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"I'll give the credit to the bowling coach [Azhar Mahmood]" : Wahab Riaz

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http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies-v-pakistan-2017/content/story/1089761.html

Pakistan registered a seven-wicket win in Port of Spain on Sunday to win the T20I series against West Indies 3-1. They also claimed their sixth victory in seven T20Is against West Indies in a little over six months; after sweeping them in the UAE in September, they have now won in the Caribbean too.

What has been the reason for such dominance? According to pacer Wahab Riaz, it's Pakistan's bowling - both in terms of planning and execution. "If I have to give the credit, I'll give the credit to the bowling coach [Azhar Mahmood], probably, as well as the captain and the other coaches," he said after the final T20I. "Whenever they sat around, they told us what we did best, where these guys are good and where these guys lack capability. So we always try and bowl and attack them where we know they struggle a lot.

"And I think we have been very successful because our execution of plans was good. And that is the difference, why we beat them in [the UAE] and here in the West Indies as well."

In the first two T20s of this series, it was debutant legspinner Shadab Khan who caused most of the damage, while in the final game fast bowler Hasan Ali stifled the hosts with two maidens and two wickets. Wahab said it was this combination of good spin and pace bowling that had helped Pakistan stay dominant.

"It was a mix and match," he said. "If you see, probably spinners plus fast bowlers both have bowled really well and when it was time they came and delivered. I think the best thing was everybody wanted to be a match winner and they did it."

Going into the three-match ODI series, West Indies don't have as many pluses, but that doesn't mean it's all bad, according to T20I captain Carlos Brathwaite. "We'll have to have our team chat," he said. "One good thing is, every game, win or lose, there's some good conversation in the team."

One area of concern, he said, was shot selection. "I wasn't happy with the [batsmen's] execution. When players come off, the same shots go over the boundary for six, you say well played, that was brilliant. As a management team, we want players to express themselves, but we're just asking for a bit more awareness than we have seen thus far in the series."

Brathwaite singled out pace bowler Kesrick Williams for special praise. Williams, who debuted during West Indies' visit to the UAE with figures of 2 for 15, has played five T20Is in all, and has conceded as much as seven an over on only one occasion. His 17 overs have gone for just 93 runs, and featured six wickets and several of his signature, impressive slow balls.

"Kesrick's performance was excellent," Brathwaite said. "A young man who played his first game in Abu Dhabi, he showed the world what he could do. The challenge is always to come back and do it again and he did it again and again and again. His was one of the standout performances of the series and definitely a positive going forward."

The first of the three ODIs will be played in Providence on April 7.
 
Wahab has done well recently to overcome his no-ball issues and Azhar deserves credit for that.

However, he continues to be inconsistent in the shorter formats and shouldn't be playing every game.

Anyway, good to see his pace in this series. He's been bowling fast consistently for a while. I thought his pace might be on the way down but 95 MPH is no joke. Will be key in Tests.
 
Nice of him to single out Azhar.

But really Wahab is not improving in LOIs and that is a concern. Those match winning performances are not coming through
 
He should question his on ability. Rumman should play ahead of him in t20s. Hassan ali showed how to bowl


Wahab just is on auto pilot and keeps bowling that short good for nothing length.

Pathetic bowling
 
Wahab certainly not valuable in T20s. Risk is much higher than any potential reward.

He should focus on Tests and ODIs.
 
Apart from pace the guy has nothing in his armory. Lacks movement of pitch or in the air and has no sense of direction , bowls too short and too wide too often. He is no spring chicken either , around 32 now and has not improved at all in any format. Pakistan lack fast bowling talent in pakistan so for now we are stuck with his mediocrity.
 
I almost spit my deeply-simmered tea reading that...

Well done for the no-balls, but that's your job, for goodness sake.

Other than that he's one of the naivest bowlers I've seen for yonks. What happened to the tried and tested process of yorkers and fuller deliveries? Why does he need to bowl utter tripe outside off-stump, on a length in the death over?

Too many questions and negatives about Wahab, and not enough answers and positives for him to stay in the side.
 
He is not improving and still bowling no balls- what is he giving credit for because a few hacks couldn't smash him for 2 games.

Pakistani minnow mentality at work again pretending to be a hero after one or
Two half decent games.


I saw a photo recently of him bowling in training and he was overstepping in training as well.

Also widely known him and azhar are good pals, for what it's worth.
 
He is not improving and still bowling no balls- what is he giving credit for because a few hacks couldn't smash him for 2 games.

Pakistani minnow mentality at work again pretending to be a hero after one or
Two half decent games.


I saw a photo recently of him bowling in training and he was overstepping in training as well.

Also widely known him and azhar are good pals, for what it's worth.

