Pakistan and the most overrated bowling unit

[Mamoon]

Pakistani fast bowling - what is the hype for?

Naseem, Rauf, Hasnain, Dahani. These guys are overrated mental midgets. They turn into kittens and bolt under pressure as soon as someone takes them one.

180+ against India, over 100 runs conceded in the last 7 overs in the Asia Cup final after Sri Lanka were on the ropes at 50/5, and now getting clobbered by an England lineup that is without several key batsmen.

It seems like they’re fans, they only care about the speed gun and not have no regard for the field, how the pitch is behaving, the match situation, the batsmen in the middle etc.

The fake aura that they created in the Asia Cup has disappeared faster than their deliveries were dispatched to the boundary today.

They are poorly calibrated bowling machines with no thought-process. It seems like their only purpose is to bowl fast and do show-off for the cameras.

They have no fear factor and teams will rip them apart in the World T20 knowing that they have no plan B and they cannot contain the batsmen once they take them on.

 

[Sherlock]

Barring Shaheen, Shadab and a still green, Naseem Shah the rest of the bowling lineup is simply average.

You have Rauf who's still an enigma that goes from the sublime to the absolute ridiculous.

Then you have Hasnain you is, imo, a headless chicken that needs time away from the national side.

Then you have Nawaz who things there's only one way of bowling and that's to dart the ball straight, and not realise his mistake even when he's being smashed.

The less said about the supposed backup to Shadab in Usman Qadir. I had such high hopes but its clear to see he doesn't learn from his obvious mistakes and still throws up pies every other ball.

I'll also blame the captaincy because when you need a slip there wasn't one, and when you need the field to be close up they're on the boundary and vice-versa.

All round these bowlers are really poor and don't be surprised if England continue to score more than 200 every game in the series when they bat first.

 

[Marooned]

Too harsh. On a brutal wicket.

Such games happen now and then on such wickets. We ourselves with our limited hitters have scored 232 vs England.

 

[bujhee kom]

They are talented but still raw. They are young and you can't teach pace so it's a huge benefit to have. They need to learn new skills. Shackellings built character.

 

[Ashmal]

200 is par here, so can't blame them much.

Except Qadir, others have bowled decently in patches.

The only poor game they had was the death bowling in final vs SL....and there too if they had held on to the catches, it wouldn't look that bad.

They are young and inexperienced....they have already shown more than enough promise in their short careers so far.

With Shaheen and Shadab returning, things should improve.

 

[Champ_Pal]

Hasnain is overrated. Once Shaheen comes back, Pakistan will have one of the best in the world. Lack of Shadab did not help much either.

 

[PakEngFan]

Husnain has always been average. Dhani is very overrated. Naseem has by far the most potential out of these 3. Usman qadir should never be picked he’s just a terrible bowler.

 

[asfandyar]

Hasnain is overrated. Once Shaheen comes back, Pakistan will have one of the best in the world. Lack of Shadab did not help much either.

There is no such thing as "one of the best". Best implies a singular team that is better than all the rest. If there are two or more bests, then they are not best at all.

 

[Grunge101]

And they were highly rated according to who exactly?. I havent seen anyone singing praises of the quailty of the pace attack. Theres been a lot said about the pace at which they bowl and that is actually true. No other team in the world has 4 bowlers clocking 145 average speeds.

What has been clear is that in terms of quality it isn't where it should be and i dont know of anyone whos been claiming otherwise.

--Rauf is enigmatic but not the most reliable. He will blow attacks away on his day but also be tonked around the next. No one is claiming hes amongst the best in the world.
--Naseem is a much improved bowler who has been praised by pundits throughout the Asia cup. He isnt world class yet obviously, everyone knows that.
--Husnain is another who has improved a lot but his accuracy is still a problem. Which is why he isnt a permanent fixture in the team.
-- Dahani is completely untested.

 

[Savak]

Let's be fair. Not often will they be tested against quality batters. In T20 Cricket as a bowler, you only get better with experience of having bowled too and suffered at the hands of quality international batsmen.

 

[Marooned]

People going harsh over young pacers really don't know what they are talking about.

