On This Day - March 12, 2001 : Mohammad Sami destroys New Zealand on Test debut

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On this day 2001 in Auckland. Mohammad Sami arrived in international cricket as New Zealand collapsed from 121-2 to 131 all out <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/p6jwW6lCxp">pic.twitter.com/p6jwW6lCxp</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/840943309052882945">March 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Had such a promising start yet he struggled immensely in Test cricket. However, he still appears to have something left in him nowadays. Still hitting good speeds and had a very good PSL 2.

Did he deserve more chances for Pakistan - at least in the shorter formats?

 

[ExpressPacer]

Yes. We've wasted a real gem here. Sure, you can argue he never had brain himself or what not but we've wasted faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar too many bowlers because of the negligence of our coaching staff. The biggest examples are Zahid and Sami. What demons they could've been.


However, I'm still of the opinion that it is never too late. He is by far the quickest bowler in Pakistan still, both on fastest delivery and average pace. He has great line and length all of a sudden and playing him in WI wont do too much hard. Look at India, they have Nehra and he's been good for them.

I never really understood why Sami was dropped in the first place. Ever. Maybe he was bad before but these last couple of chances, he had one bad game after dozens of good ones and was shown the door. Pathetic. Gems are dropped to bring back mediocrity of Anwar Ali and Umar Gul and other TTFs.

 

[Bhaijaan]

There are great bowlers who keep getting injured and there is Mohammad Sami who has been there and bowling fast like forever and yet struggled. Tragedy of life. Phenomenally gifted athlete who couldn't encash his rare talent.

 

[Slog]

Mohammad Sami is a classic case study to show that our selectors and team managements over the years have rocks for brains with IQs comparable to a log of wood.

Yes the guy is totally useless in Tests and can't hack it in that format so what should be the result of that? Obviously for them it was to give him a gazillion more chances to get it right and when they finally drop him they drop him altogether including in ODIs where he was doing well.

He's always been a good LOI bowlers and his statistics are testament to that. But our thick selectors can't get it that you can be good in one format and poor in the other so you should only play the one you're good

Such a talent. Also very unlucky to have absolute defensive Duds as captains. Was doing great when Wasim and Rashid were his captain's but then we get inzi who uses a 150k bowler for 10 over spells

 

[Hasan123]

He should have definitely played more in LO. I think his main problem was more mental, once a batsmen attacked him he seemed to lose the plot.

In the PSL he was bowling at good pace for someone of his age.

 

[pakistani pride]

I remember after the 2003 wc when we have our routine clean up job after a wc. He came in and was a beast between 2003 and 2006 in LOI.

such a pitty he didnt play in the 2003 wc. He had natural outswing with the new ball at 150ks plus!

And with the old ball could bowl those yorker at will

Really a mistery why he went downhill.

 

[Justcrazy]

With short run up he was hitting 150 , good out swinger and yorkers . Good fielder and also no mug with bat !

 

[GLORY OF '92]

Oh man great memories.

Very depressing what happened afterwards.

 

[msb314]

Mohammad Sami is a classic case study to show that our selectors and team managements over the years have rocks for brains with IQs comparable to a log of wood.

Yes the guy is totally useless in Tests and can't hack it in that format so what should be the result of that? Obviously for them it was to give him a gazillion more chances to get it right and when they finally drop him they drop him altogether including in ODIs where he was doing well.

He's always been a good LOI bowlers and his statistics are testament to that. But our thick selectors can't get it that you can be good in one format and poor in the other so you should only play the one you're good

Such a talent. Also very unlucky to have absolute defensive Duds as captains. Was doing great when Wasim and Rashid were his captain's but then we get inzi who uses a 150k bowler for 10 over spells

Sami was rubbish for a long time bro - in all formats.

Had a good start to his career back in 2001-2003 but completely lost it during the India tour of 2004 when Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid etc. all took him to the cleaners. Was never the same bowler after that.

Even during the Zimbabwe series in 2015 - he was recalled but bowled absolute flith and was taken to the cleaners by the Zimbabwean batsman for all people. He is/was a worse spray gun than Wahab (who atleast does not get intimidated and can bowl well in spells)

On top of that - he is as mentally fragile as one can get (which is a horrible trait to have as a fast bowler) and no consistency whatsoever.

