 32.46. He has also taken 25 five wicket hauls in an innings and 5 ten wicket hauls in a match. In both these categories he is second only to Anil Kumble. He also has the second highest number of Test wickets by an off-spinner after Muttiah Muralitharan.

Ravichandran Ashwin

This off-spinner from Tamil Nadu already has many records to his name in Tests. He is the fastest Indian and the 5th fastest overall to take 100 Test wickets. He extracts a lot of turn, bounce and dip from the pitch and bowls a fiercely spinning off-break, the carom ball and occasionally even bowls a leg-break. He has played just 36 Tests and has already won 6 Man of the Series awards which is the most by an Indian player. The fact that he holds these records at such an early stage of his career is a tribute to his prowess and maturity. He has 193 wickets in 36 Tests at a bowling average of 25.2. In his relatively short career he has 18 five wicket hauls in an innings and 4 ten wicket hauls in a match.

These are 5 of India’s greatest ever bowlers who have won laurels for the country with their prowess on the field.