Trying the Left way – Left-arm seamers to play for India in last 10 years

The left-arm pace is a variety every team likes to add in its line-up as it gives a better chance of dismissing right-handers with the new ball. The demand for a quality left-arm pacer has increased especially in the limited-overs as the white ball doesn’t swing for more than 5-6 overs. However, it has been a struggle for India to find a proper left-arm pace bowling option in the last decade.

The successful heroes

The 2000s was probably the decade of left-arm pace for India as the likes of Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra and RP Singh graced the Indian jersey. Most of the time, India had two of them being part of the playing XI and there were many instances where as many as three played together. But RP Singh and Irfan Pathan didn’t play an International after 2011 and 2012 respectively while Zaheer Khan mostly played Tests for three years after the 2011 CWC triumph.

Nehra blissed for a brief period between 2016 and 2017 where he played the WT20 held in India and retired gracefully. But the development with roping in left-arm pacers wasn’t great in this period. While the Indian batsmen suffered playing some quality left-arm pace bowling in knockout matches, the investment on the left-arm pacers didn’t go the right way. Khaleel Ahmed is the most experienced International player at the moment from this category of bowlers.

Youngsters in reckoning

Khaleel has played a total of 25 International matches; all in ODIs and T20Is across which he took 28 wickets. Jaydev Unadkat played 17 limited-overs matches but is also the only left-arm pacer to have debuted for India in Test cricket since the start of 2010 although he didn’t play more than one game. Barinder Sran was directly taken to Australia for his debut in 2016 but injuries later that year saw there was no comeback from the Punjab pacer.

Since then, it has become tough for Barinder to even get a chance to play IPL matches on a consistent basis. Sreenath Aravind is the other left-arm pacer who came into the scene for India in this period. The Karnataka pacer made his debut in a T20I against South Africa in 2015 which turned out to be his only international appearance. A couple of years ago, Aravind announced his retirement from professional career itself.

(Stats as on August 25, 2020)