Three left-arm orthodox bowlers brought into the test team relatively late into their First Class career. All three generally used as a support bowler to the front-line spinner (Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal and Yasir Shah) and to keep things tight whilst taking a wicket or two. All three have shown to be capable with the bat. Although it's early days, I'm firstly very curious to see how people compare Nauman with Abdur Rehman and Zulfiqar - will he be more of the mould of a support bowler like Zulfiqar was or do we think he has that wicket taking ability like Abdur Rehman did?
Nauman has come into the team and shown how valuable first class experience is in test cricket. He is calm, patient and uses subtle variations to keep it tight and get the odd wicket. The low economy rate has been vital as Yasir does have a tendency to be quite expensive in recent times. We have tried a few support spinners to Yasir in recent times such as Bilal Asif, Mohammad Nawaz (more of an AR), Sajid Khan, Zafar Gohar and Shadab Khan (more of an AR). It can be easily argued that a lot of these bowlers haven't been given enough of a sample for them to be judge, and some of them will likely make their comeback at some point into the test team. Nauman Ali will likely stay around the team for a while but I fear his exit from the team may coincide with the exit of our front-line spinner. The question will be, do we have adequate replacements?
I still believe Yasir is our biggest match winner in the test team. You don't get 200 wickets as a leg spinner by being average. In the last 10 years no leg spinner comes close to Yasir in test matches. Bishoo of West Indies is the closest with 96 wickets therefore we have had a real gem in Yasir over these last 7 years. Whilst he is a match winner, nowadays when he isn't winning us a match he hasn't shown the capability to keep it tight due to bowling poor lines and/or poor captaincy (think Misbah's leg side field in Australia). Maybe he can keep himself fit, get his lines tight for when the ball isn't doing much and continue for a few years. But if he doesn't, who is ready to step in to be our front line spinner? Pakistan have a wonderful history of producing world class spinners who win matches on a regular basis. From Abdul Qadir to Mushtaq Ahmed to Saqlain Mushtaq to Danish Kaneria to Saeed Ajmal to Yasir Shah. Who will be next? Do we have someone that has the capability?
Nauman Ali has shown the benefit of having good first class experience. Our recent front-line spinners have both debuted relatively late (Ajmal and Yasir). Do we think our first class system has someone capable of taking on the mantle? Have we already debuted that person? I believe Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz are more AR than front-line spinners. Maybe Zafar Gohar or Sajid Khan - are they good enough? Is there someone lurking in domestics such as a Zahid Mahmood, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Mohammad Asghar?
Would love to know people's thoughts
Nauman has come into the team and shown how valuable first class experience is in test cricket. He is calm, patient and uses subtle variations to keep it tight and get the odd wicket. The low economy rate has been vital as Yasir does have a tendency to be quite expensive in recent times. We have tried a few support spinners to Yasir in recent times such as Bilal Asif, Mohammad Nawaz (more of an AR), Sajid Khan, Zafar Gohar and Shadab Khan (more of an AR). It can be easily argued that a lot of these bowlers haven't been given enough of a sample for them to be judge, and some of them will likely make their comeback at some point into the test team. Nauman Ali will likely stay around the team for a while but I fear his exit from the team may coincide with the exit of our front-line spinner. The question will be, do we have adequate replacements?
I still believe Yasir is our biggest match winner in the test team. You don't get 200 wickets as a leg spinner by being average. In the last 10 years no leg spinner comes close to Yasir in test matches. Bishoo of West Indies is the closest with 96 wickets therefore we have had a real gem in Yasir over these last 7 years. Whilst he is a match winner, nowadays when he isn't winning us a match he hasn't shown the capability to keep it tight due to bowling poor lines and/or poor captaincy (think Misbah's leg side field in Australia). Maybe he can keep himself fit, get his lines tight for when the ball isn't doing much and continue for a few years. But if he doesn't, who is ready to step in to be our front line spinner? Pakistan have a wonderful history of producing world class spinners who win matches on a regular basis. From Abdul Qadir to Mushtaq Ahmed to Saqlain Mushtaq to Danish Kaneria to Saeed Ajmal to Yasir Shah. Who will be next? Do we have someone that has the capability?
Nauman Ali has shown the benefit of having good first class experience. Our recent front-line spinners have both debuted relatively late (Ajmal and Yasir). Do we think our first class system has someone capable of taking on the mantle? Have we already debuted that person? I believe Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz are more AR than front-line spinners. Maybe Zafar Gohar or Sajid Khan - are they good enough? Is there someone lurking in domestics such as a Zahid Mahmood, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Mohammad Asghar?
Would love to know people's thoughts