***Official India in New Zealand***

[Evermind]

Actually, it's been quite close over the past year or two. The numbers don't tell the story at all.

Always the argument in support of Indian pacers. Not one of them has an average below 30 except Kapil Dev!

 

[honestbharani]

Always the argument in support of Indian pacers. Not one of them has an average below 30 except Kapil Dev!

Maybe that is the reason...


Did you even watch Zaheer bowl in the last year?



And he comfortably outbowled Sidebottom when India were there in England...

 

[Uppercut]

Haha, Sidebottom has been awesome, but he's hardly McGrath whereby stating Zaheer is better is a sin.

Zaheer has been amazing in 2008, and stats were ridiculously misleading. Did he even play a test overseas? Pretty sure he copped subcontinent decks all year.

Sidebottom's figures are equally misleading, if not moreso. In the three-match series in Sri Lanka, he had seven catches dropped off his bowling. The only time he's bowled badly since coming back into international cricket was against South Africa in the summer just past.

Maybe that is the reason...


Did you even watch Zaheer bowl in the last year?



And he comfortably outbowled Sidebottom when India were there in England...

Hum, he didn't really though. He just turned his good bowling into wickets better (bowling against Ian Bell instead of Tendulkar helped too). Something that, over his whole career, Sidebottom has done better than Zaheer, as figures show.

I don't think there's much between them.

 

[Jono]

Always the argument in support of Indian pacers. Not one of them has an average below 30 except Kapil Dev!

Who ever uses that argument?

Do you believe Zaheer's figures for 2008 sum up how well he bowled that year?

 

[honestbharani]

Sidebottom's figures are equally misleading, if not moreso. In the three-match series in Sri Lanka, he had seven catches dropped off his bowling. The only time he's bowled badly since coming back into international cricket was against South Africa in the summer just past.



Hum, he didn't really though. He just turned his good bowling into wickets better (bowling against Ian Bell instead of Tendulkar helped too). Something that, over his whole career, Sidebottom has done better than Zaheer, as figures show.

I don't think there's much between them.

I don't know.. I think Sidebottom is more consistent by a tiny bit but I think Zaheer has a lot more weapons at his disposal as a bowler. As has been said, in 2008, I think Zaheer has been a bit of a stand out performer, esp. considering the tracks he had to bowl on most of the time...


And yeah I watched every ball of that India in England series and I thought Zak was a more consistent threat with the ball than Sidebottom was, forgetting about wickets.. I am simply talking about chances here... And Zak went past the bat just as many times as Sidebottom and I think there were a few LBWs that were not given for Zak as well.. it is not like Sidebottom was consistently better and was only let down by bad catching and bad umpiring... Zak was better all over.. not by much, but he definitely outbowled Sidebottom in that series, for me... And in the end, it was the key to us winning the series.

 

[Precambrian]

Always the argument in support of Indian pacers. Not one of them has an average below 30 except Kapil Dev!

Which current pace bowler averages less than 30 in India except Dale Steyn?

 

[Uppercut]

I don't know.. I think Sidebottom is more consistent by a tiny bit but I think Zaheer has a lot more weapons at his disposal as a bowler. As has been said, in 2008, I think Zaheer has been a bit of a stand out performer, esp. considering the tracks he had to bowl on most of the time...

Yeah, he's had a real purple streak. But it hasn't been long enough that we can ignore all that went on before it- and also, like Ishant, he hasn't managed to take the amount of wickets that his bowling seems to deserve.

And yeah I watched every ball of that India in England series and I thought Zak was a more consistent threat with the ball than Sidebottom was, forgetting about wickets.. I am simply talking about chances here... And Zak went past the bat just as many times as Sidebottom and I think there were a few LBWs that were not given for Zak as well.. it is not like Sidebottom was consistently better and was only let down by bad catching and bad umpiring... Zak was better all over.. not by much, but he definitely outbowled Sidebottom in that series, for me... And in the end, it was the key to us winning the series.

Yeah, maybe a touch (he had a much easier lineup to bowl to though). He bowled badly at Lord's though, in the rain-inflicted bail-out. Like i say, there really isn't a great deal to choose between them... let's see how they go in the Windies and NZ respectively.

