Pathan has come of age!

[Richard]

Oh, don't worry - I'm perfectly in the know about the Indian Pathanoverexcitism.
Some people do get bad ideas about people's performances sometimes, though, especially in English domestic cricket when mixed-in with countless other stars and asteroids.

 

[Richard]

....said the man in the orthopedic shoes.

Err... uh?

 

[wrangler203]

this is so sad, we were never known for our freaking bowlers, especially our pace bowlers, what the heck are all you guys on?. zaheer and pathan are even classified as fast bowlers, i thought to be a fast bowler you needed to bowl faster than 140 km/hr, because sadly, pathan unless he gets quicker by around 10-15 km/hr and still maintans his swing and control, his not going anywhere fast. Unless india play bangladesh and zimbabwe a lot.

And zaheer, come on man, that guy was accused of being overweight, i remmeber seeing him in the icc knockout at nairobi,he looked so much better, hes lost all of it, all he can do is freaking glare at the batsmen and deliever bouncers at 133 km/hr.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Err... uh?

Just a wee gag (not a gag about wee I hasten to add).

 

[Richard]

Er, yeah, I gathered that, just didn't get it in the slightest.

 

[GladiatrsInBlue]

Whole world knows & even he has admitted himself many times that Wasim Akram is his ideal & he tries to copy him in every possible way.He has learnt all the swings & tricks from Wasim Akram &even his bowling action looks quite same to that of Akram.
.

So whats wrong in getting inspiration from a certain's pacers action?? Umar Gul has openly admitted admiring McGrath and he tries his level best to copy him!! Can you write him off saying he is a fake copy of McGrath??

Mushtaq Ahmad was a desciple of Abdul Qadir and he learnt all the trade from him, infact initially his action looked alot like Qadir, later on he established his own identity and went on to become a good bowler.

I am not a sense-less person like Miandad who speaks before & thinks after that

But i must give some credit to a known idiot like Miandad to eventually come to thinking and change his mind speaking.Its never to late to learn, IKP's performance made MIandad make a U-turn.

 

[GladiatrsInBlue]

No, he impressed against - amazingly enough - Zimbabwe, in a series which just happened to be in Australia.

As a new commer to test cricket , IKP won admiration in Australia for his amazing skill and swing.He has won the ICC young player's award (i believe last yr or so).

IKP is improving by series after series and his real test will be against England in England, and i believe IKP will be a major threat to English team.

THe Khan will Rise again!

 

[krishneelz]

pathan would not make it to any other international team except india zim and bang

 

[Richard]

As a new commer to test cricket , IKP won admiration in Australia for his amazing skill and swing.

No, he won admiration because he clearly has potential, something he's not yet looked like living-up to. And he also won admiration because he took some wickets against Zimbabwe, which any fool can do.

He has won the ICC young player's award (i believe last yr or so).

And you'll forgive me for giving not a flying fook about that, people win awards left-right-and-centre these days - and especially where they're "young" or "upcoming" or similarly styled things they mean precisely sod-all.

IKP is improving by series after series

No, he's not, and until he does his figures won't get any better.

his real test will be against England in England, and i believe IKP will be a major threat to English team.

That is possible, if England bat as poorly as they have this summer.

 

[Arjun]

I must ask again, what's the big deal about Irfan Pathan? Sure, he's talented, but he's not refined. Sure, he's got good swing, but he sometimes 'loses' it and bowls utter rubbish at a little over medium-pace. Sure, he's made rapid strides as a bowler, but they've been against minnows and he's bowled rubbish agaisnt top teams- Zaheer, in comparison, has had his best figures against New Zealand and Australia. Besides, he's only played for over a year and a half without much FC experience, so why push him into the role of strike bowler so early? That's the biggest mistake the people in charge have made. Zaheer's figures may not be the best, but he's still a lot better equipped to lead the attack than Irfan.

 

[Shoaib]

Zaheer's figures may not be the best, but he's still a lot better equipped to lead the attack than Irfan.

I think this sums up the whole thread for me.

 

[Richard]

Whatever happened to just picking 4 spinners - Kumble, Harbhajan, Sarandeep and Kartik?
If there really aren't any seamers of any real ability - and that Khan is the best really does say something - why not just prepare turning pitches and do away completely with the seamers?
And when you go away, pick 5 seamers in the squad and if you get conditions which offer something to the seamers consider picking a few, otherwise just let the spinners do the donkey-work on flat pitches.

 

[greg]

Whatever happened to just picking 4 spinners - Kumble, Harbhajan, Sarandeep and Kartik?
If there really aren't any seamers of any real ability - and that Khan is the best really does say something - why not just prepare turning pitches and do away completely with the seamers?
And when you go away, pick 5 seamers in the squad and if you get conditions which offer something to the seamers consider picking a few, otherwise just let the spinners do the donkey-work on flat pitches.

