Irfan Pathan

[Gajanayake]

Do you guys think Pathan will become a decent cricketer for India ?
If you were his coach, at the present time would you encourage him to be an all rounder or focus more on his bowling ?

Personally, I think some people expected too much from Pathan....what with the "Wasim AKram like" comparsions and so on....I don't think he was ever going to be as good a bowler as Wasim.....but unlike some, I do think he can be a fairly decent bowler in the Hoggard-Vaas-Kapil Dev style, if he can get his pace back up to 133-135 range. While pace is not the be all and and end all, I do think it has some importance at test level at least and right now Pathan is no more than a trundler and that is disappointing for a guy who frequently touched 140 Km'hr against Australia in the 2004-2005 test series.

I think his batting technique is pretty good....but how that that develops will hinge I guess on whether he wants to be a true all rounder or primarily a bowler.

 

[silentstriker]

Right now, he just seems to be lost. I don't know who coached him up, or down, but he is pretty much in shambles. Everything from his pace, to his rhythm...all that is gone.

If I were him, I'd spend a lot of time in the domestic tournament working on all aspects of his bowling. Maybe go overseas somewhere, if someone would have him, and just regain what got him selected in the first place.

Forget batting, just focus on whats going to get him selected. He does need to get his bowling to about 135kph. If you are going to bowl below that speed, then you need McGrath like control and accuracy - which is not likely from anyone. So he needs pace, and he needs to find his swing.

He can be a very useful Hoggard-like bowler, but he needs to go back and start over. Might take a couple years, but he is only 22, so he has the time. Better to do it now, before his career ends up in shambles.

 

[adharcric]

He doesn't really need pace. Even at 130 kph, he can be a successful bowler if he gets the control right. He did that in ODIs for almost a year before going to the West Indies, and the reason he's struggled in test cricket is because he's been unable to control that ball consistently. Pace is not a huge issue because Pathan can swing the ball exceptionally and put it in very good places, but if he doesn't get his control right it doesn't matter. His batting is fine, but we don't need another batsman. The only reason his batting really matters is because it allows us to play five specialist bowlers (especially in tests). Otherwise, we really don't need another top-order (that's what he is now) batsman. The best thing the management can do is drop him every time he bowls poorly, even if he gets a half-century. He's supposed to be our strike bowler, not a trundler turned pinch-hitter.

 

[Gajanayake]

Yeah control is the most important thing . But I think without some pace at test level, he will struggle. in ODis it probably doesn't matter a great deal , but if he 's continuing to bowl in the 120's, it will be tough at test level....especially when you consider that he doesn't get the same lift that someone like McGrath gets.

 

[adharcric]

Yeah control is the most important thing . But I think without some pace at test level, he will struggle. in ODis it probably doesn't matter a great deal , but if he 's continuing to bowl in the 120's, it will be tough at test level....especially when you consider that he doesn't get the same lift that someone like McGrath gets.

Chaminda Vaas? Matthew Hoggard? That said, he does need to make sure he can stay around 130 (good enough to be classified medium-fast).

 

[Gajanayake]

Chaminda Vaas? Matthew Hoggard? That said, he does need to make sure he can stay around 130 (good enough to be classified medium-fast).

Vaas's effectiveness at test level has decreased as he has lost pace and from what I've seen of Hoggard, he's definitely a little quicker than Pathan atm.

Seriously the way Pathan's bowling, he'd be no more effective than Bracken has shown himself to be on most test wickets.

 

[Nishant]

i'm quite disappointed with pathan. I expected better from him! He needs to gt his bowling right. To be honest, we don't need a new batsman. Chappel probably thought that pathan has the potential of being an all-rounder; i doubt he ever thought that pathan would sacrifice his bowling in an attempt to become a better batsman

 

[marc71178]

I seem to remember that when he burst onto the scene and people were talking about him being a all rounder, I did suggest that he should perhaps work on his bowling first to get that to a high level and then he could do the batting work (and I was shouted downa lot for it as well I seem to recall)

At his age I think there is too much for him to do to be working on both disciplines at once, and he'll have to be able to bowl to have a long term future in the side, so that needs the work first IMO.

 

[Arjun]

Here we go again...at least this is a 'special' Irfan corner.

