Never has a decade gone by where the  Indian bowlers have been on an equal footing with the batsmen in terms of grabbing the headlines. And to talk about Indian cricket in the last two years, batters come nowhere close to the bowlers when it comes to consistency and dominance, with the stats backing the latter heavily.

Much of the credit for the bowlers’ rise in the domain of Indian cricket has to be given to the resurrection of the Indian pace attack, inspired by Jasprit Bumrah. Also, the old horses Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar ageing like fine wine, have only helped in their successful quest of becoming the most lethal pace-bowling unit of the world.

However, the rise of fast-bowlers has done a little to push the spinners away from the glory as India’s premier bowler Ravichandran Ashwin finished the decade as its highest wicket-taker across formats, despite missing out the limited-overs outings since the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.

Ravindra Jadeja has also been Virat Kohli’s go-to man in the spin department. After being cornered from the white-ball cricket for a period, he has reinvented himself as a versatile cricketer.

Top 5 Indian bowling performances in last decade:

1. Ishant Sharma at Lord’s in 2014

Ishant Sharma’s 7/74 at The Lord’s in 2014 has gone down in the history books as one of the best bowling performances by an Indian. It had helped the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team to register a historic Test victory against England at the venue.

In what was a great display of short-bowling, Ishant had made the English batsmen, in Sunil Gavaskar’s words, “commit hara-kiri” in the middle while chasing a target of 319.

Starting with the wicket of Ian Bell, the then 25-year-old had ripped apart England’s middle-order. The sheer audacity of Ishant to pitch the ball short against the batting unit, which grows up facing bouncers, had bamboozled the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes.

2. Zaheer Khan in ICC World Cup 2011

Before the 2011 World Cup final, the last time India played a similar match was in 2003 against Australia. While the latter was lost, the Men in Blue won in 2011 to script history. And one can argue the difference between both the matches was how Zaheer Khan had performed.

In the 2003 final, Zaheer was hammered all around the park for his wicketless figurer of 67 runs, with 15 coming in the first over. Fast forward to 2011, the left-armer, with tonnes of experience, bowled his career’s best opening spell. In first 5 overs, with just 8 runs, Zaheer had taken a wicket and bowled 2 maiden overs.

With 21 wickets, Zaheer was the joint-highest wicket-taker of the 2011 World Cup and much like what always used to happen with a bowler, the talismanic pacer’s performance went unsung and uncelebrated.

3. Ravichandran Ashwin in Hyderabad in 2012

Harbhajan Singh’s continuous dip in form had caused a major headache to the Indian team management as they kept on searching for the next premier spinner. While Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had been in the fray for some time, they were yet to fill the void left by Harbhajan Sigh.

With New Zealand coming in for a two-match Test series, the selectors tried their luck with Ashwin once again and the Chennai-born spinner never looked back. The 12 wickets in Hyderabad (6/31 in 1st innings; 6/54 in the second innings) in 2012 was not just the advent of a great international career but a call to Harbhajan that he would not have it easy anymore in the squad.

Ashwin had backed up his performance in Hyderabad with another 5-for in Bengaluru and another 12-wicket haul in the first test against Australia in Chennai the same year.

4. Jasprit Bumrah in Australia in 2018-19

That Jasprit Bumrah was a gifted white-ball bowler and destined to serve the national team in Blue was an established fact, his viciousness with the red-ball was an unchartered territory though. But when the cricketing universe saw the 26-year-old’s ability in all-whites to full extent, it was left gasping at the inconceivable thought of how an Indian bowler like him came into being!

If the 5-for against England at Nottingham in 2018 was a glimpse, the Australia tour was a coruscating display of Indian pace attack’s new ambassador. With 21 wickets, he was the joint-highest wicket-taker of the series and his 12-wicket haul in the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground will remain immortal in the pages of cricketing folklore.

Though the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner had made the lives of Indian bowlers easier, but to expose the Australian batsmen with pace and seam and have them dancing at the Down Under was something not seen in a long time.

5. Mohammad Shami in ICC World Cup 2015

With a career ravaged by off-field controversies and injuries, what Mohammad Shami has achieved since his debut is remarkable in many senses. After making his debut against Pakistan in 2013, Shami was immediately pushed into the shadow of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the latter was deemed to conquer the world with his swing.

But with Bhhuvneshwar missing the major part of the 2015 World Cup, Shami was handed in the responsibility to shoulder the pace-battery alongside Umesh Yadav. While Umesh was impressive with his pace and movement, it was the UP-born Bengal pacer who grabbed the limelight with a total of 17 wickets in seven matches, including three consecutive 3-wicket hauls.

The only match – the semi-final against Australia – in which Shami went wicketless, had seen India losing.