Pathan: Most Promising Young Bowler?

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

When he played against england just before the ICCCCC cup, I thought he looked quite useful, briskish, nice action looked great. Obviously hast gone his way this series. As far as his batting goes I'm sure he posted a couple of 90s recently.

[Colourful Chaddi]

Well its been nearly a year since the start of this thread, and I think its time we look at how Pathan has performed from the start of this thread till now(Zimbabwe tour 2005 to Championship Trophy '06). Has he lived up to people's expectations?

These are his Test figures from the Zimbabwe tour in 2005:

                     Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv 5w  Ct St
unfiltered            25   835  93   27.83   0   6  91  7/59   30.79  7   8  0
filtered              12   560  93   35.00   0   5  46  7/59   28.54  4   3  0

As we can see his bowling has not been incredibly great but his bowling average is below 30, which is a promising sign for a young lad. His batting had diffinatly improved in this period, with a batting average of 35 and a bowling average of 28, he has had a great year as an all-rounder, but not such a great year as a bowler whom we all expect alot more.

These are his ODI figures since Zimbabwe tour in 2005:

                     Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv 5w  Ct St
unfiltered            69   951  83   25.02   0   5 113  5/27   24.78  1  11  0
filtered              31   539  83   25.66   0   3  50  4/37   22.60  0   5  0

He has contributed well in this period with an average of 25 and a new high score of 83. His bowling has been a fantastic, with a bowling average of 22 in this age of ODI cricket is very, very good. His highest amount of wickets in an innings is only 4, but this does show us that he has been very consistant during this period. He has been the ODI player of the year in my opinon from looking at these figures.

Of late Pathan has lost alot of pace in his bowling, averaging around the 75 mark which is unacceptable for a fast bowler who is seen as the spearhead of the Indian attack. His bowling began to detoriate(sp?) since the start of the West Indian tour, maybe because he shaved hair off. But im sure he will come back to his best soon, he is a great talent and beng only 22 age is on his side.

He is currently in the squad for the South African tour, maybe the helpful picthes will help him get his confidence back.

[Rachael]

Earlier this evening I was reading an interview with Courtney Walsh...

Originally Posted by cricinfo

Who are the bowlers who have the potential to be 'great'?
Steve Harmison is one bowler who is on his way to become a finished product. India have Munaf Patel who has great potential.

It's good to see a young Indian seamer mentioned in this context... but if Munaf Patel is already interesting Walsh more than Irfan Pathan... we should perhaps be cautious about the hype surrounding the latter!