Good riddance and rightfully dropped...

 

[Slog]

Sami was rubbish for a long time bro - in all formats.

Had a good start to his career back in 2001-2003 but completely lost it during the India tour of 2004 when Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid etc. all took him to the cleaners. Was never the same bowler after that.

Even during the Zimbabwe series in 2015 - he was recalled but bowled absolute flith and was taken to the cleaners by the Zimbabwean batsman for all people. He is/was a worse spray gun than Wahab (who atleast does not get intimidated and can bowl well in spells)

On top of that - he is as mentally fragile as one can get (which is a horrible trait to have as a fast bowler) and no consistency whatsoever.

Good riddance and rightfully dropped...

If you look at his year by year record in ODIs it's pretty goo

But yea he's a mental midget

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Even in his last T20's he was pretty decent. As someone said earlier he always been a good OD bowler. Tests weren't his cup of tea yet the selectors kept him in the squad. He had his spells but those were under really aggressive captains like Younus, Moin etc.

 

[Saj]

Wasted talent.

A bowler who just seemed to run up and let the ball go rather than think about what he is doing.

Should have achieved so much more than what he did.

 

[Bewal Express]

In the early days Sami had a great attitude, perhaps the best bowler fielder we have had but tragically it soon became apparent that the guy had the brain the size of a pea. If the ball was swinging or seaming he would bowl short and wide and if it was flat, he would bowl full and be driven. I agree totally with Saj that he had no plan when he ran in or if he did, he couldn't execute it. A real wasted talent.

 

[Markhor]

If you could put Mohammad Asif's brain in Mohammad Sami's body you'd have one hell of a bowler.

He was lethal on his day, could get both conventional and reverse swing and at real pace. One of the very few pacers we had who could come close to matching Akhtar for speed. Even now he still generates good pace.

However what use is pace when in a pressure situation or when batsmen hit you around you often crumble ? Sami was prone to bowling some very expensive spells and he also developed a TERRIBLE problem with extras. He infamously during the 2004 Asia Cup bowled a 17 ball over.

Inzamam was the sort of captain who wanted to control the run rate so Sami was eventually dropped. His decline came the same time as Asif's emergence.

 

[Abdullah719]

It's been 17 years and he's still bowling pretty fast

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Sami, Sami, Sami. It is what it is.

 

[coy0607]

remember that test match, I was so excited for what Sami could've been

despite a super disappointing international career, I'm glad he's done well in T20 leagues

 

[giri26]

Was a very good bowler when he started out. Similar to Umar Gul, had a good start to the test career and became a LOI bowler.

 

[Tusker]

Ahhh Sami ... still remember the build up to the Jeet-Lo-Dill series where he (along with Akhtar) was supposed to do un-printable things to Indian batsmen ... particularly Sehwag ... Great memories

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 2001. Mohammad Sami at his best on Test debut with second-innings figures of 5-36 as Pakistan beat New Zealand by 299 runs at Auckland <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/YcYbsvhY23">pic.twitter.com/YcYbsvhY23</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1238018326795816960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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[Amjid Javed]

Never bowled with a plan, bowled at least 1 bad ball an over just a mediocre bowler.

 

[Kaddy]

M. Sami has the worst bowling average in the history of Pakistan test cricket (as a specialist bowler).

 

[Kaka4pope]

Terrific speed endurance, reminiscent of Brett Lee. Given he was fit and hard working, questions have to be asked of those coaching him.

 

[Zaz]

Terrific speed endurance, reminiscent of Brett Lee. Given he was fit and hard working, questions have to be asked of those coaching him.

You can take a horse to water but you cant make it drink

Mentally sami just didnt have it in him to suceed at the highest level no matter who coached him

 

[Savak]

Biggest tragedy of Pakistan Cricket. So much early potential from 2001 to 2003 but all went downhill from 2004 onwards where from a confirmed national selection he went downhill to domestic cricket

 

[Savak]

His story is similar to Steven Finn. Developed hipps and lost all his natural gifts he showed early on in his career. He used to swing the ball both ways early on in his career and bowl with an upright seam. He totally lost it all afterwards

 

[shariqnoor]

He played with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and those two never developed him. Wasim and Waqar never gave Pakistan even 1 fast bowler.

