There has always been a shortage of decent pace bowlers in India.  Genuine fast bowlers are a rarity in India.  Zaheer Khan and  others are fast bowlers in the sense they can bowl fast with speeds in excess of 140, but they depend on a tight line and length to pick up wickets if there is assistance from the pitch.  If there is no assistance from the pitch, then they play the waiting game expecting the batsmen to commit mistakes and get themselves out.  Indian pace bowlers like Zaheer Khan hardly pick up five wicket hauls and even if they pick one, it comes in a longish 20 over spell and it is reflected in their career strike rate which is over 60 deliveries for picking a wicket.

Genuine fast bowlers are ones who consistently bowl in speeds of over 140, rip through the opposition line up in a few deliveries and get five wicket hauls in a 10 to 15 overs spell.  One such fast bowler is Sreesanth.  Though Sreesanth is nowhere close to being of international standards among Indians he is the closest with a bowling average of 30.26 and a strike rate of 54.80.  Though it is too early to judge Sreesanth as he has played just 15 tests in 3 years and is in and out of the team, he has some skills which many other fast bowlers do not have among Indians. Sreesanth is among those rare Indian fast bowlers who is capable of ripping through a opposition line up when he  ripped through South Africa batting line up at Johannesburg in December 2006, the other two being Ajit Agarkar fiery spell of 6 for 41 against Australia at Adelaide in 2003 and Javagal Srinath spell against South Africa at Ahmadabad in 1996.

Sreesanth's performance against Sri Lanka when he nearly ripped through a strong Sri Lankan batting line up is a message to Indian camp, that he should be preferred over other Indian pace bowlers for he stands a better chance of picking wickets than others given his ability to rip through opposition batting line ups