3 Indian fast bowlers who were better than their stats suggest

The Indian team is renowned for manufacturing run-machines, evident from the fact that the Indian batting line-up has been the strongest in the world in the last couple of decades. Bowling has never been India's strength, especially outside the Indian sub continent, but that has begun to change.

In recent times, Indian pace bowlers have proved their prowess with the ball in the limited overs format of the game. India's best death overs bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, is the top ranked bowler in one-day internationals and the two young Indian wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are at the third and eighth positions respectively.

Playing on flat Indian pitches makes it tough for the fast bowlers to have an impact on the game, but there have been some who have stood out with their incredible skills. Here are three Indian bowlers who were better than their stats suggested, primarily because they played most of their matches on the batting-friendly Indian pitches.

---

# 3 Venkatesh Prasad

Venkatesh Prasad

Venkatesh Prasad came into the Indian team in the year 1994 and became a regular feature in the limited overs side because of his ability to swing the new ball both ways. Prasad was also adept at bowling a variety of slower-balls, which made him one of the most dangerous bowlers of his era.

In his ODI career which lasted for seven years, the lanky fast bowler represented India in 161 matches, bagging 196 wickets at a decent average of 32.31. However, Prasad was a way better bowler than his stats suggest and produced numerous match-winning performances with the ball.

---

# 2 R P Singh

R P Singh

R P Singh possessed all the attributes to become one of the finest limited-overs pace bowlers for India but unfortunately, his stats don't depict that.

Singh came into the limelight with his performance in the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2004, where he picked up eight wickets at an average of 24.75. He was called into the Indian squad for the Zimbabwe tour in the year 2005 and in his debut game he ended up with impressive figures of 2 for 44.

Singh represented India in 58 One-Day Internationals, picking up 69 wickets at an average of 33.95.

# 1 Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan became an immediate superstar for India with his heroic performance in the ICC Champions Trophy 2000, where he bagged seven wickets at an incredible average of 24 and an unbelievable strike rate of 27.4. He is arguably the best fast bowler India has had in all formats of the game since the 'Haryana Hurricane' Kapil Dev.

Khan became a regular feature in the India squad with his ability to bowl pin-point yorkers and swing the ball both ways. He was also an important asset of the World Cup winning team which lifted the coveted trophy in the year 2011.

Zaheer's ODI career lasted over a decade and he produced numerous match winning performances with the ball for India. He represented India in 200 ODIs, bagging 282 wickets including a solitary 5-wicket haul, which was fairly low considering the enormous amount of talent he possessed.