Pathan: Most Promising Young Bowler?

[DomainK]

To an extent I will agree with you. Pathan showed great potential when he came in. Bowled beautifully in India's tour to Australia and Pakistan. Then he lost his out swinger for a while. He worked on his bowling and did reasonably well against Sri Lanka. In the mean time he emerged as a good batsman. In the last two matches, I must say that he did not bowl upto his potential.

But we have to consider that state of the pitch and give him the benefit of doubt rather than rule him out. He got his swing back recently in the Lanka series, so i wont lose hope. Today morning, he looked better when he got the ball to swing away from the right hander on some occassions, one of those deliveries was edged and gounded by Laxam.

I think we need to wait and watch. He did well against Lanka recently and I wont blame him for not getting wickets on a pitch on which even Akhtar is strugling to get wickets. I am sure he will get back among wickets in the coming England series.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by DomainK

I am sure he will get back among wickets in the coming England series.

Apart from against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, when has he actually taken lots of wickets? The fact is that he has never taken a 5fer against any nation other than the two weakest...

I agree that he has not been helped by the pitch but two games in he has taken just two wickets. He may have performed well aginst Sri Lanka, but he still only took 7 wickets in 3 games!!

I really cannot see him being much of a threat to the English Batsman, they will be more worried about Kumble and Singh...

[Orchid]

Pathan's case just proves that nobody can really become the next XYZ (in his case Wasim Akram) and also the hype and frenzy created by media is hard to keep up to. When Pathan was succesful in picking up Mohd Yousuf a few times in his first tour to Pakistan, poor Yousuf was deemed the 'Bunny' of Pathan. Well, in the last tour Pakistan did to India, and the current tour, it has become quite hard to tell who became whose bunny.

Probably we are too quick to jump to conclusions about a particular players ability or lack of it and don't give that player opportunity to find his rightful and unique position.

The next Wasim Akram? Not in a million years. More like the next Muhammad Sami!

At least Sami has speed, what does Pathan have?

[DomainK]

Originally Posted by Orchid

Probably we are too quick to jump to conclusions about a particular players ability or lack of it and don't give that player opportunity to find his rightful and unique position.

I agree with you there. Comparing someone to Wasim Akram at a young age can have a negative impact on one's career. I think we should give Pathan more time before coming to a conclusion. He will continue in the team for his all round abilities and hence will get enough opportunities to improve his bowling.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Orchid

When Pathan was succesful in picking up Mohd Yousuf a few times in his first tour to Pakistan, poor Yousuf was deemed the 'Bunny' of Pathan. Well, in the last tour Pakistan did to India, and the current tour, it has become quite hard to tell who became whose bunny.

Not sure what that was based on, certainly not on facts - in that tour, Yousaf was dismissed five times by India, and only on two of those five occasions he fell to Pathan - how did that make him Pathan's bunny? One of those two dismissals was after Yousaf had already scored a 100 - hence, I would argue that even in that tour Pathan had no particular "hold" on Yousaf. Since then of course Yousaf has scored heavily against India, both in India, and in Pakistan, and dealt with Pathan with ease. He has played five Tests against India since that tour, been dismissed seven times (including the current Test), and Pathan has taken his wicket only once - with Kumble (3 times) and Harbhajan (2 times) being the guys who get him out more often.

Incidentally, in that series in Pakistan two years ago, which many feel was Pathan's finest hour, and which is the source of most of the hype surrounding him, he took 12 wickets in 3 Tests - good going certainly, but so did Balaji! And we never hear Balaji being treated to the same levels of mass hysteria that Pathan is, even though Balaji, to my money, is a more complete and rounded Test match bowler at this stage.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Maranello

we never hear Balaji being treated to the same levels of mass hysteria that Pathan is, even though Balaji, to my money, is a more complete and rounded Test match bowler at this stage.

The hype around Pathan is something I don't understand, to me he is a good player with great potential, but they way some Indian fans portray him you would think that he was consistently destroying the best batting attacks in the world, dig into his figures and you will see that he has never actually done a lot, at Test match level, against any team of note (i.e. Pakistan, Australia, South Africa and England).

When he starts doing it against a proper batting line up, then I will start listening to the hype, but he has been around for three years and is yet to take a 5 wicket haul against anyone other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, so none of the hype is deserved IMO

[greg]

Well done FF.I bet he gets a 5 wicket haul against England in the first test now.

[Doink]

Originally Posted by Orchid

At least Sami has speed, what does Pathan have?

Didnt hear of Sami making any runs recently and what good is his speed doing to him? He looks the most pathetic Pakistan bowler! Mohammed Asif is playing his 2nd test and looks far better than Sami. I admire Pathan. He's got talent and he is, slowly and steadily, making the most of it. And like Flintoff wont be the second Botham (he'll be Andrew Flintoff-I!) Pathan wont be Akram-II. He will be remembered for being Irfan Pathan itself.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Doink

Didnt hear of Sami making any runs recently.

So is Pathan playing as a batting all-rounder then? That certainly would explain a lot

Originally Posted by Doink

He will be remembered for being Irfan Pathan itself.

I doubt he will be remembered for his bowling, but let's see, only time will tell.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Doink

He's got talent and he is, slowly and steadily, making the most of it.

At the moment rather than making the most of his talent, he seems to be going backwards with the ball!!

What do India really need Pathan to excel in batting or bowling? For me it has to be bowling, they have a very strong batting line-up they have a good all-rounder in Yuvraj, what they need Pathan to do is bowl and take wickets!!

The fact is that he has not progressed at all with his bowling, his recent wicket spree against a woeful Zimbabwe team has papered over the cracks.

You may knock Sami, but you need to find someone who can take wickets at pace soon as you cannot play all your games on spin-friendly pitches...