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Ranking Top Five best pace attacks in ODIs
India’s bowlers were simply sensational in the first ODI against England
India dominated England in the first ODI and won the match by 10 wickets. Although their performance was all-round great, what jumped out the most was India’s bowling. England batters who decimated New Zealand and India in the Test suddenly looked vulnerable in front of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and others.
It got the fans thinking if India ranks among the top five pace attacks in ODIs. It certainly does, but who are the rest four. Let’s look at the top five pace attacks in ODIs right now.
5. South Africa
Kagiso Rabada (Image source: Twitter)
South African ODI pace attack includes Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje. All of whom have done well in the shorter format, primarily in the Indian T20 League. The South African pace trio has 215 ODI wickets between them.
Kagiso Rabada when fit is one of the best fast bowlers in the world, but regular injury has never allowed these three to get together and become the very best in business.
4. New Zealand
Trent Boult (Image source: Twitter)
New Zealand’s pace attack includes Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry. These five have a total of 536 ODI wickets between them.
The New Zealand team have been reaching the final of the last two ODI World Cups on the back of Boult’s and Southee’s immense bowling. They have however also lost two World Cup finals back-to-back which dents their reputation a little. An ageing Southee and Boult who focus more on Tests and thus, makes their bowling attack fourth best.
3. Pakistan
Shaheen Afridi (image source: Twitter)
Pakistan has historically been known to produce some high-quality pacers. Players like Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, and Imran Khan, are but a few who ruled cricket for a long time.
The current Pakistan team has gone down a notch in terms of quality but still has some world-class pacers with great potential. Led by Shaheen Afridi, the Pakistan pace attack could still give nightmares to opposition batters as India found out in the Champions Trophy 2017 and the T20I World Cup 2021.
Pacers like Shaheen Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf make the Pakistan pace attack third-best in the world right now.
2. India
Jasprit Bumrah (Image source: Twitter)
India has been historically known to produce great batters with few quality pacers like Zaheer Khan cropping in between. Recently, however, there has been an uprising in the number of quality pacers in India.
Today, the Indian pace attack consists of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Prasidh Krishna with the likes of Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik and many others competing for the berth from outside.
The current trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have 411 ODI wickets between them. With quality bowlers like Prasidh Krishna supporting the main bowlers, India’s pace attack seems to be the strongest in the history of Indian cricket.
1. Australia
Pat Cummins (Image source: Twitter)
The Australian ODI bowling attack includes Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. The trio has 411 ODI wickets between them. The exact same as Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvneshwar.
They however also have an ODI World Cup. With the experience of bowling at SENA pitches, which edges them ahead of India in the best pace attack in ODIs.