He bowled 2 no-balls in 10 matches at the PSL and none in the T20Is against West Indies... :danish
 
He bowled 2 no-balls in 10 matches at the PSL and none in the T20Is against West Indies... :danish

Still bowling no balls then :)

Fair enough hes cut it down alot but its his job. Fact is Wahab is supremely over rated and has been very average for a while. A few half decent games against Chadwick Walton and an over the hill Pollard dont change that.

Think hes miles behind Sohail Khan, Shinwari,Raees, Jk,Amir for me.
 
Still bowling no balls then :)

Fair enough hes cut it down alot but its his job. Fact is Wahab is supremely over rated and has been very average for a while. A few half decent games against Chadwick Walton and an over the hill Pollard dont change that.

Think hes miles behind Sohail Khan, Shinwari,Raees, Jk,Amir for me.

As I mentioned above, he is generally inconsistent in the shorter formats but still does very well in tournaments.

He was one of the best bowlers at the PSL too. Just one lesser wicket than Sohail but far superior economy rate.

He should only be a regular in Tests for now, can be rotated in the shorter formats.
 
Azhar deserves credit for reducing the No ball issue,still these kind of bowling performances were expected against a team like West Indies,real test is CT where Pak bowlers will be tested against some big teams.
 
As I mentioned above, he is generally inconsistent in the shorter formats but still does very well in tournaments.

He was one of the best bowlers at the PSL too. Just one lesser wicket than Sohail but far superior economy rate.

He should only be a regular in Tests for now, can be rotated in the shorter formats.

Exactly.

Though he shouldn't play ODIs at all IMO, except maybe tournaments.
 
Bowling very well at the moment. Nice to see him add the cutter to his armoury.

Azhar has been excellent and yours truly identified that from the start.:najam
 
Whist not wanting to waste the current feel good factor we won due to playing an average side on conditions Pak is comfortable in. Play the same side in Australia and NZ again and we will get whooped like a few months back. Wahab will then change his views as to how great a bowling coach Azhar is.
 
To play this guy well all you have to do is time the ball sweetly through gaps in the field and you're guaranteed valuable runs. He really needs to utilise himself better; peppering batsmen with short-pitched bowling on offstump isn't a good idea you know.
 
To play this guy well all you have to do is time the ball sweetly through gaps in the field and you're guaranteed valuable runs. He really needs to utilise himself better; peppering batsmen with short-pitched bowling on offstump isn't a good idea you know.

Isn't that what you're supposed to do against pretty much every bowler though? :13:
 
Wahab is a freak, almost unique. He is genuinely clocking 150km+ regularly at a age when most fast bowlers actually retire. This is another example of what Inzi era did to PAK cricket. I believe Wahab debuted in FC cricket in 2000-01 season & he was member of the U19 WC winning team in 2003-04. After that tournament, it took 7+ years for him to break into PAK team in 2010, this 10th year in FC cricket, when he must be in his late 20s. Those fundamental technical flaw that he has carried from PAK domestics to his mature age could have been rectified had he been drafted sometimes in 2004-05; 5/6 years before that oval Test in 2010.

To me, Wahab was a genuine prospect for AT fastest bowlers at the genuine age of 25, had he been trained properly at right age. Now, his career is almost finished. One of the main reason I believe is the Woolmer-Inzi era, which was extremely defensive to the level of scared to concede boundaries. Fast bowlers will go for runs, same like genuine spinners who flights the ball - can't find any other reasons why Sami or Wahab should lose out to Rao Iftekhar or Rama Naved.
 
Isn't that what you're supposed to do against pretty much every bowler though? :13:

Should've mentioned that batsmen should just use his pace in that post :))) His pace isn't useful, you can use it to rocket the ball to the boundary.
 
Wahab certainly not valuable in T20s. Risk is much higher than any potential reward.

He should focus on Tests and ODIs.

I can guarantee you with bowlers like Wahab Pakistan can never win a major trophy. He is always at a risk of being taken for 20+ runs in over at any stage of the game. To win against big teams you have to maintain consistency throughout the game.

Also how risky and close his front foot is always.
 
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LOL.

Chief, raise the white flag here. Azhar's worse than even M Akram.

Yeah, for people who've never bowled a ball in their life. Y'all need to be patient. One bad performance and you guys forget all the good ones.
 
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But why do these bowlers don't use their own brain and have the urge to improve themselves? Why rely on the coach to spoon feed you everything?
 
The bowling was terrible. Just bowling short ones and long hops one after the other. I am losing complete faith in Amir as well. His bubble has burst big time now. He is only in the team due to a few good bowling spells in bygone years.
 
Azhar would be pleading wahab not to give him such credit.
 
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