You guys today were impressed by 32 year old Mark Wood but did you see him bowl 5-6 years before?

It took him ages to become effective.

Rouf for eg. has shown massive improvement in a short period of time, coming straight from tape ball as well.

Our players have the pace and the raw ability. Patience is key and a bit of perspective is needed.

I for one, am really really happy with the huge amount of fast bowling talent coming through.

 

[Kroll]

Don't think it really matters who you bring in, every bowler is going to get hit around in T20s. It's the batting that needs to be top notch as the format is set up for it.

 

[Jazx]

In aus only shaheen and maybe rauf to some extent may succeed, can't expect anything from rest of the bowlers. Even shaheen is only good with the new ball and have no clue how to bowl in death overs.

 

[Minnowbasher]

We are playing our B string bowling line up.
No Shadab and Shaheen + a batting paradise against England. Bowled poorly today yes but 200 was par.
Unfortunately, once again middle order completely flopped.

 

[SamNJ]

Hasnain and Dahani are neither using the crease nor slower ones.
Naseem is more or less similar and predictable after ball gets older but he will get wickets upfront.
Pakistan should be prepared without Shaheen too for WC.

 

[Mamoon]

Over the last two days, Wasim Akram has mentioned a dozen times on air that Pakistani bowlers bowled the most 140+ deliveries in Asia Cup.

This is mentality has crept into the dressing room as well. These mental midgets only care about the speed gun. Pakistan right now has a bunch of Wahab Riazs in the bowling attack. Nothing more.

Bowlers who run like headless chickens and are just throwing rocks at the batsmen with no plan. They will show fake aggression for the cameras but as soon as the batsmen take them on they are clueless.

 

[Local.Dada]

Pakistan has 4-5 bowlers who all can hit 150. That’s a fact and that is something which 90% of the teams lack. Pak Fans can absolutely gloat over that.

However that’s about it.

They can be very useful in T20 because margin for error against such pace is very minimal.

However don’t think they have the stamina to keep up in ODIs leave alone tests.

For T20 I would say Pakistan has a very good pace attack especially for Aussie conditions.

 

[sam_ahm]

Bowlers like Harshal Patel with so called 'variations' are getting thrashed and the same can be said about a lot of Indian bowlers.

Cummins has had some terrible white ball games and so has Starc in the recent past. We've seen Dale Steyn often being taken to cleaners in white ball cricket. A so called 'variation' king Jade Dernbach disappeared into the unknown within an year or two.

I don't think we need to be so harsh on Pakistani bowlers, moreover they are without Shaheen, Naseem, M Wasim and even Shadab so it is not even a first string bowling line up. Just yesterday England couldn't even get a single wicket in a 200 run chase.

Yes, today the bowling was not as good, but you can have such days.

Pakistan's problem is the middle order, as I said earlier, literally non existent. They need some real power hitters and some quality players in that middle order to be able to win consistently.

 

[SamNJ]

Teams like England, South Africa and Australia do their homeworks against each batsmen and bowlers. You can't afford to be predictable against these sides.

 

[PakPremi]

Hasnain is overrated. Once Shaheen comes back, Pakistan will have one of the best in the world. Lack of Shadab did not help much either.

I do not think anyone overates him he is a young inexperienced bowler who is getting better albeit slowly.

 

[PakPremi]

Shaheen is decent, Shadab and Rauf pretty good too, with backup of Nawaz, Husnain, Wasim Junior. I would say Pakistan bowling resources are adequate. The only thing lacking is pace bowling all rounder to be the 6th bowler and a decent captain to support them.

 

[PakPremi]

People going harsh over young pacers really don't know what they are talking about.

You guys today were impressed by 32 year old Mark Wood but did you see him bowl 5-6 years before?

It took him ages to become effective.

Rouf for eg. has shown massive improvement in a short period of time, coming straight from tape ball as well.

Our players have the pace and the raw ability. Patience is key and a bit of perspective is needed.

I for one, am really really happy with the huge amount of fast bowling talent coming through.

Exactly whenever I seen Mark Wood he always looked all over the place,even today his second spell was not that impressive despite bowling to Pakistan lower end batsmen apart from Shan.

