Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi: Why is the latter performing but the former isn't?

[Hawkeye]

Hasan last year was one of the top ODI bowlers. If you look at him today, looks like he's lost it, struggling badly.

We now have Shaheen as well. Both him and Hasan bowl at the same pace, sometimes cranking up to ~143 kph.

If their pace is similar, what's different?

It appears it has a lot to do with their heights. Shaheen is close to one foot taller than Hasan!

Shaheen: 6ft 6 in
Hasan: 5ft 7 in

Because of that angle, Shaheen is able to pitch the ball at good length a lot more than Hasan.

Ali is struggling and because of his short height, relies a lot on ball skidding. Which doesn't appear to be happening in the UAE.

What's your assessment?

 

[Bilal7]

Shaheen is in form and Hasan is not. That is all there is to it.

 

[troodon]

I don't think its just the height difference. Hasan is bowling length even in death overs. Easy to launch him into the stands. In his earlier spells, he has developed a habit of serving a boundary ball every over. Hasan is bowling like Indian trundlers from a decade ago.

 

[Chokli]

Hasan has been found out.

Success has gotten to his head and he's become complacent.

Even Bilawal Bhatti won us a game in South Africa but eventually he got found out too.

 

[Hawkeye]

Shaheen is in form and Hasan is not. That is all there is to it.

No, it's not really that.

There are differences in how they're bowling.

I don't think its just the height difference. Hasan is bowling length even in death overs. Easy to launch him into the stands. In his earlier spells, he has developed a habit of serving a boundary ball every over. Hasan is bowling like Indian trundlers from a decade ago.

Yeah, noticed that too. "hit me" balls at the death.

 

[Hawkeye]

Both are mediocre but SSA has novelty factor. Hassan is ****!

I somewhat agree with you on the 'novelty' factor.

Haven't seen SSA swing or seam the ball yet. Might generate it in SA though.

Hasan has been found out.

Success has gotten to his head and he's become complacent.

Even Bilawal Bhatti won us a game in South Africa but eventually he got found out too.

I think Hasan can still do well on lively pitches. But his height will be a huge negative factor, always.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Height primarily I think. On these slow pitches of the UAE, his margin for error is much less than 6'6" Shaheen. Of course he hasn't helped his cause by bowling garbage lengths either but he hasn't been bowling as badly, compared to the others, as the numbers show.

 

[Rayyman]

Not only Hasan, also Amir.

 

[Chokli]

Not only Hasan, also Amir.

Amir at least kept his economy down.

 

[Dark_Horse]

One thing which I noticed was Hassan was given 3 2 2 2 overs spell he is out of rythum he needs to get 4-5 overs spell. in third spell he was getting good reverse and bowling good just to get replace by Imad. I think he should have been given more overs there particularly if he could have got wickets and confidence can do amazing things to get back into rythum. I think we should persist with him in next match he got two wickets it’s just matter of time he would cut on freebies. For shaheen he has two opportunities for 5ers just did not got enough overs

 

[Plumb]

Hasan was good in beginning then he lost the plot. Bowlers need to work harder these days as teams closely monitor and work on the weakness of bowlers.

Another 6 months 'll tell if shaheen going the same rout as hasan or no. I hope Shaheen stays away from him and work on getting better everyday.

 

[ARK Rafay]

Hasan has been found out.

Success has gotten to his head and he's become complacent.

Even Bilawal Bhatti won us a game in South Africa but eventually he got found out too.

Uff. What first impression Bilawal gave, those yorkers. Man he performed well

 

[Sadozai]

Both are totally different bowlers. One is left arm bowler the other is right arm bowler, both bowl with different angles. Height is also a difference there. But above all Hassan Ali is not bowling at right line / length.

 

[Xoib]

Hassan in form consistently hit the length hard his full and short ones were good surprise weapons currently he is either under pitching or over pitching

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Hassan Ali is wearing a chain and that is affecting his performance.

 

[CricFan2012]

Shaheen is in form and Hasan is not. That is all there is to it.

There is no such thing as form.

