Saurabh Netravalkar picks his top five pacers of all time, includes 2011 World Cup winner [Exclusive]

In an exclusive interaction with CricTracker, United States of America cricketer Saurabh Netravalkar picked his five greatest pacers of all time. The left-arm seamer named Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Shaun Pollock and Geoff Allott, while also including 2011 World Cup winner Zaheer Khan.

During a rapid-fire segment, Netravalkar said that taking wickets in the powerplay and playing against India are among his favourite experiences. He spoke about bowling to Virat Kohli and praised the calmness of MS Dhoni, calling it remarkable. He added that leading from the front and maintaining a silent focus suit his own approach.

Netravalkar also labelled Rohit Sharma as king and described Kohli as a fearless cricketer. He highlighted Wasim Akram’s pace, swing and reverse swing, Zaheer Khan’s mentality, Nathan Bracken’s slower ball, and James Anderson’s longevity as qualities he greatly admires.

Excerpts from the interview

Pick your top 5 best pacers of all time.

Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Zaheer Khan, Shaun Pollock and Geoff Allott

Rapid Fire (This or That) 

Powerplay wickets or death-over wickets? - Powerplay wickets
Bowling to Rohit Sharma or bowling to Virat Kohli? - Virat Kohli
Playing vs India or playing vs Pakistan? - India
Swing bowling or seam movement? - Seam
New ball or old ball? - New ball
MS Dhoni’s calmness or Virat Kohli’s aggression? - Calmness
Leading from the front or leading from behind the scenes? - Front
Silent focus or sledging mindset? - Silent focus

'One Word, One Cricketer!'

Fearless - Virat Kohli
Stylish - Suryakumar
Underrated - Rinku Singh
Speed - Mitchell Starc
Calm - Steve Smith
Genius - AB de Villiers
Magician - Shane Warne
Fighter - Rahul Dravid
King - Rohit Sharma
Clutch - Steve Waugh
Golden Arm - Sachin Tendulkar
Leader – Ricky Ponting

Last Man Standing🏆

Pick the best T20 Bowler (Elimination)

Mohammed Siraj or Shaheen Afridi
Kuldeep Yadav
Kagiso Rabada
Pat Cummins
Jacob Duffy
Arshdeep Singh
Mitchell Starc
Marco Jansen
Jasprit Bumrah
Varun Chakaravarthy

Blind Rankings:

Best Test bowler of all-time
Dale Steyn
Glenn McGrath
Zaheer Khan
Mohammed Shami
Wasim Akram
Jasprit Bumrah

Pick your Dream bowler:

Pace - Wasim Akram
Accuracy - Glenn McGrath
Mentality - Zaheer Khan
Swing - Wasim Akram
Reverse swing - Wasim Akram
Slower ball - Nathan Bracken
Yorker - Lasith Malinga
Longevity - James Anderson