Mohammad Asif

[adharcric]

why is Dhoni's name misssing from that list??
i think the guy has made a bigger impact on the game than Akmal

hmm yeah, he just doesn't seem as recent as munaf, sreesanth and raina, but then neither is akmal.

 

[tooextracool]

The fact that he's doing it on pitches which aren't favouring the seamers is what amazes me. For example in Pakistan's 2nd innings of the 3rd test against India, when Pakistan were piling on plenty of runs, everyone was claiming the wicket had flattened out and India could draw the match etc. etc. Then Asif gets the ball for Pakistan and suddenly the ball is nipping in a mile and all the Indian batsman don't have a clue. Again, the SL pacers couldn't do jack all on the pitch, it was all Murali, yet Asif destroys SL.

He's a star in the making, and I think he'll do very well in England.

i dont know what you have been watching, but from what ive seen so far all 3 of the last 3 test match wickets that hes played on have offered plenty of assistance for seam bowling. karachi had appreciable movement in the first innings, while not so much in the 2nd(but still enough to help accurate seam bowlers), colombo offered plenty in that first innings but absolutely nothing in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings(not that he was absolutely brilliant in the 3rd inning either) and of course Kandy has offered enough to assist accurate seam bowling as evidenced by the fact that even razzaq took a 4fer.
Of course all of this criticism is not to denounce Asif who i think is a fine bowler who gets far more seam movement out of wickets than most other fast bowlers and bowls some very good off cutters, but to say that the wickets that he has bowled on havent been helpful is absolutely not true.

 

[tooextracool]

ok ur saying that a fast bowler who consistently fools the batsmen with swing and seam with accurancy on pitches in sri lanka can't be called good? as far as I know bowlers like that would be leathal on seamer friendly pitches.

by the way Asif swings the ball much more than either Powell or Lawson IMO. maybe the conditions were better this time around for fast bowlers than when WI were here (with all the rain and cloud cover), i don't know.

actually Asif barely swings the ball, a more accurate statement would be that he gets more seam movement than both Powell and Lawson. Powell bowled plenty of outswingers on that tour to SL i might add.

 

[Jamee999]

Legend.

 

[Nate]

Dhoni`s glovework has been pretty scratchy, especially recently. Patel has only played a handful of matches, and hasn`t been amazing in any of those. He`s been good in a few, but far from incredible. And Sreesanth (?) has been good in helpful conditions, and very average in many matches.

What about Clark? Great young talent.

 

[HowsThat]

So far Asif has played in 4 test matches, and three test wkts were bowling friendly (Karachi and two test wkts in Lanka) and the matches were low scoring ones.Also he took most of his wkts against weak opponents, like Lanka.

It remains to be seen as to how he fares against top team on pitches that haven't got much for bowlers.So far he has played one test against a top team in Australia, and he only got a hamerring.

 

[Armadillo]

I'd like to see how he fares at Worcestershire and later on against England, but right now he looks formidable, especially on those pitches.

 

[godofcricket]

Of course all of this criticism is not to denounce Asif who i think is a fine bowler who gets far more seam movement out of wickets than most other fast bowlers and bowls some very good off cutters, but to say that the wickets that he has bowled on havent been helpful is absolutely not true.

Yeah but these sort of wickets are far less bowler friendly then what he might get in england, he has bowled well where it is more difficult for fast bowlers to get wickets. Hence in england the chances of him getting wickets are more........whatever views u have about him, the thing is he has an excellent line and length which is the most important factor, and with this factor he can be successful on all sorts of wickets.

 

[Armadillo]

why is Dhoni's name misssing from that list??
i think the guy has made a bigger impact on the game than Akmal

Dhoni has proved that he is an impatient test batsman. Sure, he can hit the ball, but in tests that is not necessarily required. Dhoni needs to mature in tests.

 

[IndianByHeart]

I'd like to see how he fares at Worcestershire and later on against England, but right now he looks formidable, especially on those pitches.

Pitches in England is only going to encourage him more, don't see how he will fail there.

 

[TT Boy]

I'd like to see how he fares at Worcestershire and later on against England, but right now he looks formidable, especially on those pitches.

What turning pitches, other than days one and two at Colombo, these tracks offered not much assistance to the pace bowlers. Maharoof, Kulasekara, Malinga, Anjum and Razzaq were not cutting the batsman up, only Gul when he was not bowling half trackers and Asif could do such a thing. Asif was constantly a threat even when the track at Colombo went flat on days four and five, the guy still was squaring batsman up and cutting right through them.

 

[Jono]

i dont know what you have been watching, but from what ive seen so far all 3 of the last 3 test match wickets that hes played on have offered plenty of assistance for seam bowling. karachi had appreciable movement in the first innings, while not so much in the 2nd(but still enough to help accurate seam bowlers), colombo offered plenty in that first innings but absolutely nothing in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings(not that he was absolutely brilliant in the 3rd inning either) and of course Kandy has offered enough to assist accurate seam bowling as evidenced by the fact that even razzaq took a 4fer.
Of course all of this criticism is not to denounce Asif who i think is a fine bowler who gets far more seam movement out of wickets than most other fast bowlers and bowls some very good off cutters, but to say that the wickets that he has bowled on havent been helpful is absolutely not true.

