Deadliest bowlers

1. SHOAIB AKHTAR ‘THE RAWALPINDI EXPRESS’ (Pakistan)
Tests- 46, Wickets- 178, Average- 25.69, Fastest- 100.3
Akhtar is to batsmen what the bogeyman is to kids. End of story! He burst on to the scene with a Thomson-like slinging action, superb wrist movement and a run-up that was almost as long as the Thanksgiving Day Parade. More often than not, batsmen failed to even see the ball, let alone play it. The terror that he inspired in the batsman hadn’t been seen since the times of Griffith and Larwood. The pace was unparalleled, the consistency remarkable and the aggression simply scary. Shoaib Akhtar personified express pace bowling in an era when medium pacers shamelessly paraded as quick bowlers.

Shoaib Akhtar with Salman Khan

Great Akhtar

2. DENNIS LILLEE (Australia)
Tests- 70, Wickets- 355, Average- 23.92
Lillee has to be the most ‘complete’ bowler to have graced the game. In his early days, he was all-out pace, with a riotous rage and uncontrollable, unfathomable aggression. He was the demolisher, reminding you that it’s the bowling attack and not the bowling defence. He was fast, accurate and had modelled himself on the West Indian greats of the past. Returning from a career-threatening spinal fracture, Lillee continued with the same amount of venom in his bowling as before; a testament to his sheer greatness. Any mention of fast bowling is just incomplete without the mention of the incomparable Dennis Lillee.

3. WAQAR YOUNIS ‘BOREWALA EXPRESS’ (Pakistan)
Tests- 87, Wickets- 373, Average- 23.56, Fastest- 95.2
If Imran was the one who developed it and Wasim the one who exploited it, then it was truly Waqar who used reverse swing to a devastating effect. Pitching it menacingly fast and full, Waqar aimed for the base of the leg stump and if the batsman’s toes came in the way, well, that was just collateral damage. He was single-handedly responsible for getting M/S Nike and Adidas more business as batsmen of his generation stocked in quality shoes to protect their ankles from those 93 mph cruise missiles of his.

4. WASIM AKRAM ‘THE SULTAN OF SWING’ (Pakistan)
Tests- 104, Wickets- 414, Average- 23.62
In his heyday, Wasim Akram could bend it better than Beckham. The wholesale proprietor of the ‘banana swing,’ Akram used his mentor Imran Khan’s teachings to a devastating effect. He was rattling the off, middle and leg stumps of the world’s best when the likes of Akhtar and Steyn were in playschool; and to his credit, he continued to do so right until the next generation arrived. For a diabetic man to leave a sour taste in the batsmen’s mouth is surely the epitome of irony.

Wasim Akram with his wife Shaniera

5. MALCOLM MARSHALL (West Indies)
Tests- 81, Wickets- 376, Average- 20.95
Many regard Marshall as the finest fast bowler ever to play the game of cricket. I am one of the many here. Marshall had all the weapons of a true fast bowler in his arsenal- pace, aggression, variety and wicket-taking ability. In the 1980s, he stood head and shoulders above all the legendary fast bowlers of his generation. (which, by the way included almost half a dozen from his own team) He could bowl bouncers at will, while hurling down toe-shattering yorkers the very next delivery; and he did all of this with a remarkable consistency. Truly, a legend!