ahmedwaqas92
ODI Debutant
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- Dec 26, 2013
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Editor's Note: Please read this OP to have the gist of my argument, before...you know... Passing that PP cliqued Judgement of yours
To begin with let me clarify that I am NOT, in any way or form, introducing the notion that Asif is our greatest ever fast bowler - That's without any shadow of a doubt, Wasim Akram; while there are many others that have greater longevity and similar stats for an extended period of.
However, I am more inclined to focus on his ability, as a bowler, to actually bowl and exploit a particular weakness in a batsman's game and to actually do the latter, in real time, against people he's arguably never played in his life is a feature that has practically been missing from our bowlers since the retirements of Wasim, Waqar and to some extent Shoaib Akhtar.
During the ongoing QeA final's 1st innings of HBL, I noticed that Asif's bowling genius is not that he bowls countless Jaffas, which he actually does bowl by the way, but his ability to get into a batsman's head, analyze his strengths and weaknesses, and then make them commit to something that is unnatural for their game is something so surreal that it practically feels as if he goes into their ears and whispers to them to play a particular shot - all within a space of mere 5-7 deliveries.
The best example of this was when Imam was leaving the bowls that Asif was bowling at around 4th/5th stump line going across the left hander and then straightening when it went past the stumps. This meant that Asif wanted him to poke and play at the deliveries which went across him because if the delivery straightens and comes in line with the stumps then Imam, who’s defense is arguably quite solid as he presents a straight bat behind the bowl, will never edge it to slips and with the pace that Asif bowls at it was impossible for him to breach his defenses.
This predicament meant that Asif needed to make him play at those deliveries going across - 'This is where the genius comes actually....'.
Since Asif knows he was previously an international Test star he initiated this mind game with Imam where he would quietly walk a bit closer to him, in his bowling follow through, and appreciate (sarcastically) the leave that Imam was doing to his deliveries going across.
Now when a bowler like Asif does this to someone it will, without a doubt, create a bit of confusion in the batsman's mind as he would start doubting that whether you're playing your game correctly or are you actually falling for an Asif trap. Needless to say, Imam fell for the trap that was non-existent in pure cricketing sense, as he was actually playing correctly and that small sarcastic clap that Asif did prior to the wicket taking bowl made him do exactly what Asif wanted him to do.
It's fascinating to note that Asif didn't bowl any differently to how he was bowling the deliveries earlier to Imam, they were all pitching on middle and off and going across with the slight deviation off the seam, either way. It was Imam that was made to come on the front foot to a delivery which he was playing ABSOLUTELY FINE on all previous occasions and a small sarcastic clap actually created the false shot.
I am not too sure how many people watched the 1st spell of Asif in the QeA trophy final on Saturday Morning but that was probably, as good an opening seam bowling spell I've seen, essentially from the days of Mcgrath and Wasim. The other wickets that fell were standard Asif's 1, 2 set ups that actually made me realize the gulf in class between the batsmen we think are good in our domestic to actually facing a gun international level bowler and then that bowler making absolute fools out of them.
Fakhir's wicket was so disappointing it's unbelievable how someone, who we are rooting to be a future batsman for us internationally, can fall to such an obvious bowling trap. He was originally coming forward to deliveries that were going across even when he was leaving them. This clearly meant that even if he defended he would be playing slightly away from the body, and for Asif it was just too easy.
He made two go away from him, and then the third one he pitched a little fuller making it seam into the batsmen. Since it was fuller Fakhir's natural defense kicked in but because he was coming forward in leaving the balls outside off stump (previously) therefore, his bat was away from the body and the gap was enough for the bowl to snuck through. Actually, if you look at the bowl, you'd notice that the delivery hit the middle stump which meant that had it only deviated slightly Fakhir would've made contact with the bat; but the deviation was extravagant enough to which meant there was no contact and it went right past his defenses.
Farhat's LBW was just him missing a ball that deviated to come back into the stumps and I feel discussing his wicket is rather pointless since he, we can all be assured, is nowhere near making a comeback but what I wanted to come to was how, Asif was literally toying with Ahmad Shehzad
.
Asif to Shehzad : Play and Miss - Squared him
Asif to Shehzad : Play and Miss - Fishing
Shehzad starts to stand out of his crease to negate the swing and seam.
Asif to shehzad : Connects (False Shot), bat angled in towards short midwicket, ball goes to cover point)
Asif to Shehzad : Connects (False Shot Again), Inside edge to Short Leg
Kami comes in to stand at the stumps as Shehzad was batting outside of his crease - Shehzad is forced back into the crease, Asif slows his pace as well!!
Asif to Shehzad : In ducker that almost got him; ball hits back thigh after taking the inside edge of the bat. Shehzad playing towards cover
Asif to Shehzad : Finally Middled (defended) !!!!
Maiden over that left Shehzad going for his signature mid-wicket hoick next over to Irfan and consequently skied one to short mid-wicket - game over
.
This Asif's spell made it entirely clear that he is practically head and shoulders above anyone currently representing Pakistan in the pace bowling department while the way he made absolute fools out of HBL batsmen, a team that somehow managed to qualify for the final, ahead or the likes of SSGC and KRL
solidified why we ABSOLUTELY NEED him down under during these upcoming test matches in Australia. This is the same guy that would literally make KP, Strauss, Sachin, Dravid, VVS and other top batsmen look like amateurs while bowling during the mid-2000s and even if he can replicate 50% of what he had previously, I can be assured that he would run through a hot knife like butter while bowling to the current Aussie lineup.
If the PCB management and selectors are clever enough, they would, essentially pluck him out and send him on a plane to Australia RIGHT ABOUT NOW!! But alas this kind of quick thinking and innovative game play is alien to our selectors while I would be pleasantly surprised if they did otherwise.
