India lucky to have bowlers like Umesh, Aaron - Glenn McGrath

India lucky to have bowlers like Umesh, Aaron – Glenn McGrath: Indian cricket team is utterly known for the intimidating and jaw dropping pace of their fast bowlers. But, in advent of the last few years two speed demons with enthralling pace in the higher 140’s have burst on to the scene. Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav are the two undisputed speed demons from India who can set the world stage on fire. A whopping speed of 152.5 kph and 151.8 kph are the fastest balls bowled by Aaron and Yadav respectively in international arena. To be precise, these are not the numbers which you would generally associate with Indian pacers.

Recently, legendary fast bowlers like Glenn Mcgrath and Sir Andy Roberts hailed the Indian duo of Yadav and Aaron. Mcgrath asserted that: India are pretty lucky at the moment – in Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, they’ve got two bowlers who bowl up around that 150kph mark, which is unusual. (Mohammed) Shami had a great World Cup and he can bowl quite well, too. So there are a few going around.”
Sir Andy Roberts expressed his special liking for Yadav. He insisted: “I am very impressed with Yadav. He is the first genuine fast bowler that India has got. I don’t think before him India had a genuine fast bowler. Another boy (Mohammed) Shami is also good. But I want both of them to be a bit more aggressive. And when I mean aggressive, I don’t mean one needs to swear,”
In the recently concluded World Cup, Yadav’s performances indicate his coming off age as now the Indian pace spearhead finally looks settled in Indian colours. Yadav was the third leading wicket-taker with 18 scalps in 8 innings at an astounding average of 17.83. In the tournament, he had a miser economy of 4.98 which is less than his career economy of 5.74 which also highlights his progress as a bowler in leaps and bounds. Indian team was always after the consistent speedster Yadav than an inconsistent fast bowler Yadav.
Aaron also impressed everyone with his decent performances in test matches against England. Apart from clocking speed in higher end of 140s, he also picked up some crucial top order scalps. He took 5 wickets in the 2 tests he played in England. In an IPL match against Delhi Daredevils, he won the man of the match award for his ferocious display of ardent fast bowling. His bouncers were unplayable even for international giants like Angelo Matthews and who knows this better than Stuart Broad who suffered a broken nose after he got a brutal bouncer from Indian speedster which still gives him goose bumps whenever he steps on to the field with willow in his hand.
For the upcoming tour of Bangladesh both of them are selected for national duties. While, Yadav will be featuring in both ODI’s and Tests, Aaron misses out in ODI’s. The fast bowling duo looks to be mouth watering prospects in the longer run. It would be interesting to see whether Indian quick bowlers who have a certain history of sacrificing pace for the sake of swing and consistency can exhibit the same pace in times to come or not.
Although, there has never been a doubt about the top notch skills of the duo but only time would tell whether they can translate their speed into kind of success which the likes of Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar relished during their time. The art of fast bowling is a matter of dreadful burden on the anatomy of a man. Let’s see, how they maintain their fitness and consistency in an era characterized by engagement on the field for around 270-80 days a year.