'Want more aggression from Umesh, Shami' - Roberts

Andy Roberts, the former West Indies fast bowler, has called Umesh Yadav India's first 'genuine fast bowler'. Speaking to Press Trust of India, Roberts said he was impressed with Umesh and Mohammed Shami, but wanted them to be more aggressive.

"I am very impressed with Yadav," Roberts said. "He is the first genuine fast bowler that India has got. I don't think before him India had a genuine fast bowler. Another boy (Mohammed) Shami is also good. But I want both of them to be a bit more aggressive. And when I mean aggressive, I don't mean one needs to swear."

Roberts said Javagal Srinath was quick too, but not quite among the world's fastest in his time.

"Let me just tell you that there is a lot of difference between a fast bowler and quick bowler. Kapil Dev was a swing bowler but he was not a quick bowler. India's first ever quick bowler that I saw was Javagal Srinath but again he was not in that league of fast men like Yadav, who can hit mid-90's."

Asked how he would approach bowling to the most destructive batsmen in contemporary cricket, Roberts said he would use the short ball aggressively.

"The kind of heavy bats that these guys use, I would have forced them to go for hook shots," Roberts said. "I would have used the short ball more effectively. The kind of heavy bats they use, it's not easy to quickly get into position for a hook shot. But nowadays, even fast bowlers are trying to hit the length rather than bowl bouncers.

He also said he would use the quicker ball as a change-up in addition to the slower ball.

"Variety is not about slowing up but also quickening up," he said. "I always see that for bowlers, the change-ups mean that delivering a slower ball. Why can't change of pace be if someone who is bowling around 88-90 mph increases it up to 95 mph. It's a sudden increase of pace and that's also a variation."