 

[cricketjoshila]

What about Bhuvi kumar Harshal Patel and Deepak Chahar?

 

[Kaka4pope]

I see the difference between the Mark Wood who debuted and the one we see now and believe most of this Pak crop can do the same, they’re younger than he was and in the case of Naseem, Waseem and Dhani, start from a higher base…

Rauf is a good bowler - with skill and speed and and has come on leaps, credit to him - would be a part of pretty much every country’s WC squad.

We saw how Hassan and Shadab maybe got ahead of themselves following early success. Shadab has now kicked on, whereas Hassan, who was brilliant at the start of his career has curtailed overall - you have to maintain standards.

A significant portion of Shaheen’s success is down to the standards he sets himself, without let up - the other young bowlers need to do the same. Other country’s players do it regardless…

Same for batting with certain individuals - Sharjeel and Azam Khan and even Imad are fine strikers of the ball but their issue is clear to see.

Part of Malik and Hafeez’s relative success was staying in good shape for their era, you can see this now with some of our currently players like Shadab, Nawaz and Rizwan - putting technical quality to one side, all are athletes.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After Shaheen I feel these fast bowlers are not sure which way the new ball will swing when it comes out of their hands. Hard for captain to set the field and easy for English openers to attack on both sides. There should be two specialist new ball bowlers to start the innings.</p>— Muhammad Asif (@MuhammadAsif_26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MuhammadAsif_26/status/1573393608463749120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Rana]

Rauf is our best white ball bowler right now

And he only started bowling 3 years ago at competitive standard

 

[Gayle_Force]

I think one thing Pakistan can do is change up their bowling line up a bit every match. It’s a 7 match series and we are playing with three fairly similar style fast bowlers. Also, probably was not the best idea to play the same team in back to back matches.

 

[Mamoon]

Asif is right. These bowlers are clueless.

But you should expect this when you hire a mental weak, mediocre ex-speed demon who never learned how to bowl properly and set the batsmen up and couldn’t cut it in Test cricket for these reasons.

On top of that he has no coaching experience. It seems that he got the jog because of the foreigner quota. I bet he only tells them to bowl fast and not think about anything else. That is how he played his cricket and ended up with a nothing career.

Pakistan needs Asif as bowling coach. Guys like Rauf, Naseem, Hasnain and Dahani have no talent but he can take Shaheen to the next level.

I am convinced that Shaheen can become as good as Wasim under the guidance of the right mentor.

Asif should also be tasked with identifying two-three high potential bowlers in domestic cricket if they exist.

 

[Local.Dada]

Asif is right. These bowlers are clueless.

But you should expect this when you hire a mental weak, mediocre ex-speed demon who never learned how to bowl properly and set the batsmen up and couldn’t cut it in Test cricket for these reasons.

On top of that he has no coaching experience. It seems that he got the jog because of the foreigner quota. I bet he only tells them to bowl fast and not think about anything else. That is how he played his cricket and ended up with a nothing career.

Pakistan needs Asif as bowling coach. Guys like Rauf, Naseem, Hasnain and Dahani have no talent but he can take Shaheen to the next level.

I am convinced that Shaheen can become as good as Wasim under the guidance of the right mentor.

Asif should also be tasked with identifying two-three high potential bowlers in domestic cricket if they exist.

Your solution for the problem is to have an ex-con with a shady past be given a coaching gig because he bowled a couple of good spells in his unfulfilled career?

That would be 2 steps forward and one giant leap backwards.

 

[Technics 1210]

Cannot take the OP seriously after the poster claimed V. Chahal is the next incarnation of Warne, Qadir, and Kumble combined.

 

[Bilal7]

This is the height of ignorant ungratefulness from the usual suspects. These bowlers were excellent in the Asia cup, outbowling the other teams ten times over. They are also without Shaheen, who is a crucial part of this attack.

The pitches here are not bowler-friendly. Lest we forget, over 750 runs have been scored in the last two matches in Karachi. Despite this, Haris, who is the only starter out of the current group, has been very good. They are also going up against England, who are s fantastic T20 outfit.

