Slog
Senior Test Player
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2015
- Runs
- 28,984
- Post of the Week
- 1
For long we have heard that the reason Sadaf hussain doesn't get an international chance despite averaging under 20 for past six seasons is that he is too slow.
Well Muhammad Abbas has had success even though some people said the same things about him after his season of success in domestic FC cricket. But Infact he has proved that success at domestic cricket does have some merit and more often than not being a beast of a bowler in domestics will result in some success in internationals.
Sadaf hussain has been dominating for past 6-7 years so certainly he's no one season wonder. The great tragedy is that he has been doing as good as Abbasd did this season for quite some time but was never selected meaning that he never got to improve. He is 28 now officially so the age where he could've improved by leaps and bounds courtesy of good coaching had probably passed. However we know about him since his early 20s and that was an age where he actually could have been coached to realise his potential.
It seems that there is something personal as to why he isn't selected but the thing is that now even if he gets the call he won't be able to get to the next level.
This reminds me of a few other examples.
Namely Aizaz Cheema and Tanvir Ahmed. Now I am not at all claiming that they were world beaters or anything of that sort in their brief international careers. But it is true that they put some respectable performances and numbers especially in case of Aizaz Cheema.
Both got their debuts at the age of 31-32 (officially that is. I'm dead certain they were a few years older.) Basically they got their chances when they were almost past it. However both were performing and taking wickets in domestic cricket for years before that. Both average 20-22 in FC so certainly they were doing their jobs. Aizaz Cheema in particular was rated highly and could really crank up the pace in his younger days. (Even in mid 30s he touched 140kph)
So my question is that why do our selectors insist on not rewarding players when they are performing? A player can perform for years but their form and their peak isn't taken advantage of and when they are finally called up they are at the end of their best days anyways. This despite them putting the top numbers in domestics for years before their call up.
Not only do we end up losing their peak but we also don't see them realising their full potential.
For eg if the same Aizaz Cheema had been selected in 2007-08 after three years of top domestic performances (and this is when we had bowlers banned and injured for multitude of reasons so certainly place wasn't an issue), who knows what development would his career have taken.
Similarly Sadaf has been putting the numbers up since 2009-10. However it is unlikely his game has been worked on a lot in this time period so basically if selected now he will more or less be on same level as 5 years ago as far as development is concerned. Why isn't this brought up anywhere?
Well Muhammad Abbas has had success even though some people said the same things about him after his season of success in domestic FC cricket. But Infact he has proved that success at domestic cricket does have some merit and more often than not being a beast of a bowler in domestics will result in some success in internationals.
Sadaf hussain has been dominating for past 6-7 years so certainly he's no one season wonder. The great tragedy is that he has been doing as good as Abbasd did this season for quite some time but was never selected meaning that he never got to improve. He is 28 now officially so the age where he could've improved by leaps and bounds courtesy of good coaching had probably passed. However we know about him since his early 20s and that was an age where he actually could have been coached to realise his potential.
It seems that there is something personal as to why he isn't selected but the thing is that now even if he gets the call he won't be able to get to the next level.
This reminds me of a few other examples.
Namely Aizaz Cheema and Tanvir Ahmed. Now I am not at all claiming that they were world beaters or anything of that sort in their brief international careers. But it is true that they put some respectable performances and numbers especially in case of Aizaz Cheema.
Both got their debuts at the age of 31-32 (officially that is. I'm dead certain they were a few years older.) Basically they got their chances when they were almost past it. However both were performing and taking wickets in domestic cricket for years before that. Both average 20-22 in FC so certainly they were doing their jobs. Aizaz Cheema in particular was rated highly and could really crank up the pace in his younger days. (Even in mid 30s he touched 140kph)
So my question is that why do our selectors insist on not rewarding players when they are performing? A player can perform for years but their form and their peak isn't taken advantage of and when they are finally called up they are at the end of their best days anyways. This despite them putting the top numbers in domestics for years before their call up.
Not only do we end up losing their peak but we also don't see them realising their full potential.
For eg if the same Aizaz Cheema had been selected in 2007-08 after three years of top domestic performances (and this is when we had bowlers banned and injured for multitude of reasons so certainly place wasn't an issue), who knows what development would his career have taken.
Similarly Sadaf has been putting the numbers up since 2009-10. However it is unlikely his game has been worked on a lot in this time period so basically if selected now he will more or less be on same level as 5 years ago as far as development is concerned. Why isn't this brought up anywhere?