Don't you think that has been the policy that India have been effectively operating for most of their test existence? Maybe they actually want to move forward and compete in overseas tours at some point in the future, and that means they need to encourage their seamers to develop.

 

[Richard]

So... encouragement to the seamers is offered by... picking them on pitches that offer nothing whatsoever, seeing them get belted around, losing home Tests, seeing the seamers get the blame for losing the home Tests, having their confidence destroyed, being made an example of, and causing young kids to think "I don't want some of that"...

 

[whitedazzler]

though he has been bowling against weak opposition i think its the start of the next wasim akram for india something they have been wanting for a long time

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

though he has been bowling against weak opposition i think its the start of the next wasim akram for india something they have been wanting for a long time

There's no clear indication of it though.

He took 5 wickets in 3 Tests (v Aus, SA) before he played 2 Tests against Bangladesh. In those two Tests he took 18 wickets. "Hooray! He's come of age."

He took 6 wickets in his next 3 Tests (v Pakistan). "Whoops... there goes gravity."

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Richard does have a point. Granted, there are seamers who can prosper on Indian pitches.

 

[Arjun]

So... encouragement to the seamers is offered by... picking them on pitches that offer nothing whatsoever, seeing them get belted around, losing home Tests, seeing the seamers get the blame for losing the home Tests, having their confidence destroyed, being made an example of, and causing young kids to think "I don't want some of that"...

Maybe because the seamers picked for India don't have the raw material to compete with the best? One's bone-thin, while another resembles one of Snow White's dwarfs, and none of them have any pace. Is it so hard to find a quality fast bowler in the country?

With a population as large as India's, that shouldn't be a problem.

They need to look at who's likely to be a good pick, and also watch the domestic matches with an eye on pacers. Reporters seem to be more active here than the BCCI or most former players. You never know where you can find that long-lost player you need. but you have to look around. The BCCI think there are only five seamers worth picking. They were responsible for playing Srinath well past his best (he chose to retire after the disappointing 2002 WI tour) and wouldn't have brought in Irfan and Balaji but for injuries to key bowlers, and now don't want to drop them now that they're gone. Not to mention, their warped perspective about Indian cricket just has Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Baroda and Delhi, and maybe Punjab.

Then there are these old relics, who want all promising young fast bowlers to concentrate on seamand swing. Any hopes of an Indian tearaway emerging fall flat when they do their job. Sure, seam and swing help, but there is no substitute for raw pace. It works everywhere. It adds attack power to the bowling lineup, which exists in the best, but is missing in India's. And I mean attack power, not just extra skill.

 

[honestbharani]

Maybe because the seamers picked for India don't have the raw material to compete with the best? One's bone-thin, while another resembles one of Snow White's dwarfs, and none of them have any pace. Is it so hard to find a quality fast bowler in the country?

With a population as large as India's, that shouldn't be a problem.

They need to look at who's likely to be a good pick, and also watch the domestic matches with an eye on pacers. Reporters seem to be more active here than the BCCI or most former players. You never know where you can find that long-lost player you need. but you have to look around. The BCCI think there are only five seamers worth picking. They were responsible for playing Srinath well past his best (he chose to retire after the disappointing 2002 WI tour) and wouldn't have brought in Irfan and Balaji but for injuries to key bowlers, and now don't want to drop them now that they're gone. Not to mention, their warped perspective about Indian cricket just has Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Baroda and Delhi, and maybe Punjab.

Then there are these old relics, who want all promising young fast bowlers to concentrate on seamand swing. Any hopes of an Indian tearaway emerging fall flat when they do their job. Sure, seam and swing help, but there is no substitute for raw pace. It works everywhere. It adds attack power to the bowling lineup, which exists in the best, but is missing in India's. And I mean attack power, not just extra skill.

Pace on its own has never amounted to anything good, and it never will. It has to be coupled with reasonably good direction. Even Brett Lee is not going too many places with his pace alone. He is now starting to get better sense of direction (still not good enough to be a top pacer yet) and he is slowly getting better.

 

[GladiatrsInBlue]

That is possible, if England bat as poorly as they have this summer.

Or if IKP destroys English batters with high quality batting, something you seems to think its impossible.

Even before the just concluded Ashes series, English bowlers were being mocked by Aussies players, doubts were being express on the abilities of Harmison,Flintoff and Hoggard, so much so that someone even labelled one of them as a good "net bowler"!!! But lok what they did to Aussie team!!!

IKP will come back strongly against English team, the pitches in England will suit him and he will trouble most of the English batsmen.