Indian cricket team's fast bowling stocks are very healthy: Jason Gillespie

Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie on Tuesday spoke about how the modern-day fast bowlers are improving with every given day, while also expressing his thoughts on how the stock of pace bowlers looks very healthy.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda’s Indranil Basu, the former Australian speedster shared his opinions on the state of fast bowling in the modern era. When asked if the standards of bowling were coming down in recent times, Jason Gillespie gave a nuanced reply.

“The state of bowling around the world is really really healthy. In the lockdown, people like to talk about the past and compare eras. But the game does improve and get better, what I like to see is if people celebrate and respect the past but be thankful for live cricket we are seeing," said Jason Gillespie.

Jason Gillespie is one of the stalwarts of Australia’s greatest cricket generation to have ever graced the game. Together with Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie formed the fearsome quartet that reigned terror in the cricket field in the early 2000s.

Jason Gillespie feels India has a good stock of pacers

The former pacer gave examples of pace bowlers from India, Australia and England who have kept the fire burning of the greatest and the most hardworking aspect of the game of cricket---pace bowling.

"I am excited by the bowlers around the world. The last decade we have seen Dale Steyn, if we talk about India as an example, Ishant, Bumrah, Shami, Bhuvi to name a few, Umesh Yadav, I think stocks are very healthy," he said, referring to the fiery Indian pace bowling arsenal.

Jason Gillespie further talked about how Australia had produced a competitive bench strength of pace bowlers in the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Michael Neser and Jackson Bird.

He also pointed out that for England, greats such as James Anderson and Stuart Broad were still playing at the highest level. Jason Gillespie referred to the improved strike rates of the modern pace bowlers and iterated that cricket was indeed getting better.

“I am a big believer that players improve and get better, cricket is getting better. In Test SR has improved, T20 SR is improving. Bowlers in T20 have to be more precise with line and length, yorkers and slower balls. If they are not right, they will get smacked,” he added.

Jason Gillespie last played for the Kangaroos in 2006 and since then has been making his presence felt in the coaching arena of the game.