To begin with let me clarify that I am NOT, in any way or form, introducing the notion that Asif is our greatest ever fast bowler - That's without any shadow of a doubt, Wasim Akram; while there are many others that have greater longevity and similar stats for an extended period of.
However, I am more inclined to focus on his ability, as a bowler, to actually bowl and exploit a particular weakness in a batsman's game and to actually do the latter, in real time, against people he's arguably never played in his life is a feature that has practically been missing from our bowlers since the retirements of Wasim, Waqar and to some extent Shoaib Akhtar.
During the ongoing QeA final's 1st innings of HBL, I noticed that Asif's bowling genius is not that he bowls countless Jaffas, which he actually does bowl by the way, but his ability to get into a batsman's head, analyze his strengths and weaknesses, and then make them commit to something that is unnatural for their game is something so surreal that it practically feels as if he goes into their ears and whispers to them to play a particular shot - all within a space of mere 5-7 deliveries.
The best example of this was when Imam was leaving the bowls that Asif was bowling at around 4th/5th stump line going across the left hander and then straightening when it went past the stumps. This meant that Asif wanted him to poke and play at the deliveries which went across him because if the delivery straightens and comes in line with the stumps then Imam, who’s defense is arguably quite solid as he presents a straight bat behind the bowl, will never edge it to slips and with the pace that Asif bowls at it was impossible for him to breach his defenses.
This predicament meant that Asif needed to make him play at those deliveries going across - 'This is where the genius comes actually....'.
Since Asif knows he was previously an international Test star he initiated this mind game with Imam where he would quietly walk a bit closer to him, in his bowling follow through, and appreciate (sarcastically) the leave that Imam was doing to his deliveries going across.
Now when a bowler like Asif does this to someone it will, without a doubt, create a bit of confusion in the batsman's mind as he would start doubting that whether you're playing your game correctly or are you actually falling for an Asif trap. Needless to say, Imam fell for the trap that was non-existent in pure cricketing sense, as he was actually playing correctly and that small sarcastic clap that Asif did prior to the wicket taking bowl made him do exactly what Asif wanted him to do.
It's fascinating to note that Asif didn't bowl any differently to how he was bowling the deliveries earlier to Imam, they were all pitching on middle and off and going across with the slight deviation off the seam, either way. It was Imam that was made to come on the front foot to a delivery which he was playing ABSOLUTELY FINE on all previous occasions and a small sarcastic clap actually created the false shot.
I am not too sure how many people watched the 1st spell of Asif in the QeA trophy final on Saturday Morning but that was probably, as good an opening seam bowling spell I've seen, essentially from the days of Mcgrath and Wasim. The other wickets that fell were standard Asif's 1, 2 set ups that actually made me realize the gulf in class between the batsmen we think are good in our domestic to actually facing a gun international level bowler and then that bowler making absolute fools out of them.
Fakhir's wicket was so disappointing it's unbelievable how someone, who we are rooting to be a future batsman for us internationally, can fall to such an obvious bowling trap. He was originally coming forward to deliveries that were going across even when he was leaving them. This clearly meant that even if he defended he would be playing slightly away from the body, and for Asif it was just too easy.
He made two go away from him, and then the third one he pitched a little fuller making it seam into the batsmen. Since it was fuller Fakhir's natural defense kicked in but because he was coming forward in leaving the balls outside off stump (previously) therefore, his bat was away from the body and the gap was enough for the bowl to snuck through. Actually, if you look at the bowl, you'd notice that the delivery hit the middle stump which meant that had it only deviated slightly Fakhir would've made contact with the bat; but the deviation was extravagant enough to which meant there was no contact and it went right past his defenses.
Farhat's LBW was just him missing a ball that deviated to come back into the stumps and I feel discussing his wicket is rather pointless since he, we can all be assured, is nowhere near making a comeback but what I wanted to come to was how, Asif was literally toying with Ahmad Shehzad
.Asif to Shehzad : Play and Miss - Squared him
Asif to Shehzad : Play and Miss - Fishing
Shehzad starts to stand out of his crease to negate the swing and seam.
Asif to shehzad : Connects (False Shot), bat angled in towards short midwicket, ball goes to cover point
) Asif to Shehzad : Connects (False Shot Again), Inside edge to Short Leg
Kami comes in to stand at the stumps as Shehzad was batting outside of his crease - Shehzad is forced back into the crease, Asif slows his pace as well!!
Asif to Shehzad : In ducker that almost got him; ball hits back thigh after taking the inside edge of the bat. Shehzad playing towards cover
Asif to Shehzad : Finally Middled (defended) !!!!
Maiden over that left Shehzad going for his signature mid-wicket hoick next over to Irfan and consequently skied one to short mid-wicket - game over
. This Asif's spell made it entirely clear that he is practically head and shoulders above anyone currently representing Pakistan in the pace bowling department while the way he made absolute fools out of HBL batsmen, a team that somehow managed to qualify for the final, ahead or the likes of SSGC and KRL
solidified why we ABSOLUTELY NEED him down under during these upcoming test matches in Australia. This is the same guy that would literally make KP, Strauss, Sachin, Dravid, VVS and other top batsmen look like amateurs while bowling during the mid-2000s and even if he can replicate 50% of what he had previously, I can be assured that he would run through a hot knife like butter while bowling to the current Aussie lineup.If the PCB management and selectors are clever enough, they would, essentially pluck him out and send him on a plane to Australia RIGHT ABOUT NOW!! But alas this kind of quick thinking and innovative game play is alien to our selectors while I would be pleasantly surprised if they did otherwise.
