India’s One-Day Internationals’ season hasn’t gone too well since the double success at Australia and Pakistan. They have started well at the ICC Champions Trophy, but for things to reach top gear, their pace attack have to fire and Lakshmipathy Balaji has already returned injured; Zaheer Khan didn’t even make the trip. Here, former Pakistan pace great Waqar Younis — in England as a commentator — shares his thoughts with TWF correspondent Krishna Gupta about the Indian fast bowlers and compares the Indian pacemen with their Pakistani counterparts…

Why do you think there are so many really competent fast bowlers coming out of India now?
I think there is always a trend. The problem with India was that they have traditionally had good batsmen and spinners. And youngsters try to become like their heroes. Now, if you don’t have a hero who is a fast bowler, you won’t try to be one. But then Kapil Dev came, and immediately after him a number of people arrived like (Manoj) Prabhakar and Chetan Sharma and others. Then (Javagal) Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad. And now you have so many….

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The excuse always given was that Indian pitches don’t encourage fast bowling.
I don’t think that’s true. We have similar pitches in Pakistan. But we have always had fast bowling heroes. It started ages back with Khan Mohammad and Fazal Mahmood. Then, just before Wasim (Akram) and me, there were Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Sikander Bakht and others. So we knew what we were doing. Once people discover the charm of fast bowling, the trend has to develop.

So what do you think of India’s current crop of pacers? Weren’t they actually better than the Pakistan pacers in Pakistan?
Well, I wouldn’t say that. But yes, I think, especially Irfan Pathan, is a great find. While there are some bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar, they are injured most of the time. I am not saying they are bad. But they are injured. Irfan is the only guy who looks really strong. And I think he won’t get injured, because his body is really strong. He is not very big, but he is strong. And he doesn’t try to bowl faster than he can, unlike the others. Also, Irfan is a swing bowler, so he will always do well. So is Nehra…. But Zaheer and (Lakshmipathy) Balaji are seam bowlers. They might not do well everywhere.

What makes Irfan so good? And really, how similar is he to Wasim, with who you bowled so much and so well?
Irfan has done well in Australia, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The two best things about him are that he is a left-armer and that he can bring the ball in to the right-hander, which is what made Wasim a great bowler. No left-arm bowler can be really great till he can bring the ball in to the right-hander. Irfan has already shown that he can become a really good bowler.

And why do you think the Pakistan pacers haven’t developed more in recent times?
There is lots of talent. When you see bowlers like Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Akhtar bowl, you can see there is a lot of talent. Then there are the back-up pacers like Shabbir Ahmed and Umar Gul and other youngsters like Rana Naved-ul Hasan and Riaz Afridi. So talent is not a problem. I don’t know why they are not doing better. Maybe they are just not hungry enough. I also think that they are not competing for wickets. When Wasim and I bowled, we were always competing with each other. If I took one, he wanted two. If he got two, I wanted three. Maybe these bowlers don’t do that. But see how things have already started improving under Bob Woolmer (the coach). I think he will be able to set things right.

Has there also been a bit of a shift towards spin in recent times?
No. I don’t think so. There are a few talented spinners around, but we have always had talented spinners who mainly play in the home matches. Our main area will always be fast bowling.

What about yourself, Waqar? You retired very recently…do you think it was the right decision?
I think so. I am happy. I had a good run. I did very well for over a decade. That’s good for a fast bowler. I had a couple of serious injuries, but I took rest and returned only when I was 100 per cent. I felt that after the 2003 World Cup, it was the best time to retire. So I did. I don’t regret anything at all. Now, let’s see what happens. I am doing a bit of commentating. Maybe something else will come up sometime after this.