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Pathan has come of age!
- Thread starter vandemataram
- Start date
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
He seems to be bowling much better mainly because the ball has started swinging in again as it was when he started off. But he has slowed down a lot and that is not a good sign. The better batsmen from stronger sides will have more time to play him.Deja moo said:Well, hes atleast regained his swing, so he really shouldnt be as bad versus the non-minnows as he has been so far. Heres hoping for a good performance vs the English
I hope he is working towards getting back to the kind of pace he started with at least.
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Yes. I saw that. Its good to see the coach's contribution in technical aspects and that too for bowlers. I wish he would get Harbhajan to start getting comfortable bowling round the wicket too so as to be more effective against left handers.Deja moo said:The pace is a worry. But hopefully he has worked out other things to compensate to an extent. For example he mentioned in one of the papers how Chappell had got him using the crease a lot more to provide variations.
Arjun
Cricketer Of The Year
Spare a thought for Zaheer Khan. He's been around a lot longer than Irfan, is more refined and has done well against quality teams (although in one year and one Test), but has been sidelined so many times. Not infrequently, he's missing from the side when the bowling attack is led by someone who suddenly loses pace and forgets how to swing the ball!
Zaheer, at his peak, is as good as most other strike bowlers in action these days. He's effective as a power player and his yorkers have been his main strength when he made his debut. He's also a lot faster than the average Indian medium-pacer and he can get movement off the pitch too. A pity he's drifted from his 2002/late-2003 form, but this has to be a leadership issue. He may not be in the best of form, but he's still a lot better than those rookies and dwarfs leading the Indian pace attack.
Zaheer, at his peak, is as good as most other strike bowlers in action these days. He's effective as a power player and his yorkers have been his main strength when he made his debut. He's also a lot faster than the average Indian medium-pacer and he can get movement off the pitch too. A pity he's drifted from his 2002/late-2003 form, but this has to be a leadership issue. He may not be in the best of form, but he's still a lot better than those rookies and dwarfs leading the Indian pace attack.
Arjun
Cricketer Of The Year
Name one Indian seam/swing bowler who isn't injury-prone. By that yardstick, SS Paul would be leading the Indian attack.
Besides, Irfan has also bowled a lot of tripe at the same opposition.
Moreover, Zaheer got 3 wickets in the next match he played against the same opposition. He's also got five wickets in a Test innings against Australia, in Australia- not against some minnow side. We need to look at when he's good as well. It's not a talent issue, but one of leadership. That's been lacking here, since Zaheer, at his best, is as good as other strike bowlers of other teams, and a lot better than those other Indian seamers.
Pathan has a lot of potential, but he's not refined enough to play as a frontliner. Remember the home Test series against Australia? Against Pakistan? We all know he's a good swing bowler, but when he suddenly loses the ability to swing the ball, it's just lack of refinement. He's also lost a lot of pace, but being a swing bowler, he doesn't have to compete with the Akhtars, Dilharas and Bonds.
However, Zaheer is a power player- at his best, he can bowl like a cannon, with bouncers, rib-hitters and other vicious deliveries. Add his top pace and some movement through the air, as well as off the pitch, and you have a top-notch strike bowler. Look at his spell in Headingley- that shows what he can do at his peak. Reason enough to persist with him for a long time. None of the other four seamers can be used that way.
Besides, Irfan has also bowled a lot of tripe at the same opposition.
Moreover, Zaheer got 3 wickets in the next match he played against the same opposition. He's also got five wickets in a Test innings against Australia, in Australia- not against some minnow side. We need to look at when he's good as well. It's not a talent issue, but one of leadership. That's been lacking here, since Zaheer, at his best, is as good as other strike bowlers of other teams, and a lot better than those other Indian seamers.
Pathan has a lot of potential, but he's not refined enough to play as a frontliner. Remember the home Test series against Australia? Against Pakistan? We all know he's a good swing bowler, but when he suddenly loses the ability to swing the ball, it's just lack of refinement. He's also lost a lot of pace, but being a swing bowler, he doesn't have to compete with the Akhtars, Dilharas and Bonds.
However, Zaheer is a power player- at his best, he can bowl like a cannon, with bouncers, rib-hitters and other vicious deliveries. Add his top pace and some movement through the air, as well as off the pitch, and you have a top-notch strike bowler. Look at his spell in Headingley- that shows what he can do at his peak. Reason enough to persist with him for a long time. None of the other four seamers can be used that way.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
Actually, Bhajji seems more willing to go around the wicket during that series against Zim. It seems Greg has worked very hard with him and Zaheer. He has added another important dimension to both of them by getting them to try out these new angles. Certainly, Zaheer looks a lot more potent now than he did earlier, esp. in test matches.SJS said:
twctopcat
International Regular
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/other_international/india/4274654.stm
I may be sticking my neck out (to some i may be stating the obvious), but get ready to be tonked Irfan.
To be fair to the lad, he isn't the one building himself up, it is just the media. Again.
I may be sticking my neck out (to some i may be stating the obvious), but get ready to be tonked Irfan.
To be fair to the lad, he isn't the one building himself up, it is just the media. Again.
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twctopcat
International Regular
Just that this "exciting cricketer" mark has come on the back of demolishing bang and zim, which as well all know means zilch - see Jimmy Anderson etc. Its just annoying as you know he will get slaughtered by the media when (in all probablilty) he doesn't prove successful against the likes of England etc.
Slow Love™
International Captain
He was very exciting during the VB series in Australia in '04, and he had some great little duels with Hayden, in particular. Might've been the leading wicket-taker, too.Dasa said:
It's probably the case that the premature comparisons to Wasim Akram are what annoys people, but the media and his cheer squad is more responsible for that than he is. In the article (and short interview) reproduced in this thread, he's actually quite humble.
Arjun
Cricketer Of The Year
He's still done better against better teams- his 5/95 against Australia being one, and he's bowled well in Nagpur, but that's about it. He's not the only one to blame- the leadership is equally guilty.Sanz said:
And what have the others done? Just Agarkar's 6/42 and Balaji's 9 wickets. He's done better than the other four, and the figures say so.
What difference does it make? Obviously, McGrath and Pollock are head and shoulders above the rest, but he's as good as Ntini, Harmison and Jones (great?), and they're not too bad for their own teams. Besides, if the people in charge didn't keep shoving him around the way they have, he'd be one of the top pace bowlers in action today.