Munaf Patel Update

[Manee]

Being accurate helps you bowl quicker?

I never said, or meant to say that.

he extracts awkward bounce but he hasn't troubled many with his bouncer yet.

In the England tour back when he had some pace, he troubled KP with it, but how good his bouncer is, is a moot point and remains to be seen.

 

[Manee]

Here is a further update:

Munaf Patel is determined to regain his firepower in order to book a berth in the Indian team for the upcoming limited overs series in England. Munaf, undergoing rehabilitation and training at the MRF Pace Foundation, said that he was progressing gradually to regain his rhythm and fitness and was close to bowling with his usual venom...

Javagal Srinath, the former Indian fast bowler, felt that Munaf looked promising during the sessions at the pace academy. "It's been pretty good," Srinath told ANI. He has been open, open for ideas. He is learning fast... He seems good. The match fitness is something, which he has to declare on his own, but otherwise you can see the spark in Munaf, pace is good. He looks alright."

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvind/content/current/story/300943.html

 

[Richard]

On the subject of Srinath... is he still a Match-Referee, does anyone know?

 

[Manee]

Well. Munaf has been picked in the ODI series against England. Fully fit, recovered from injury with a 2 month rehab in the MRF Pace Foundation, he will likely be looking to return with a bang with such names as Sreesanth, RP Singh, Pathan, Yo Mahesh and Pankaj Singh all eying up his spot.

Here is an interesting quote and article from his first test series in which he produced some of the best spells of fast bowling I have seen.

Working up a fair amount of pace - his fastest was clocked at 144.7kmph, and he regularly reached the late 130s - Patel also impressed with the consistent line that he bowled. Of the 71 deliveries he sent down, 50 pitched in the zone between middle and just outside off. He only allowed the batsmen to leave 12 balls; against Pathan, the batsmen got that luxury on 25 occasions. Patel only finished with figures of 1 for 44, but the start suggests that he has plenty to offer Indian cricket.

Source: http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/indveng/content/current/story/240105.html

 

[Manee]

After the first ODI, it seems clear that he is more content on line and length in ODIs. Ravi Shastri said that they told him to slow down if he were to survive international cricket, surely that is not the right attitude. His accuracy is mostly good besides the odd poor over. One thinks he needs some biomechanical coaching to help him out, if he just keeps his front arm up, the accuracy and pace seems to be there but the moment it drops, a round arm action develops and it goes down the off side.

He also needs to learn the best times to bowl fast and the best times to slow it down and bowl more accurately. In the early overs when wickets are needed, you need to bowl fast and attack the batsman, making him play the swinging ball. Likewise, bowling fast and full to tailenders usually does the trick, but in the middle overs, applying the strangulation of runs would be best.

It will also be interesting to see if he was fully fit in the match yesterday or whether he was only bowling at half capacity since he was forced into the side early to replace Zaheer.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Just looking at his action, surely his shoulder is just gonna screw up, the amount of strain he pus on it.

 

[Manee]

I don't think it is strain, more just the nature of his fast twitch muscles, but I agree something is not quite right. As I have said before, speeding up his run up will not only help his pace, but take some pressure off his bowling arm. I think it would work very well if he went to Essex (or Holland) and got the tutalige of someone like Ian Pont who does biomechanics.

 

[Arjun]

He shouldn't be playing ODI's as of now- the wrong form of the game to 'get into a groove'. Seeing the likes of Mascarenhas and Broad smash him around just by flinging the bat gives you a hint, as also pace readings of 125, 129 and a high of 134. He's not yet settled, just trying to get his line and length right and slogs by lower-order batsmen off him go for sixes, but those numerous instances of him walking over a ball headed for the boundary suggests he's far from match-fit.

 

[Manee]

But is there any evidence he was not match fit, he may have just been told to slow down and have lost his pace forever?

 

[Arjun]

But is there any evidence he was not match fit, he may have just been told to slow down and have lost his pace forever?

Top pace bowlers don't 'lose pace forever'. Look at Kallis- over 30, after a season where he hardly bowled, he turned out overs bowling over 140k regularly. The truth is, just looking at him in action- he was walking like a tired construction foreman and very unlike his Australian counterpart, or even RP Singh, and had a very lethargic look to him throughout the game. He was getting hit for fours and sixes even without bowling rubbish, and got his step wrong repeatedly.

 

[Manee]

The truth is, just looking at him in action- he was walking like a tired construction foreman and very unlike his Australian counterpart, or even RP Singh, and had a very lethargic look to him throughout the game.

Isn't he always like that? How fast did he bowl in his brief domestic stint before his international debut?

 

[Nate]

On the subject of Srinath... is he still a Match-Referee, does anyone know?

Yeah, believe he's taaaking care of business for South Africa vs ZImbabwe.

 

[Pup Clarke]

On the subject of Srinath... is he still a Match-Referee, does anyone know?

Why's that so funny?

 

[Richard]

'Cos his commentary was so awful, everyone on CW was inestimatebly greatful when he got a Match-Referee's position.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Surely not as bad as Ranjit Fernando or Damien Fleming.

 

[Richard]

He shouldn't be playing ODI's as of now- the wrong form of the game to 'get into a groove'. Seeing the likes of Mascarenhas and Broad smash him around just by flinging the bat gives you a hint, as also pace readings of 125, 129 and a high of 134. He's not yet settled, just trying to get his line and length right and slogs by lower-order batsmen off him go for sixes, but those numerous instances of him walking over a ball headed for the boundary suggests he's far from match-fit.

I agree 100%. Munaf actually bowled OK in that game, yet his figures in the end were horrible. OK, defending 330 on a small ground your chances are always slim of getting decent figures at the best of times (only Powar approached it) but that's even more reason why it's not ideal to play at such a time (you can't, obviously, bargain for the defending-330 bit, but you can for the small ground and the simple fact that it's a ODI).

I'd be much happier if Munaf were to play Test-cricket only at present. I can only see him doing well in ODIs either on a friendly wicket or by India bowling first, and him bowling 10 overs straight off the reel (or in 2 spells early-ish on if 10 on the trot is too much for him, which it may well be).

It'd probably be better to have S in the side right now, though Agarkar continues to bowl his usual dross.

 

[Richard]

Surely not as bad as Ranjit Fernando or Damien Fleming.

I actually don't really mind Damien Fleming TBH, and Ranjit Fernando doesn't annoy me the way he does some. He's not especially insightful or anything (though I've yet to hear a better Lankan - not that my scope is large, though Roshan Mahanama sounded OK on the one occasion I heard him in 2002) but he's perfectly harmless.

Srinath, like Alec Stewart, is just totally the opposite of a natural behind the mic.

 

[Pup Clarke]

S?

 

[Richard]

You've heard, surely, of the famous insane Indian seamer S Sreesanth?

 

[Pup Clarke]

Course I have...S didn't make it particulary obvious however