 

[Uppercut]

Which current pace bowler averages less than 30 in India except Dale Steyn?

Well Praveen Kumar averages 23 in India's FC system. But he has attitude problems that for some reason only matter when it comes to picking the test side .

 

[Precambrian]

Well Praveen Kumar averages 23 in India's FC system. But he has attitude problems that for some reason only matter when it comes to picking the test side .

In tests mate. There are atleast 5 FC bowlers in India who average less than 23. None of them, including Kumar can be considered test class. And none of them bowls above 125 kmph.

 

[Prince EWS]

I considered starting a thread about this a month or so back, but I thought it'd just look weird. I can't resist posting it though and I've obviously been reminded of it again in this thread - I just love Uppercut's posts. Most new members that join are average at best from the outset and gradually become decent. Ocassionally you'll get someone who either expresses insightful ideas, has good knowledge of players and issues or fits in with the way things work here and posts extremely regularly straight away. Uppercut's defied all convention and actually demonstrated all of these within the first six months of his membership.

CricketWeb's Mendis IMO.

 

[Precambrian]

I considered starting a thread about this a month or so back, but I thought it'd just look weird. I can't resist posting it though and I've obviously been reminded of it again in this thread - I just love Uppercut's posts. Most new members that join are average at best from the outset and gradually become decent. Ocassionally you'll get someone who either expresses insightful ideas, has good knowledge of players and issues or fits in with the way things work here and posts extremely regularly straight away. Uppercut's defied all convention and actually demonstrated all of these within the first six months of his membership.

CricketWeb's Mendis IMO.

AWTA. He is such a nice guy to argue with. And unlike Mendis, he's yet to have a Sehwag.

 

[Uppercut]

CricketWeb's Mendis IMO.

I'll be sigging that.

 

[Lambu]

Which current pace bowler averages less than 30 in India except Dale Steyn?

Ishant Sharma

Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av 5 Ct St
unfiltered 15 118 23 13.11 0 44 5/118 31.59 1 5 0
filtered 8 40 14* 10.00 0 31 5/118 24.83 1 2 0


Pretty good i would say.

 

[Lambu]

I don't know.. I think Sidebottom is more consistent by a tiny bit but I think Zaheer has a lot more weapons at his disposal as a bowler. As has been said, in 2008, I think Zaheer has been a bit of a stand out performer, esp. considering the tracks he had to bowl on most of the time...


And yeah I watched every ball of that India in England series and I thought Zak was a more consistent threat with the ball than Sidebottom was, forgetting about wickets.. I am simply talking about chances here... And Zak went past the bat just as many times as Sidebottom and I think there were a few LBWs that were not given for Zak as well.. it is not like Sidebottom was consistently better and was only let down by bad catching and bad umpiring... Zak was better all over.. not by much, but he definitely outbowled Sidebottom in that series, for me... And in the end, it was the key to us winning the series.

That is exactly what i am talking about. And your analysis of that India in England tour agrees with mine HB.

 

[Precambrian]

Ishant Sharma

Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av 5 Ct St
unfiltered 15 118 23 13.11 0 44 5/118 31.59 1 5 0
filtered 8 40 14* 10.00 0 31 5/118 24.83 1 2 0


Pretty good i would say.

Am surprised. And pleasantly surprised considering his tests have come against Aus, SA and Pakistan all very good teams (Pakistan in the subcontinent).

 

[biased indian]

avatar challange any kiwi can take this up.... for one month.... inda to win the test series for me .....if its draw no one wins

 

[Uppercut]

Am surprised. And pleasantly surprised considering his tests have come against Aus, SA and Pakistan all very good teams (Pakistan in the subcontinent).

The flip-side is that it pinpoints how poor his record is outside of India though. I'd expect him to improve it for sure, but still.

 

[Precambrian]

The flip-side is that it pinpoints how poor his record is outside of India though. I'd expect him to improve it for sure, but still.

He has played only in Aus and SL right? And his figures particularly in Australia are ridiculously unrewarding considering the efforts he put in.

 

[Jono]

Plus it was his debut series.

 

[Precambrian]

Plus it was his debut series.

Nope, I guess it was the preceding home series against Pakistan.