Couldn't have agreed with M more here, Multan pitch was in Sherry's terminology as dead as a dodo. Sehwag murdered us, but it could have been a different story had we held all our catches. We actually if people bother to remember scored over 400 runs in our first innings. India bowled ous out twice by virtue of sheer pressure of runs, with Kumble exploting the roughness of the surface from day 3 and 4 onwards. I don't think either Balaji or Pathan bowled anything near what you will call breathtaking swing bowling. You saw an example of that in the next test when Umar Gul surprised to India to take 5 wickets. That pitch was not conducive to fast bowling. Even Balahi and Pathan will tell you that Rachael.

Secondly, I also agree that Shoaib is now a changed man, much more involved in the team ethic than he has been ever before in his career. About him needing to go and learn how to master his craft. You have to understand Rachael, that Shoaib is not, and I repeat NOT a swing bowler, his bigest asset is his pace, and he is a master at that craft already. He just needs more consistency. And he's consistently working on that aspect. Unlike Wasim, his main forte is not swinging the ball, although he does rely heavily on reverse swing, with the new ball Shoaib will trouble batsmen more often that not singlehandedly because of extra pace, forcing batsmen on the back foot and enforcing the false stroke, unless there is excessive cloud cover or grass on the pitch lateral movement from his bowling will be minimal. He's not a swing bowler Racheal, he is a fast bowler, whose job is to take wickets by bowling fast.

And I don't really bother if the rest of the world agrees or not, but the fact remains that he's done a fantastic job for us in general, and his career statistics are still as good as anyone's in world cricket right now. If people think he's a "Show Pony" or whatever and he talks too much, we'll may be does, but I couldn't be less bothered, because he STILL remains the best bowler we have, and he STILL wins us a lot of matches, and there is no reason what so ever for him to be not in the side. He's our best bowler by far, he has his tantrums at times, which aren't always I admit welcome, but for the sheer reason of how effective he can be on his day, I'm willing to stand all that, if other's can't, its there problem, not ours. I'm fine with Shaoib. And I'll always be as long as he's doing the job for our team.