Up and Running : The Steyn Gun

Over the years, the cricketing fraternity has seen fast bowlers shine, win test matches for their teams on foreign territories and become a folklore. In the last few decades, we've seen legends like Malcolm Marshall, Dennis Lillee, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and many more bamboozle the great batting line-ups with their art, skill, swing and pace. Personally, having never seen these legends bowling live is an unfortunate event for me. And this brings me to Dale Steyn; a bowler I've admired long for his determination, fitness, strength and skill in an era where the bat has dominated the ball invariably. Dale Steyn has been a true leader of the attack for South Africa in the past decade. His greatness needs no endorsement as his record speaks volumes of the talent he possesses with the ball in hand, especially in Test Cricket. His ability to swing the ball both ways at the start, to reverse swing the ball later, to crank it up a notch and trouble the best even in those dead pitches of the sub-continent makes him a truly wonderful asset to South Africa and World Cricket. He stakes the claim to be hailed as not "One of  the greatest" but the greatest fast bowler bar none in the history of Test Cricket. Reinforcing these viewpoints are few of the following stats:

1. Steyn was top of the ICC Test bowling rankings for a record 263 weeks (a testament to his fitness)

2. Steyn's career strike rate is insanely good at 42.0, meaning he takes a wicket every 42 balls, a genuine wicket taker.

3. Steyn is the quickest fast bowler in history to get to 400 wickets in Test Cricket.

Best of this generation
Records will still say that James Anderson is the best fast bowler of this generation but the batsmen and the contemporary greats of the game will tell a different story. That this champion has done all this in 89 tests is a further proof of his greatness. Off late, Steyn has been plagued by injuries. It is a shame in the last few years injuries have cut short his incredible career. Since 2015 he has missed more than 25 tests. In the mean time, Anderson has surged ahead. Taking nothing away from Anderson and going purely by statistics, Steyn would have been close to 550+ Test wickets had he not succumbed to those injuries. Wherever he went, home and away, Steyn left an indelible mark on every crowd, every fan, every lover of the art of  fast bowling and infused new life in an otherwise lifeless era for bowling aided by flat heavy bats and lifeless pitches. Steyn is 35 now and hopefully, has a couple of injury free years ahead of him. So, let's sit back and enjoy a master ply his trade till the time it lasts.