The fast bowlers are not an issue.

 

[Vorador]

Rauf and Shaheen can walk into any international team and they'd be gladly welcomed. I don't make the rules.

They're not perfect but no other team has a perfect bowler. The problem with our nation is that half the people overrate their players and the other half over criticize. We have some real quality but by no means is any aspect of our game flawless.

Rauf has delivered under pressure more than a few times. The newer talents like Hasnain and Naseem aren't quite there yet but then again, no bowler with equal experience anywhere in the world is quite there yet.

 

[Mamoon]

Your solution for the problem is to have an ex-con with a shady past be given a coaching gig because he bowled a couple of good spells in his unfulfilled career?

That would be 2 steps forward and one giant leap backwards.

Asif was a world class bowler. No one can deny his skill level. He had some of the best batsmen of his generation look like dunces in Test cricket.

His career was cut short not because of his bowling but because of off-field antics. He was set for 400-500 wickets in Test cricket and those factors that hampered a legendary career in the making have no relevance as far as coaching is concerned.

A 2 year stint would be very beneficial for Pakistani fast bowlers.

 

[arif_2021]

Speed is very important.

They are young and will need to learn control. Give them 1-2 years.

This is just a t20 game.

Better than 130-135 mph trundles like Hassan Ali and Amir.

 

[PakPremi]

Cannot take the OP seriously after the poster claimed V. Chahal is the next incarnation of Warne, Qadir, and Kumble combined.

And Shadab always bowls better than him every tournament they both play in.

 

[Bilal7]

Asif was a world class bowler. No one can deny his skill level. He had some of the best batsmen of his generation look like dunces in Test cricket.

His career was cut short not because of his bowling but because of off-field antics. He was set for 400-500 wickets in Test cricket and those factors that hampered a legendary career in the making have no relevance as far as coaching is concerned.

A 2 year stint would be very beneficial for Pakistani fast bowlers.

Folks, being a proven match-fixer and a terrible team player has no bearing on a person's suitability for a coaching gig.

Yet another gem from Pakpassion's resident genius.

)

 

[Local.Dada]

And Shadab always bowls better than him every tournament they both play in.

I know memory goes as far as the last game only but not entirely true

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e..._wickets_career.html?id=12357;type=tournament

 

[Bilal7]

Your solution for the problem is to have an ex-con with a shady past be given a coaching gig because he bowled a couple of good spells in his unfulfilled career?

That would be 2 steps forward and one giant leap backwards.

I am surprised you actually unpacked his ridiculous comment and did not simply laugh it off.

I bet you he has no problems with criminals and morally bankrupt people holding government positions either.

A match-fixer and someone who has had severe bad blood with several players in the past can never be allowed to be in a position of power over other players. This is how you create more match-fixers and disharmony in the team but then again, what else can you expect from someone who's only contribution to this forum has been negativity and lamentation.

 

[Mesozoic]

The most overrated fast bowling attack and also the most underrated spin bowling attack.

Shadab-Nawaz is arguably the best spin duo in T20s currently with the kind of utility they bring. Amazing how they flew under the radar throughout the Asia cup with guys like Naseem and Rauf getting all the limelight.

 

[Technics 1210]

And Shadab always bowls better than him every tournament they both play in.

Not only this, the OP conveniently fails to mention that SL were actually 58/5, when Babar persisted with Chacha Iftikar over Nawaz, in other words, the bowlers mentioned were not responsible for the 100 runs or so in the AC final. So not only does the OP get the score wrong, but the bowlers too.

As usual this is a troll thread.

 

[Ahmed216]

Rauf is such an improved bowler nowadays. Naseem too is beginning to find his feet at this level. Some of Naseem’s spells both in tests and LOI’s in last few months have been very good which OP will never mention obviously.
Add Shadab and Shaheen to the mix and we have a world class bowling attack. Shadab was brilliant in WC and Asia cup both but again haters will fail to acknowledge the facts.

 

[Mamoon]

Folks, being a proven match-fixer and a terrible team player has no bearing on a person's suitability for a coaching gig.