It is a mixture of Hasan Ali getting over confident, players getting used to playing with him, bowling poorly, while Shaheen is new to the scene so batsmen are still getting used to him, he has the novelty factor, and is also aided by his height and early signs of bowling intelligence.

 

[OmarKhan99]

There is no such thing as form.

It is a mixture of Hasan Ali getting over confident, players getting used to playing with him, bowling poorly, while Shaheen is new to the scene so batsmen are still getting used to him, he has the novelty factor, and is also aided by his height and early signs of bowling intelligence.

Form, rhythm and momentum are all the constituents of your physical state of mind. Form is, indeed, a true phenomenon and exists in every aspect of life.

Also, don't think this has anything to do with Hasan's novelty factor being worn off. There was never any mystery to him (apart from his unusually skiddy pace). He didn't get his wickets through deception, but rather through straight, full and swinging deliveries. Being new to the scene doesn't make you bowl perfect yorkers, form and rhythm do. No matter how much players study that, you can't get used to unreal swing he was getting last year. He's just lost that rhythm post injury. I feared for this exact same thing when PCB had allowed him to participate in tournaments like CPL, BPL, and the t10 back to back. The eventual burnout was quite inevitable.

It's baffling that people are even bringing up that he had some mystery and that batsmen got used to it. That's just not the case. The issue is clear as daylight. He needs that form back. He needs a rest.

 

[Hasan123]

Hasan Ali is in some bad form. Hopefully he can bounce back.

 

[rhony]

Left armers are a different breed to begin with. Shaheen is showing maturity beyond his years here. He doesn't rely on tricks and is keeping things simple. He is pitching it up, bowling length and Yorkers at will and wherever required. Two deliveries stood out for me. The slow ball to Hitman that was dropped by Imam in the Asia Cup and the Yorker to Latham first up today. Kid will light up the world cup. If only Amir is on song, this could be a killer combo in 6 months.

 

[rhony]

Left armers are a different breed to begin with. Shaheen is showing maturity beyond his years here. He doesn't rely on tricks and is keeping things simple. He is pitching it up, bowling length and Yorkers at will and wherever required. Two deliveries stood out for me. The slow ball to Hitman that was dropped by Imam in the Asia Cup and the Yorker to Latham first up today. Kid will light up the world cup. If only Amir is on song, this could be a killer combo in 6 months.

Adding to my above post. Yesterday during SA vs AUS game, Rabada was smashed by Lynn in an over and was eventually dismissed on a bouncer in the same over. Shane Warne who was commenting then indicated that there are two options a bowler has when he's being smashed around. One is to bowl safe line and length and try for a dot ball or give him a single. The other option which Warne prefers is to continue to bowl aggressively because that is a great chance to get the wicket. Shaheen's slow ball to Rohit after being hit for a swivel pull for a six indicates that he is the bowler who chooses option 2. That's why I think he's matured beyond his years and is unafraid to execute his skills.

 

[pakistani pride]

You guys need to respect and apprciate the players a bit more. Hasan is going through the 2nd year syndrome . This happens. SSA is a great talent and inshallah he will become a very good bowler.

 

[TeamPak95]

SSA has just started so there really isn't much pressure he is carrying at the moment. Hasan, on the other hand, is expected to be among the wickets in almost every game after a stellar 2017 and therefore is carrying much more pressure. For those who want Hasan dropped, when the expectations/pressure rises for SSA and if he starts to underwhelm with the ball for a string of games/series would you drop him as well? Obviously don't keep out-of-form players in the team for years but you can't just throw away your players just like that, especially since there's a WC around the corner. For me, for Hasan to be dropped he'd have to showcase Wahab Riaz-10 overs-no wickets-for 100 something-like performances on a consistent bases.

 

[topspin]

Hasan Ali is indeed out of form or suffering from second season syndrome, whatever you want to call it but nobody can deny Shaheen has a higher ceiling because he can take pitches out of the equation with his extra pace, great height and his left arm angle which will always create more problems for most of the batsmen in the game who happen to be right handed.