For all the complaints that fans have had about Irfan's bowling being affected by his battting, this is not the only time he's been in a slump. In early 2005, he was in dreadful form, when he was merely another ordinary medium-pacer.

Besides, Chappell knows that the Indian team is toast withoutan all-rounder, but there were no other options provided by the selectors. They withdrew Joginder Sharma, JP Yadav and Sanjay Bangar before you could pluck your binoculars from the top shelf. Ideally, Irfan would be most useful as an all-rounder if the team had another all-rounder. That way, this other player would try to score bigger chunks, while Irfan only had to hit big sixes and concentrate on his bowling. That's how Pollock (an ideal mirror or role model for Irfan) has performed. Moreover, he'd also get better support as a bowler.

The one match to think about was one ODI against New Zealand in Zimbabwe, where Irfan was bowling well despite lack of pace and Yadav wa sdoing a decent job as a stock bowler. Then Yadav and Irfan formed a partnership that took the Indian team close to victory, but for Irfan's needless eagerness to attack striker Bond and Yadav's loose shot. While this is a diversion, Irfan's all-round woes wouldn't be there had JP Yadav or any such player not been dropped.

Pace is not an issue. You don't need four or five fast bowlers in the bowling unit. As long as the bowler at the other end is bowling very fast, it's no problem. It's just that none of the Indian seamers (not even specialist seamers who can't bat) can bowl that fast. Forget Irfan, none of the other seam bowlers are doing much of note. Sreesanth, Munaf and RP Singh are still raw and Agarkar, the most over-rated strike bowler in action, is nothing special even at his best.

 

[Goughy]

If you were his coach, at the present time would you encourage him to be an all rounder or focus more on his bowling ?

Why can't he do both? He must work and focus on his bowling, but that should not prevent him also working hard on his batting as well.

Bowling should be his priority but every run should be a bonus that should be an important role in his definition as a cricketer.

 

[Arjun]

Why can't he do both? He must work and focus on his bowling, but that should not prevent him also working hard on his batting as well.

Bowling should be his priority but every run should be a bonus that should be an important part of his definition as a cricketer.

He shouldn't ditch his batting, but he should play primarily as a big-hitter, not a run-getter. There are five of them in the team already. They can do with some momentum players or big-hitters, and he fits the bill as one. He's adding value to his place in the team, and that matters most.

 

[marc71178]

Test Cricket lasts 5 days, not a few overs

 

[TT Boy]

Test Cricket lasts 5 days, not a few overs

But he can hit big SIX!

 

[adharcric]

But he can hit big SIX!

Like Sanjay Bangar ?!?!?!

 

[adharcric]

He shouldn't ditch his batting, but he should play primarily as a big-hitter, not a run-getter. There are five of them in the team already. They can do with some momentum players or big-hitters, and he fits the bill as one. He's adding value to his place in the team, and that matters most.

No, thank you. I'll prefer another specialist batsman to Pathan's "big-hitting" if Pathan isn't good enough to be a strike bowler in tests.

 

[Sanz]

He doesn't deserve a place in the Indian team right now. There is something called 'Retirement'. Pathan should try considering that as a career.

 

[adharcric]

He doesn't deserve a place in the Indian team right now. There is something called 'Retirement'. Pathan should try considering that as a career.

Or not. He's 21 and talented. Don't forget that this isn't the first time he's been through such a horrid slump. Last time (when Pakistan toured India, where Akmal helped save the test) Pathan's slump was quite pathetic as well, everyone wrote him off and he came back to become one of the best one-day bowlers in 2005-2006. You are right about one thing though: he doesn't deserve a place in the Indian team right now. Still, they have two ways of going about it. They can either bench him and let him sort it out in practice (he won't be dropped anytime soon) or they can play him and hope he works his way back into form, which is rather fickle so you never know.

 

[Sanz]

he won't be dropped anytime soon

I am sure he wont be and I am also sure that India wont win the World cup with 10 players.

 

[adharcric]

I am sure he wont be and I am also sure that India wont win the World cup with 10 players.

They'll win it with 11 then?

 

[shortpitched713]

God, you guys are hopelessly pessimistic about your young pace talent.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/iccct2006/engine/match/249745.html

I mean it wasn't a particulary special performance against a not so good England side, but you guys were going on like he couldn't make county seconds for his bowling. The man's had a form slump. Its not like he can't get it back just "cause hes an Indian pace bowler".