Pace bowlers of Pakistan team (most emphasis on Tests) post 2003

[BunnyRabbit]

So I was just watching a compilation of Shoaib Akhtar's 2005 Mohammad Asif's spells from 2006 and 2010, and was just thinking how the term "leader of the attack" for Pakistan team especially the test team has fallen year after year.
I may be wrong for a few years but this is my subjective list as to how i saw our team was being led by fast bowlers with every passing year.

I didn't follow cricket much before wc99. And till 2003 it was usually one from the 2 Ws or Shoaib, but after the debacle of 2003 wc, i have seen our test attack spearheaded as followed

2003 - Shoaib Akhtar
2004 - Shoaib Akhtar
2005 - Shabbir Ahmed/Shoaib Akhtar
2006 - Mohammad Asif
2007 - Mohammad Asif
2008 - Umar Gul (Akhtar and asif were banned, no tests during the year as well)
2009 - Mohammad Amir
2010 - Mohammad Amir/Umar Gul
2011 - Umar Gul
2012 - Junaid Khan
2013 - Junaid Khan
2014 - Junaid Khan/Rahat Ali
2015 - Wahab Riaz
2016 - Mohammad Amir
2017 - Mohammad Amir
2018 - Mohammad Abbas
2019 - Mohammad Abbas
2020 - only 3 tests abbas/shaheen

We faced a great decline of standards post 2007 i would say. The ever controversial Asif and Shoaib were constantly in and out of the team through 2005-2010. After the spot fixing fiasco, Umar Gul became the defacto leader and actually did well against SA, in NZ, against SL and Eng before starting to fade away and Junaid making the leap as the leader of the attack for the next 3 years before that knee injury took a lot of life out of his bowling.

Amir didn't do as well as expected, Abbas took on the mettle and has been doing well, I feel Shaheen will take the baton now in a year maybe.

If not for Saeed Ajmal's presence till 2014, and Yasir from thereafter, I guess we wouldn't have won many matches during this period.

Out of these, I guess Junaid, Gul and Abbas have been the least talked about yet reliable guys.

 

[ElRaja]

just seeing rahat ali and term spearhead is enough to make any pak supporter cry.

 

[hitthestump]

Shoaib is the only remotely consistent spearhead we've had, and he was plagued with issues!

Everyone else has been more of a flash in the pan for various different reasons. Spearhead isn't the word for anyone else but Shoaib.

 

[Varun]

All of them are pretty average compared to the bowlers the rest of the world has produced (from Steyn, Anderson, McGrath to Rabada, Starc, Cummins, Broad) and yet we have the false statement of "Pakistan has Da Best Bowlers in Da World!!" shoved down our throat year after year.

The last Pakistan fast bowler to play 50 tests was Waqar Younis, and the last to take 200 wickets was also him. He made his debut back in the dinosaur era of the 1980s. So stop hyping every greenhorn who comes along.

 

[deep82]

All of them are pretty average compared to the bowlers the rest of the world has produced (from Steyn, Anderson, McGrath to Rabada, Starc, Cummins, Broad) and yet we have the false statement of "Pakistan has Da Best Bowlers in Da World!!" shoved down our throat year after year.

The last Pakistan fast bowler to play 50 tests was Waqar Younis, and the last to take 200 wickets was also him. He made his debut back in the dinosaur era of the 1980s. So stop hyping every greenhorn who comes along.

Few Paksitan fans have expected the reality. But there are many who are still living in 90's and cannot accept the fact that there are no extraordinary talent for the last 10 years in fast bowling and they are the one who talk breed, potential, talent and such nonsense.

The way some delusional fans talk even now it looks like there are multiple Wasin and Waqar lurking in their domestic cricket. But the reality is very cruel.

Since 2000, Even India has comfortable overtaken Pakistan in bowling also. Lets not even compare it to SENA. India have two 300wkt bowler in Zaheer and Ishant since 2000 and Shami almost there with 180 wickets and in peak form. Bumrah is also expected to reach a minimum of 200 wkt with his freak talent. ( His awkward action or injury can stop him though). Comparing spinners India has Bhaji, Ashwin and Jadeja with 200 wkts with the later two going strong.

Pakistan only produced Yasir Shah which is a good achievement because he did it very quick. So just one bowler with 200 Wickets in around 20 years.

Though to be fair Asif and Amir are destined to reach 200+ easily but then its their own undoing and are themselves to be blamed.