Yet another gem from Pakpassion's resident genius.

)

Pakistan reselected Amir after his ban was over. Sharjeel was also given another chance. The only reason Asif and Butt were not selected was because of the age factor.

So let's not pretend that PCB has some high morals. They don't. In fact, no one does. Everyone looks after their own interests.

Pakistan needs Asif as a bowling coach, not as a brand ambassador for honesty and integrity and anti-match fixing campaign.

 

[gazza619]

This stupid karachi pitch and its stupidly fast outfield is murderous for the bowlers.

90% of bowling attacks of the world would concede 200+ on this joke of a wicket.

Whilst chasing Pakistan batters weren’t prepared for the quality of Topley and Wood.

Honestly the real problem is Iftikhar chacha & Ghumdil Shah

 

[cricketjoshila]

This stupid karachi pitch and its stupidly fast outfield is murderous for the bowlers.

90% of bowling attacks of the world would concede 200+ on this joke of a wicket.

Whilst chasing Pakistan batters weren’t prepared for the quality of Topley and Wood.

Honestly the real problem is Iftikhar chacha & Ghumdil Shah

No one was talking about the pitch or outfield when Babar and Rizwan scored 200 plus.

 

[adzzy786]

They are raw talents. They will come good. Doesn’t help the pitch is flat as a anything

 

[cricketjoshila]

Pakistani bowling is good. 3 90mph bowlers with decent accuracy is a good bowling unit.

 

[Saj]

The problem is the predictability of the likes of Hasnain and Dahani.

You know where they will bowl and the batters are one step ahead of them.

At the moment Shaheen, Haris and Naseem look our best options for the T20 World Cup.

 

[gazza619]

No one was talking about the pitch or outfield when Babar and Rizwan scored 200 plus.

My point is 200 is par on this wicket & outfield and we cant be overcritical on the bowlers.

Not to lose a single wicket whilst chasing 200 was tremendous though on any wicket.

 

[Technics 1210]

My point is 200 is par on this wicket & outfield and we cant be overcritical on the bowlers.

Not to lose a single wicket whilst chasing 200 was tremendous though on any wicket.

By the OPs logic, English bowlers failed to take a wicket when Pak chased 200, ergo, England bowlers are rubbish and beyond hype.

 

[gazza619]

The problem is the predictability of the likes of Hasnain and Dahani.

You know where they will bowl and the batters are one step ahead of them.

At the moment Shaheen, Haris and Naseem look our best options for the T20 World Cup.

Saj, Pakistan give away 20 runs too many today. This was still a 200+ wicket & outfield.

The real issue is our batting in my opinion. We have failures like Iftikhar & Khushdil. Batting line up looks extremely thin with Nawaz at 7 Qadir at 8.

 

[Bilal7]

Pakistan reselected Amir after his ban was over. Sharjeel was also given another chance. The only reason Asif and Butt were not selected was because of the age factor.

So let's not pretend that PCB has some high morals. They don't. In fact, no one does. Everyone looks after their own interests.

Pakistan needs Asif as a bowling coach, not as a brand ambassador for honesty and integrity and anti-match fixing campaign.

There is a huge difference between bringing a match-fixer back as a player and making said match-fixer the head coach of the damn team.

You don't need to have upstanding morals to see that this is a terrible, frankly hilarious, idea. You just need to have a fully functioning brain. No where are such former convicts ever put in positions of power, let alone in the PCB, where there are hundreds of potential candidates.

Not to even mention the bad blood that Asif has with other influential ex-cricketers. Shaheen Afridi is related to Shahid Afridi and everyone knows the hatred that Afridi and Asif have for each other. Yet, you just seriously suggested that Asif would ever be willing to do anything other than sabotage Shaheen's career.

All in all, an absolutely ridiculous comment.

 

[gazza619]

By the OPs logic, English bowlers failed to take a wicket when Pak chased 200, ergo, England bowlers are rubbish and beyond hype.

He would never in a million years make a thread or post criticising non pakistani players.

 

[Bilal7]

By the OPs logic, English bowlers failed to take a wicket when Pak chased 200, ergo, England bowlers are rubbish and beyond hype.