 

[hitthestump]

Terrific speed endurance, reminiscent of Brett Lee. Given he was fit and hard working, questions have to be asked of those coaching him.

The guy had Pakistan's greatest fast bowlers around him at various points during his career and even Imran Khan took the time to give him 1 on 1 coaching in the nets. Hugely disappointing career but i don't think anyone that rests on the shoulders of anyone except Sami.

 

[Savak]

He played with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and those two never developed him. Wasim and Waqar never gave Pakistan even 1 fast bowler.

I have worked with some brilliant people in the workplace but sadly most of such individuals are reluctant to mentor juniors and will not hesitate to scapegoat them to save their behinds. The best you can do is just observe them and try to learn from them and pick up the best possible practices. Plenty of players who played alongside the W's testify that they were extremely competitive but mentorship and tutoring was not on their agenda.

Shoaib held his own and just picked up things as he went along

 

[tyron_woodley]

strongest Pakistani bowler of all time. physically gifted. Not tall. Only average height but built like he is carved out of a stone.

mediocre test bowler though. good odi and t20 bowler. Shame he became a can after 2004.

 

[Savak]

Tbh even the W's were very lucky to have benefited from Imran Khan's captaincy and day to day guidance from mid off, mid on to which they testify helped them massively early on in their career in terms of learning how to read batsmen, setting them up and the game, match situation.

Shoaib benefited the same way like this when he was playing alongside the W's. Who knows how the W's would have ended up if there was no Imran Khan early on to give the once in a lifetime hand holding and guidance early on in their career

 

[Savak]

The guy had Pakistan's greatest fast bowlers around him at various points during his career and even Imran Khan took the time to give him 1 on 1 coaching in the nets. Hugely disappointing career but i don't think anyone that rests on the shoulders of anyone except Sami.

IK spent a good 7 years with Wasim and a good 2-3 years with Waqar. Unfair to expect him to make an earth shattering difference in one net session with Sami that only lasted 2 hours at best

 

[ManFan]

His story is similar to Steven Finn. Developed hipps and lost all his natural gifts he showed early on in his career. He used to swing the ball both ways early on in his career and bowl with an upright seam. He totally lost it all afterwards

What do you mean by “hipps”?

 

[Savak]

What do you mean by “hipps”?

Sorry, I am not sure I got the term right. It was something Finn had where he was overcoached to the point where he completely forgot his bowling action and run up on the tour to Australia in 2013-14. His career has never recovered ever since

 

[mojohnson]

Sorry, I am not sure I got the term right. It was something Finn had where he was overcoached to the point where he completely forgot his bowling action and run up on the tour to Australia in 2013-14. His career has never recovered ever since

I think it's called YIPS.

 

[ManFan]

Sorry, I am not sure I got the term right. It was something Finn had where he was overcoached to the point where he completely forgot his bowling action and run up on the tour to Australia in 2013-14. His career has never recovered ever since

OK, thanks for the explanation.

 

[sweep_shot]

I remember this game. Sami was quite unplayable.

 

[MenInG]

What bowler he could have been! No idea why he couldnt fix his issues?

 

[karthikc]

What bowler he could have been! No idea why he couldnt fix his issues?

Imran said that he was like Michael Holding..It is unbelievable that he bowled that 100 mph ball..It looked so effortless!

 

[Slog]

Imran said that he was like Michael Holding..It is unbelievable that he bowled that 100 mph ball..It looked so effortless!

Malcolm Marshall*

 

[Markhor]

Sami was the real deal. Hate it when people compare Naseem or Hasnain to him, Sami was a level above.

He was competing with Shoaib Akhtar in terms of pace at his peak.

Sadly his problems were all in his head. He needed an Imran or Wasim to talk to him ball by ball from mid-on.

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

Sami was the real deal. Hate it when people compare Naseem or Hasnain to him, Sami was a level above.

He was competing with Shoaib Akhtar in terms of pace at his peak.

Sadly his problems were all in his head. He needed an Imran or Wasim to talk to him ball by ball from mid-on.

Sami's problem was his meek and shy personality. He didnt rate himself and was mentally weak.
Otherwise there was no reason why he couldn't have become a great bowler.
Dude had everything a bowler needs aside from height, but that was redeemable because he had all the other physical attributes.