Looking forward, Abbas has a genuine chance for 200 wickets but can he play 4-5 years continuously. I doubt. He looks older than his official age.

Shaheen and Naseem are next bets. But both have very ordinary start to their test career. The legacy will get a sound beating if this decade also went missing.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Few Paksitan fans have expected the reality. But there are many who are still living in 90's and cannot accept the fact that there are no extraordinary talent for the last 10 years in fast bowling and they are the one who talk breed, potential, talent and such nonsense.

The way some delusional fans talk even now it looks like there are multiple Wasin and Waqar lurking in their domestic cricket. But the reality is very cruel.

Since 2000, Even India has comfortable overtaken Pakistan in bowling also. Lets not even compare it to SENA. India have two 300wkt bowler in Zaheer and Ishant since 2000 and Shami almost there with 180 wickets and in peak form. Bumrah is also expected to reach a minimum of 200 wkt with his freak talent. ( His awkward action or injury can stop him though). Comparing spinners India has Bhaji, Ashwin and Jadeja with 200 wkts with the later two going strong.

Pakistan only produced Yasir Shah which is a good achievement because he did it very quick. So just one bowler with 200 Wickets in around 20 years.

Though to be fair Asif and Amir are destined to reach 200+ easily but then its their own undoing and are themselves to be blamed.

Looking forward, Abbas has a genuine chance for 200 wickets but can he play 4-5 years continuously. I doubt. He looks older than his official age.

Shaheen and Naseem are next bets. But both have very ordinary start to their test career. The legacy will get a sound beating if this decade also went missing.

The pace stocks took a big hit once the Ws retired.
Shoaib was a big thing but injuries and his other various issues stopped him from playing consistently.
Asif and Amir wrote their fate themselves otherwise they would have reached the 200 wicket mark easily by now.

Shaheen is the only one that seems like could become a mainstay in the longer version of the games, he has good work ethic, probably has his true age written, and has what it takes to become a true leader of the attack.

Junaid is someone I feel could have reached the 200 mark if not for the knee injury and its mismanagement by PCB had happened. He was going strength to strength just before the injury took place. Hasn't played test cricket for 5 years now. He is the only one I feel sorry for.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Shoaib is the only remotely consistent spearhead we've had, and he was plagued with issues!

Everyone else has been more of a flash in the pan for various different reasons. Spearhead isn't the word for anyone else but Shoaib.

Asif, Junaid and Amir certainly weren't flash in the pans.
Asif and Amir butchered their test careers themselves.

Junaid was the only one who was looking solid to become the attack leader before that unfortunate knee injury that destroyed his career.

Hoping Shaheen finally becomes one, through hard work, good work ethic and good load management.

 

[Zaz]

Amir and asif wouldve hit a min of 200 test wickets quite easily

We all know the reasons they didnt To say pakistans pace bowling has been rubbish since the 2 Ws couldnt be further from the truth

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Amir and asif wouldve hit a min of 200 test wickets quite easily

We all know the reasons they didnt To say pakistans pace bowling has been rubbish since the 2 Ws couldnt be further from the truth

Pak are also known to discard fast bowlers fairly quickly.
Since Shoaib, which fast bowler has played the most tests for pakistan? Umar Gul with 47 matches with his last test being in 2013 and Gul would vary from being very good and being mediocre frequently in tests. After that is Mohd Amir with 36 matches and has also retired.

 

[Ab Fan]

Amir and asif wouldve hit a min of 200 test wickets quite easily

We all know the reasons they didnt To say pakistans pace bowling has been rubbish since the 2 Ws couldnt be further from the truth

But then who gets the blame for their undoing?

 

[JibranAnsari]

Pakistan lost a chance of having two fast bowlers who could have made a great pair for 5 6 years at least , both turned out to be crooks. Asif was once in a generation talent for pakistan and amir was pretty good 10 years ago.

But its true , pakistan is not a land of pace bowlers anymore. In search of a new wasim akram pakistan have given chances to a million left arm quicks.

 

[Varun]

Amir and Asif should count themselves lucky that their records weren't erased, so those two pumpkins don't count.

If anything even that would do a favour to the 30-averaging fraud.

 

[Majid Khan]

just seeing rahat ali and term spearhead is enough to make any pak supporter cry.

Or laugh - that’s about as blunt as a spearhead can get. Spears are of no use unless they are sharp and can be used as a weapon to attack.