Praveen Kumar bowls around 130 kph and I'm quite confident in his chances of being test-class if he ever gets a call-up (if Sreesanth isn't ready, that could be very soon).
I'm not a kiwi, but you're on.
I don't agree. Praveen Kumar can touch 130 kmph, but his stock speed is around 125 kmph in First class cricket. I watched him in the Ranji Finals and was baffled at his average despite having only that much pace. He might make a good ODI bowler, but at the moment, Sree is way better than him in tests.
Probably... I suppose I don't have any real hard reason for saying this but I do think right now, I would rather have Zaheer Khan in my side than Sidebottom.. And even at Lords, he did bowl well at times, but he was up against a Pieterson in full flow, which in effect, was better than any batsman Sidebottom had to face... EVen Sachin and Ganguly were showing more determination than fluency in that series as batsmen... Pieterson at Lords was a knotch above any other batsman at any other time during that series.. That has to be considered as well while rating Zak's performance...
No he was well below, he peaked in the low 140's throughout. Hence my belief he's not an express bowler, just a young pace bowler with more potential than destroying power at the moment.
Praveen has been around 130 kph in international cricket; I watched that Ranji final as well and I realize that he was slower back then. If you're so concerned with pace, Balaji shouldn't even be on the radar right now.
Certainly not express but with that bounce, movement and accuracy, batsmen sometimes appear to be beaten by pace. Ishant's usually around 140 kph, especially in the subcontinent; on better pitches, he cranks it up and can touch 150 kph.
Haven't seen him bowl much in the past few months but he was never quite cranking those high speeds when I last saw him. Though him speeding up a bit lately wouldn't surprise me, I rate him very highly.
Yeah, i would too, for form and fitness reasons. As bowlers I'd overall rank them more or less the same- both excellent.
Thanks
Balaji and P Kumar bowls the same speeds in the longer version. And Balaji has much better skills than Kumar. Hence given a choice between the two for test matches, I'd go for Balaji.
You struggle to explain his incredible FC record though (he has a SR of 50, incidentally). 144 fluked wickets?
It's kind of a paradox. Many bowlers before him have even more spectacular figures and yet have struggled to make an impact in International cricket. Examples include Debasis Mohanty and that great T20 death bowler Joginder Sharma
Wow, sorry you're right. I had forgotten about that.
Joginder Sharma's never been given a test though. 150 balls bowled in ODI cricket are hardly enough to label him a failure. Nor is a bad over at the death in prank-cricket. Debassis Mohanty, too, only played two tests. Only the Wonder of the Modern World that is Amit Mishra could make an impact in that time.
Personally I still believe Mohanty was picked before he peaked but there should be some reason for not picking him despite those extra-ordinary figures.
In any case, I'd say Chaminda Vaas's case proves that a sub-continent bowler can indeed have success even if not bowling at great pace. The pitches are generally on the slowish side anyway so noone's going to be beaten by pace against anyone but the Taits and Akhtars of the game.
I agree.