I never denied Karachi had movement in the first innings, because it obviously did but to even say that the pitch was bowler friendly from day 3 and beyond is silly. It wasn't flat, but it did flatten out a lot, and that's how Pakistan piled on 599. There is no way in hell any team can hit 599 at the speed Pakistan did (140.1 overs) on a bowler friendly pitch. It gave a little movement, and wasn't as flat as what we'd seen in the previous 2 tests, but it was not a bowler friendly wicket.

When India batted in the 4th innings, the pitch was still flat, the only assistance it offered was a little uneven bounce (which is how Asif bowled Sachin, the ball stayed low) but it was far from a green top or anything. I'm sorry, but players like Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq do not pile on 97 (161), 60 (46) and 90 (141) respectively on a bowler friendly wicket.

And in regards to this Sri Lanka match, if it was so pace bowler friendly than how the hell did the Sri Lankan pacers only manage to take 5 wickets between them for 237 runs at an average of 47.1? What about Gul and Anjum doing crap all as well? It doesn't matter how crap a seam bowler you are, if the pitch is offering as much assistance as you are suggesting, they'd get more wickets than they did and wouldn't have given away as many runs as they did.

Asif makes a pitch look more dangerous than he is. Compare these pitches to the ones seen in the Aus vs. SA tour when not only was Clark lethal, but Ntini, Lee, Nel and others were all getting seam movement.

 

[Jono]

What turning pitches, other than days one and two at Colombo, these tracks offered not much assistance to the pace bowlers. Maharoof, Kulasekara, Malinga, Anjum and Razzaq were not cutting the batsman up, only Gul when he was not bowling half trackers and Asif could do such a thing. Asif was constantly a threat even when the track at Colombo went flat on days four and five, the guy still was squaring batsman up and cutting right through them.

Thank you!

 

[honestbharani]

Asif, Clark, a couple of INdian fast medium bowlers who actually bowl at a decent speed AND move the ball....... Are the bowling stocks around the world rising again?


On topic, I have said the day since he made his comeback in the second test against India... He is a special talent.

 

[SA]

Javed Miandad had made a comment about Mohammad Asif later last year i.e "Gaandh phaad de ga angrez ki" (Will blow up the as*h*l*s of English) & I think thats gonna prove true in Pakistan's upcoming tour of England.Only way that the Englishmen can save themselves from Asif & Shoaib is by preparing wickets which are as dead as they were in first 2 tests of India vs Pakistan series earlier this year.I think Mohammad Asif & Munaf Patel are one of the best young fast bowlers of the world but they need to perform against sides like Australia also.Umar Gul bowls too many short-pitched delliveries & Sreesanth has been very expensive most of the times I've seen him bowling.

 

[chaminda_00]

lol Clark considered a young up and coming bowler at the age of 31

 

[Fusion]

Javed Miandad had made a comment about Mohammad Asif later last year i.e "Gaandh phaad de ga angrez ki" (Will blow up the as*h*l*s of English) & I think thats gonna prove true in Pakistan's upcoming tour of England.Only way that the Englishmen can save themselves from Asif & Shoaib is by preparin wickets which are as dead as they were in first 2 tests of India vs Pakistan series earlier this year.I think Mohammad Asif is one of the best young fast bowlers of the world along with Clark & Munaf Patel.Umar Gul bowls too many short-pitch ed delliveries & Sreesanth has been very expensive most of the times I've seen him bowling.

I know Miandad can make outlandish statements at times, but I doubt even he would say something offensive like that. You sure someone didn't exagerate his comments when you read/heard them?

 

[SA]

I know Miandad can make outlandish statements at times, but I doubt even he would say something offensive like that. You sure someone didn't exagerate his comments when you read/heard them?

Mate, I read it on another forum & that guy claimed to have copied the statment from an article on cricinfo About Mohammad Asif.I'm not sure whether Javed Miandad used exactly the same words or not but Miandad definitely said something about Mohammad Asif which cricinfo published in an article regarding Mohammad,a month or 2 ago.

 

[Jono]

Pakistan's worries in England won't be how well Asif and Shoaib do with the ball, it'll be how well their batsman play the likes of Freddy, Hoggard, Harmison and Jones if he's fit. At the moment far too many of their batsman struggle at the sign of any movement at all, whether off the pitch or in the air.

 

[tooextracool]

Yeah but these sort of wickets are far less bowler friendly then what he might get in england, he has bowled well where it is more difficult for fast bowlers to get wickets. Hence in england the chances of him getting wickets are more.........

really? i care to disagree. Sl pitches have been low scoring for the last 2 seasons and offered plenty for the pace bowlers. Karachi did the same. As far as English pitches offering more is concerned, thats merely a stereotype, games in England have typically been high scoring over the last 2 summers with conditions not offering too much in terms of conventional swing or seam. There has been help for reverse swing but thats about it.

whatever views u have about him, the thing is he has an excellent line and length which is the most important factor, and with this factor he can be successful on all sorts of wickets.

thats questionable, line and length doesnt get you wickets everywhere unless you can do something else with it. theres a reason why bowlers like Pollock are struggling to take wickets these days.