Who is India's best pacer at present ?

The present Indian Test team is blessed with one of the best pace bowling units of all time. The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Jadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who form the backbone of the pace attack, are all very good pacers.

Although they do not possess, great Test match records like Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan or Javagal Srinath, but on their day, each of them can be match winners, and together they form a very formidable unit.

In this article, we have ranked the present Indian pacers, depending upon their overall test match records and match-winning capabilities:

#5: Umesh Yadav: Matches: 38 Wickets: 106 Average: 34.66

Umesh Yadav's raw pace and the beautiful out swings, cause trouble to all the top order batsmen. Because of his ability to pick up early wickets with the new ball, Umesh Yadav has often been India's choice for opening the bowling in test matches, in the last few years. His ability to bowl good yorkers and bouncers to the lower order batsmen has also helped India to clean up the opposition's tail.

However, unlike the other pacers, Umesh has been inconsistent and hence has not been able to become the leader of the pace attack.

Rather, he has always played the supporting role of second or third pacer, behind Ishant, Bhuvneshwar or Shami.

As a result of his inconsistency, his test match record is also below par, considering his great potential and match winning capabilities.

#4: Jasprit Bumrah: Matches: 4 Wickets: 21 Average: 22.61

Bumrah is the newest addition to the Indian pace attack in test matches. He is only 4 test matches old. After his consistent match-winning performances in ODIs and T20s, Bumrah got his opportunity in the longest format of the game, in South Africa. With his lethal in swingers and bouncers, Bumrah has already bowled out top batsmen of the world.

His match-winning spells in England and South Africa, shows his immense potential as a test match bowler. He has the capability to lead the Indian pace bowling attack in the coming years and be one of the best pacers in the world.

#3: Ishant Sharma: Matches: 85 Wickets: 249 Average: 35.16

Ishant is the most experienced bowler in the Indian pace attack. He has been a part of the Indian Test Team for over a decade. In his long and illustrious career, Ishant has bowled many match winning spells. Although he was inconsistent in his early days, but with experience, he has become more reliable in the last few years. With almost 250 test match wickets in his kitty, Ishant has already established himself as one of the best Indian pacers of all time.

#2 Md Shami: Matches: 33 Wickets: 118 Average: 29.76

Shami has been one of the best Test match bowlers for India in the recent years. His ability to swing the ball both ways, at a very good pace, makes him a very difficult bowler to face. He is also one of the best proponents of reverse swing in the present generation. Because of his ability to get the ball to reverse, he is as dangerous with the old ball, as he is, with the new one. He has been one of the most consistent wicket-takers for India in recent times.

He is definitely one of the best pacers India has ever produced. With a long career ahead of him, Shami definitely can achieve even greater heights as a bowler and win India many more test matches.

#1: Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Matches: 21 Wickets: 63 Average: 26.09

England v India: 3rd Investec Test - Day Two

The "King of Swing", Bhuvneshwar, has been the spearhead of the Indian pace attack in the last 1-2 years. He is one of the best pacers in the world at present. His ability to swing the ball both ways makes him almost unplayable in pacer friendly conditions. He has consistently run through the opposition top order and produced match winning spells for India in Test matches, especially outside the subcontinent.

He is a real asset to the Indian Test team. With a long career ahead of him, Bhuvneshwar has the potential to become one of the greatest ever Indian bowlers of all time.