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Vinay Kumar v Ishant Sharma

Spark

Global Moderator
Vinay is, in a paradoxical way, "better" than Sharma, because Vinay has almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever where as Ishant, if you squint, at least seems to have potential.

Which, of course, means that Vinay will only play a few games while Ishant plays 50.
 

JontyPanesar

U19 Vice-Captain
I think it has to go to Ishant tbh. Vinay Kumar is a bowler of lesser potential, so you can't totally blame him for getting smacked, though he has no business bowling anything short or boal. Ishant is just the prodigal son when it comes to his ability. Contrary to the common Indian 'Fast' Bowling narrative, Ishant hasn't lost his pace. He is just found lacking in every other way

tl;dr: It's easier for me to be angry with Ishant than with Vinay
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
If you dig deep enough in the realms of CW you'll find posts of me demanding Vinay Kumar get a test cap. :cool:
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
I'm unsure whether I agree with the idea that Ishant does or ever did have potential. Most young fast bowlers start with a high average for the first few years because they get too excited looking for wickets and tend to overpitch the ball looking for wickets.

Ishant has been the opposite. He has never been guilty of consistently overpitching the ball. He simply never pitches it up. whereas for plenty of fast bowlers the first few years aren't really an indication of their talent, for Sharma they have been.

The reality is that any tall fast bowler is going to look good on occasion because the bounce is such that good length balls rise up sharply on decent (i.e. Australian and South African) wickets for fast bowlers. That alone may make the batsmen hop around, but as we've known for years, it's not going to get you the wicket of test quality batsmen.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Sure Ishant's talent/potential may have been over-estimated or exaggerated. But there is no way in hell someone with his attributes should be as **** as he is nowadays. In 2008 he was genuinely threatening, even on Indian wickets. His series vs. Aust in India in 2008 was quite good.

To me he's a disgrace because he's genuinely a dumb bowler. Like absolutely stupid.

I mean he's getting worse and worse.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Sure Ishant's talent/potential may have been over-estimated or exaggerated. But there is no way in hell someone with his attributes should be as **** as he is nowadays. In 2008 he was genuinely threatening, even on Indian wickets. His series vs. Aust in India in 2008 was quite good.
.
he was never going to be a sub 30 average bowler.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
The difference between averaging 31 and 38 is huge though. Its mammoth.

I think other players with his attributes who weren't dumb ****s would have a better record.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
I'm unsure whether I agree with the idea that Ishant does or ever did have potential. Most young fast bowlers start with a high average for the first few years because they get too excited looking for wickets and tend to overpitch the ball looking for wickets.

Ishant has been the opposite. He has never been guilty of consistently overpitching the ball. He simply never pitches it up. whereas for plenty of fast bowlers the first few years aren't really an indication of their talent, for Sharma they have been.

The reality is that any tall fast bowler is going to look good on occasion because the bounce is such that good length balls rise up sharply on decent (i.e. Australian and South African) wickets for fast bowlers. That alone may make the batsmen hop around, but as we've known for years, it's not going to get you the wicket of test quality batsmen.
Steven Finn disagrees.

And in the end the point isn't that Sharma was ever going to be amazing. It's that he had a bit going for him, which Vinay doesn't. Which has resulted in him playing dozens and dozens more matches than he should have.
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
If you dig deep enough in the realms of CW you'll find posts of me demanding Vinay Kumar get a test cap. :cool:
Nobody cares what you have to say today Jono, why would anyone have the faintest interest in what you've said in the past???














:p
 

Shri

Mr. Glass
I think it has to go to Ishant tbh. Vinay Kumar is a bowler of lesser potential, so you can't totally blame him for getting smacked, though he has no business bowling anything short or boal. Ishant is just the prodigal son when it comes to his ability. Contrary to the common Indian 'Fast' Bowling narrative, Ishant hasn't lost his pace. He is just found lacking in every other way

tl;dr: It's easier for me to be angry with Ishant than with Vinay
Ishant consistently bowled at 140-148 Kph when he debuted. Saying he hasn't lost his pace is just not true.
 

JontyPanesar

U19 Vice-Captain
Ishant consistently bowled at 140-148 Kph when he debuted. Saying he hasn't lost his pace is just not true.
Don't be fooled by slow Indian pitches. Look at his pace in the BG trophy in Australia 2011/12. He was well into his decline then, but he was still quick enough 140-146kph. He still gets his pace up in the 140s on fast pitches, his bowling has just always ranged from mediocre to terrible.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Ishant has height and (had) pace. That's rare for an Indian and those two attributes are always nice to see in an upcoming bowler because anyone with them can be a decent test bowler if they learn to bowl accurately and do something with the ball.

Ishant used to be able to bowl with some form of radar and jag the ball around, but now he can't. He is definitely a potentially good bowler gone wrong imo.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Steven Finn disagreeing means centuries for the likes of Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford, neither of whom should average more than 30 in test cricket.
Finn still gets wickets whilst bowling pies though.
 

OverratedSanity

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