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Has there ever been a player as poor as Mohammad Sami play so many tests?

SJS

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Manee said:
Mohammad Sami is not poor in the sense of a lack of talent, he is a poor performer but one of incredible talent and at the age of 26, he will play probably ten more Tests at least before the selectors lose patience if he has not improved.

The fact is that he posesses the ability to bowl incredibly fast (150kph) and swing the ball but has slowed down for accuracy. The fact that he has done this is a testoment to the dire level of coaching that he has had.
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It is this kind of fan following that seems to have kept him in the Pakistani side. Wonder if Pakistani teams are selected through SMS poll's involving Pakistani fans.

If he were to play another ten tests, he would surely establish some bowling records that will be impossible to catch up.
 
Manee

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
SJS said:
It is this kind of fan following that seems to have kept him in the Pakistani side. Wonder if Pakistani teams are selected through SMS poll's involving Pakistani fans.

If he were to play another ten tests, he would surely establish some bowling records that will be impossible to catch up.
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I never said he should play more Tests, I said that he is talented and should have recieved more coaching.
 
F

FRAZ

International Captain
haroon510 said:
i agree.. he must be the worst test cricketer to play this much test matches.

well he is only 26..i think he should take a break from cricket.. work on his bating and come back as alrounder.
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Work at a welding shop might be appropriate ...
A ****** with no swing and brain !
 
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F

FRAZ

International Captain
Lillian Thomson said:
This chap had a fairly awful record for a specialist batsman over 40 Tests and he was dreadful to watch. He only retained his place because Gavaskar liked batting with him.
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His average isn't that bad and also he has given 10 century partnerships with Gawaskar as an opening partner .
 
SJS

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Lillian Thomson said:
This chap had a fairly awful record for a specialist batsman over 40 Tests and he was dreadful to watch. He only retained his place because Gavaskar liked batting with him.
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I have played a lot of cricket with him. He was terrible to watch and you wondered how he scored so many runs with just one stroke really, a slap with a horizontal bat to short pitched dliveries that sent the ball between thirdman to extra cover ! But the fact is he scored runs and along with Gavaskar formed the greatest opening partnership ever for India and one of the most successful in the history of the game !

Just look at what he achieved.

  • He was one half of the sixth most successful opening partnership with Gavaskar scoring 3010 runs together at an average of 52.8
  • The next Indian pair (Gavaskar and Gaekwad) has just 1722 at 35.6
  • He and Gavaskar shared 10 century partnerships (besides another 10 between 50 and 99)
  • The next Indian pair (Gavaskar and Gaekwad) had just four century partnerships)
  • He reserved his most tenacious battingagainstthe best fast bowlers averaging 41.4 against the West Indies as against a career average of 31.6 - and 38.2 against Australia.
  • He scored more runs while opening the innings than any other Indian opener after Gavaskar, Sehwag and Siddhu.

These are not to be scoffed at inspite of my personal dislike for his batting and my amazement at his success. Considering that Siddhu and Sehwag started their careers after his had ended, he does stand out for his relative success during his own playing years. I suppose his record is as much an indicator of his gritty style of batting as it is of India's paucity of good opening batsmen.
 
Top_Cat

Top_Cat

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Just don't understand how a bloke like Sami can have such a poor Test record. Prima facie, he has it all; he's really quick on his day, accurate, super fit and swings the ball away late. Seriously, I have no idea why he's been so unsuccessful. Anyone know why?
 
shortpitched713

shortpitched713

International Captain
Top_Cat said:
Just don't understand how a bloke like Sami can have such a poor Test record. Prima facie, he has it all; he's really quick on his day, accurate, super fit and swings the ball away late. Seriously, I have no idea why he's been so unsuccessful. Anyone know why?
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One is mental, but the other is a lack of height. Which I think compounds his mental issues, especially on dead pitches that don't offer as much bounce, which are common in Pakistan and India where he tends to play most.

Also, as Voltman jokingly mentioned, he doesn't have much variation/doesn't know when to use it. He really was at his best in ODIs, especially around the death, when he was willing to try variations like the off cut and was able to get reverse swing.
 
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Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Top_Cat said:
Just don't understand how a bloke like Sami can have such a poor Test record. Prima facie, he has it all; he's really quick on his day, accurate, super fit and swings the ball away late. Seriously, I have no idea why he's been so unsuccessful. Anyone know why?
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Was that in jest? :unsure: Sami's accuracy has almost universally been awful; he's fitter than some but hardly "super" fit; he's not been particularly quick for years; and his away-swinger, in addition to being a near-useless weapon given he's a Pakistani, is hardly a constant entity.
 
shortpitched713

shortpitched713

International Captain
Richard said:
Was that in jest? :unsure: Sami's accuracy has almost universally been awful; he's fitter than some but hardly "super" fit; he's not been particularly quick for years; and his away-swinger, in addition to being a near-useless weapon given he's a Pakistani, is hardly a constant entity.
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Hes been pretty accurate of late, and definitely is fitter than most of our fast bowlers.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Without wanting to sound overtly harsh - how many Pakistan players have ever had especially remarkable fitness levels?

And is Sami really that accurate? Has honestly never, ever seemed so to me. I don't have pitchmaps, and I haven't seen him bowl ball-by-ball for a little while, but his economy-rates for one thing have hardly become outstanding.
 
shortpitched713

shortpitched713

International Captain
Richard said:
Without wanting to sound overtly harsh - how many Pakistan players have ever had especially remarkable fitness levels?
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Wasim Akram had his niggles, but for the most part was match fit for a very high percentage of his career.

A common point would probably be the relatively short runs from which they both operated.
 
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