Pakistan has been known in the cricketing fraternity as the land of fast bowlers. Pakistan has had an abundance of fast bowling talent throughout its cricketing history.
The likes of Fazal Mahmood and Khan Mohammad were the first to come in, then came along Imran Khan, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and now the latest pace sensation is Shaheen Shah Afridi.
As many fans believe, Pakistan has produced some of the best fast bowlers, but the record speaks otherwise.
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No Pakistani fast bowler has taken 200 Test wickets since Waqar Younis achieved the feat back in 1995. Waqar at that time became the youngest fast bowler to take 200 Test wickets and became the third Pakistani fast bowler to achieve the feat. Only Imran Khan and Wasim Akram had done it before him.
26 years later, no Pakistani fast bowler has been able to cross the mark.
Many fast bowlers came, performed for a few years and were either dropped, had off the field controversies or suffered from injuries. The Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar, came closest with 178 Test wickets to his name, but his career was marred by injuries and controversies. He played only 46 Test matches in a Test career that spanned over 10 years.
It is a known fact that Pakistan do not get to play as many matches as other cricketing nations and even if they do, the players don’t get a long run in the team.
To put this into context, Indian fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, has played 97 Test matches since his debut in 2007, while both Waqar Younis and Imran Khan, despite playing more years of cricket than him, have played 87 and 88 Test matches respectively.
Another example of Pakistani players not getting enough Test cricket is that six Indian cricketers have played more matches than Pakistan’s highest capped player, Javed Miandad.
Miandad played 124 Test matches in a career spanning 17 years, meanwhile India’s sixth-highest capped player, Sunil Gavaskar, played 125 matches in a career that spanned 16 years. This also debunks the theory that there is more cricket in this era than the previous era. Miandad and Gavaskar both played their cricket in 70s and 80s.
But, all can’t be blamed on Pakistan playing less cricket than other countries. Pakistan has had a history of bowlers either not living up to their reputation or fading away quickly.
Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif are prime examples. Hailed as the next best fast bowling duo in world cricket, they faltered off and were caught in the infamous spot-fixing scandal. They played a total of 59 Test matches between them, picking up 225 wickets.
Umar Gul’s fate was similar to Shoaib Akhtar’s. He suffered a lot of injury issues throughout his career and his once-promising Test career was cut short, but he still had an illustrious limited-overs career to his credit.
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Shaheen Afridi might be the next victim of this whole fiasco. Shaheen at the age of 20 is the spearhead of the fast bowling unit. He has already played 13 Test matches and quite a few ODIs and T20Is as well. Pakistan’s hopes rely on his shoulder’s and fans will be hoping he doesn’t run into any injury issues or off the field controversies.
Here are Pakistan’s top 10 fast bowlers in terms of wickets:
| Bowler | Matches | Wickets | Average |
| Wasim Akram | 104 | 414 | 22.62 |
| Waqar Younis | 87 | 373 | 23.56 |
| Imran Khan | 88 | 362 | 22.81 |
| Shoaib Akhtar | 46 | 178 | 25.69 |
| Sarfaraz Nawaz | 55 | 177 | 32.75 |
| Umar Gul | 47 | 163 | 34.06 |
| Fazal Mahmood | 34 | 139 | 24.70 |
| Mohammad Amir | 36 | 119 | 30.47 |
| Mohammad Asif | 23 | 106 | 24.36 |
| Abdul Razzaq | 46 | 100 | 36.94 |
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