3 statistics that reinforce India's dominance in Test cricket since 2016

#1 Second best average by a pace attack - 26.17

The trio has claimed 136 wickets between them

If you are an Indian cricket fan of a certain vintage, seeing the current pace attack that India have at their disposal would be nothing short of a fairytale.

India has had great fast bowlers in the past; the likes of Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan come to mind instantly. But never in their history have the Men in Blue assembled a factory of fast bowlers so ruthless, consistent yet different in their skill sets as they possess right now.

The numbers tell the same story.

The combined bowling average and strike-rate of the Indian pace attack since 2016 are 26.17 and 52.5 respectively, second only to their South African counterparts whose corresponding figures read 22.51 and 42.2.

Apart from their pace and consistency, the most striking feature of this Indian pace attack lies in how different they are from each other. Umesh Yadav has established himself as India's fast bowler in home conditions courtesy his mastery over the SG ball and reverse-swing. After Ravichandran Ashwin (108 wickets) and Ravindra Jadeja (94 wickets), Yadav has the most wickets (50) in home conditions for India.

In overseas conditions, the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami have spearheaded the bowling unit. Bumrah claimed 49 wickets from 10 overseas Tests in his debut year while Ishant (66 wickets at 26.33) and Shami (97 wickets at 26.34) have done their job admirably since 2016.

India's pace attack of Shami [47], Bumrah [48], and Ishant [41] claimed a total of 138 wickets between them in 2018. Notwithstanding all the runs from Kohli and Pujara, the bowlers were the real superstars last year, paving the way for India's eventual success in Australia.