Genuine pace is becoming a rare commodity in cricket these days. What’s even more puzzling is that bowlers who break into international cricket with searing pace get slower within years, contrary to pacers like Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram, who went decades bowling at roughly the same speed. Pakistan pace legend Waqar Younis has an explanation for what has changed in modern-day cricket that has caused this ‘pace drain’.
“Don’t forget that cricket itself has changed. When we used to play, cricket was different. Test cricket was given the highest preference, followed by One Day cricket. One Day cricket was there in our times but T20 didn’t exist. That was a major factor, and we had plenty of time to prepare ourselves,” Younis said on the Unplugged podcast with Shubhankar Mishra.
“As for modern-day cricketers—setting India aside for a moment, leave India out of it—cricketers from all over the rest of the world travel around, play in leagues worldwide. I think the reason is that when you play so much cricket… and don’t make the mistake of thinking T20 cricket is easy. It might seem like it’s just four overs, but the pressure those four overs create on you is probably more than even a full 10-over spell in a One-Day match. That’s because your neck is on the line; every single ball is tough for you.
“So when you start out, you bowl at 150 km/h, but after a while, you have to keep learning new things. You have to learn: How do I bowl a slower ball? How do I bowl a wide yorker? How do I survive? The question becomes: How do I survive? Now, once the thought of survival enters your mind, that 150 km/h speed is gone. Understand that at 150 km/h, you should be in control all the time—not the batter. But on today’s pitches, with the kind of batters playing now, when they hit you for two boundaries—which is very common these days—your mindset as a bowler instantly shifts,” Younis explained.
Younis said that it was up to cricket boards to protect their pacers.
“It is crucial for all cricket boards—like England has done, and Australia to some extent as well—to keep your Test bowling unit separate. Have them play four-day cricket, three-day cricket, or whatever long-format cricket you have. That unit should be separate so they can practice bowling 20 to 25 overs a day while maintaining 150 km/h, because in Test cricket, you don’t have that fear. But because players come in after playing so much T20 cricket, they carry that fear right into Test matches as well,” added Younis.
