Statistical comparison of the best pacers in the world currently

In cricket we have seen some exceptional fast bowlers from time to time, year after year, but how many bowlers have stayed effective throughout their careers?

Kapil Dev, Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Dale Steyn, Brett Lee, and many more have been some of the legends of the game who troubled every batsman with the line, length, bounce, and pace.

When we take the current generation pacers, the likes of Tim Southee, Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah, and a few more have stood out from the rest. That is why today we'll compare these bowlers on various parameters and leave it to you to decide which bowler is the best in home conditions, away conditions, which bowler can easily bowl under pressure, and so on.

Let's commence!

Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins has been Australia's spearhead for a while now. He is one of the rare Australian bowlers in the current times who is more or less incorporated in the Australian squad in all formats.

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Current Form

Cummins has been in decent form throughout his career. With numerous astonishing performances, he has had a dip in form too. 

Skills and Ability to perform under pressure

Cummins possesses the ability to swing the ball, has a great pace, and he is one of those bowlers who perform under pressure as well. 

He is very consistent, and he can bat too. He may not be the best but he is reliable, and in the modern cricket era, every bowler who can bat is a huge help for his side.

Jasprit Bumrah

One of the best bowlers of his generation, Jasprit Bumrah managed to make his mark in World Cricket sooner than so many bowlers of this generation.

Bumrah with his malignant yorkers often tends to confuse the best batsmen with his lengths, while figuring out his action is another task that not many batsmen have managed until now.

Bumrah, who is among the top five bowlers in international cricket currently is also a gift to the Indians from the IPL. Learning from the very best, Lasith Malinga, Bumrah has been India's pride in all formats of the game.

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Current Form

Bumrah is currently not in the best of his form and has struggled with wickets at times. He has been economical but hasn't lived up to his image of a vicious fast bowler who picks wickets whenever he is introduced to attack.

Skills and Ability to perform under pressure

Bumrah is a phenomenal bowler who not only bowls brilliant yorkers but mixes his lengths very well too. He has a very deceiving slower delivery and his bouncers are enough to choke any batsman too.

However, performing under pressure has not been his best attribute. He has shown that he can handle pressure extremely well in the IPL but he has often struggled to put up with pressure on the international stage.

His inconsistency comes out evidently when he bowls multiple no balls, something that a bowler of his stature shouldn't be pleased with. When compared with the bowlers in the world, Bumrah's batting puts him marginally on the back seat and is another thing that the Indian pacer needs to work on.

Tim Southee

Tim Southee has been a part of the Kiwi squad from the U-19 circuit and has been a trustworthy candidate since then.

A bowler who is currently dealing with more test matches, Southee has had a 13-year impressive career and counting. Let's see how Southee has fared with numbers.

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Current Form

A player with so many wickets under his belt barely needs a judgment on his form throughout the career. There are no doubts about the fact that even Southee has had a dip in form, injuries issue, etc. But his grit and passion for the game has always helped him bounce back stronger.

Skills and Ability to perform under pressure 

Southee is close to 600 wickets and that shows how underrated he has been throughout his career. Southee's ability to move the ball both ways has been very problematic for the batsmen.

He is also a bowler who more or less delivers under pressure and there is a reason why he has had such an influential career. He was also an integral part of the New Zealand squad the won the inaugural ICC World Test Championship and his batting again came as a huge bonus for New Zealand.

Remove his runs and New Zealand could've been in trouble but just like that innings, Southee has often been useful with the bat too.

Kagiso Rabada

Another bowler, and perhaps the first since the Proteas had Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, Rabada has been South Africa's constant breakthrough bowler in most of their games.

A fierce bowler who hits the deck hard, and is known to bowl some ravishing bouncers, Rabada is also on the path of becoming one of the greatest bowlers in the sport.

Any idea of his numbers? Let's have a look.

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Current Form

Rabada has been in top form and currently, he has been very decisive on the tour against West Indies. He has been involved with match-changing Figures in every format, be it the Tests, ODIs, or the T20Is.

He is one of the very few bowlers who is not easy to hit and even the best batsman finds it hard hit him out of the park consistently. What do you think? Will he touch the 600-wicket mark?

Skills and Ability to perform under pressure

Rabada is another bowler who is renowned for his exceptional bouncers. However, another quality of Rabada that stands out is his ability to be equally effective against both, the left-handed batsmen and the right-handed batsmen.

Rabada is superb under pressure and some of his super-over performances are a perfect example to prove the point. However, Rabada is one of those bowlers who has the potential to break more records but his fitness may put his future in question. Not to forget, he has begun to strike the ball well too and that has been hugely helpful for the Proteas in a lot of situations.

Trent Boult

Our only left-arm bowler in the list, Trent Boult is a bowler who broke the headlines very early in his career. A natural wicket-taker, Boult has a unique and soothing action but you won't believe the pace with which he manages to release the ball.

Being a left-arm bowler,  he's a huge menace to the right-handed batsmen and has often proved his effectiveness. He can open the innings, he can bowl at the death, and he can also be introduced in the middle to break a partnership.

That's the kind of bowler Boult is. Believe us, when you see his numbers, you will only realize that the sky's the limit for him.

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Current Form

The ICC World Test Championship Final was clear proof of Boult's form. Proving all the above points true, Boult was remarkable with the ball in the final and was also influential in the series against England before the final.

Boult was only a part of the deciding Test against England but he still delivered. 

Skills and Ability to perform under pressure.

Boult is one of the bowlers who has everything in his book. 

He can bowl a bouncer, he can bowl a toe-crushing yorker, and his slower ones are also known to be out of the world. As far as pressure situations are concerned, Boult has turned up on many occasions, be it a brilliant super over in the ICC World Cup 2019, or the last over that resulted in a super over.

New Zealand may have lost the final, but his bowling was certainly top-notch, proving the fact that Boult can be extremely effective in high-pressure situations too.

However, just like other world-class bowlers, even Boult needs to watch out for his fitness.

Another bowl that seems to be on the right track is Kyle Jamieson. His lengths are exquisite, and Jamieson is very disciplined with his action too. He doesn't offer much width to the batsmen and his ability to move the bowl in both directions causes huge problems to the batsman he bowls.

Jofra Archer from England could also be a member of this list in future. Do you have any other bowlers who could join this list? Let us know. 

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