No, that defeat was down to Moeen Ali being captain. England winning two matches had nothing to do with him, by the way.

This thread is a fantastic display of OP's deranged thought process.

 

[Mamoon]

There is a huge difference between bringing a match-fixer back as a player and making said match-fixer the head coach of the damn team.

You don't need to have upstanding morals to see that this is a terrible, frankly hilarious, idea. You just need to have a fully functioning brain. No where are such former convicts ever put in positions of power, let alone in the PCB, where there are hundreds of potential candidates.

Not to even mention the bad blood that Asif has with other influential ex-cricketers. Shaheen Afridi is related to Shahid Afridi and everyone knows the hatred that Afridi and Asif have for each other. Yet, you just seriously suggested that Asif would ever be willing to do anything other than sabotage Shaheen's career.

All in all, an absolutely ridiculous comment.

)

Maybe you should write a soap opera. I have seen more rubbish in this post than I did from the Pakistani bowlers today. You are seriously reaching out now. Firstly, there is no bad blood between Asif and Afridi. You are making a big deal out of a random comment here and there that means nothing and you will find every ex-Pakistani cricketer making such comments about each other.

One day they are sitting together on TV and the next day they are criticizing each other. The fact that you think Asif will make a grand plan to hamper Shaheen Afridi's career because he is Shahid Afridi's to-be son-in-law almost made me spill my coffee. I have seen many ludicrous comments over the years (and plenty of them from you) but this one is right up there.

Mohammad Yousuf and Ramiz Raja have openly abused each other on live tv and today the former is employed by the latter and neither of have had any issues. Heck, Wasim and Waqar never liked each other and they had no issues doing commentary stints together.

Shoaib Akhtar said the worst possible things about Misbah during the latter's captaincy career and when he retired, they had a friendly chat on his YouTube channel.

Furthermore, there is no difference between reselecting fixer to play for the team and hiring one as a bowling coach (no one said anything about "head coach".)

You could come up with many reasons to say why hiring Asif as bowling coach would be a bad idea but (1) trying to rationalize reselecting a fixer as a player as opposed to a bowling coach and (2) coming up with some soap opera/family drama involving Shahid Afridi are the worst possible reasons you could have come up with.

 

[Usman Chadda]

England are too good, they would smash pretty much everyone on such wickets. Some of the shots Harry Brook played were tremendous.

Dahani and Hasnain are still young and learning. They have bowled extremely well in patches and that’s all you can expect from them right now.

 

[Ashmal]

No one was talking about the pitch or outfield when Babar and Rizwan scored 200 plus.

It goes without saying that 200 is par on this pitch......Babar and Rizwan got high praise because they managed to chase 200 undefeated, which had never been done earlier.

 

[Jazx]

Over the last two days, Wasim Akram has mentioned a dozen times on air that Pakistani bowlers bowled the most 140+ deliveries in Asia Cup.

This is mentality has crept into the dressing room as well. These mental midgets only care about the speed gun. Pakistan right now has a bunch of Wahab Riazs in the bowling attack. Nothing more.

Bowlers who run like headless chickens and are just throwing rocks at the batsmen with no plan. They will show fake aggression for the cameras but as soon as the batsmen take them on they are clueless.

Exactly what i was also thinking about in the asia cup. There was a lot of fuss created about 140+ from both wasim and waqar. It sounds a bit strange to me when wasim talks like that about pace, though he himself was a complete fast bowler but he is just giving the lessons to the new ones about raw pace and nothing else.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Exactly what i was also thinking about in the asia cup. There was a lot of fuss created about 140+ from both wasim and waqar. It sounds a bit strange to me when wasim talks like that about pace, though he himself was a complete fast bowler but he is just giving the lessons to the new ones about raw pace and nothing else.

He was not a complete fast bowler at their ages. You can learn skill, practice and hone them, but you can never teach someone to bowl as quick as these lads do.

Mark Wood is a good example. He was average when he initially played, and today he is easily the fastest pacer in the world alongside Ferguson. He has also become quite adept at setting up batters on his strengths.

 

[cricketjoshila]

He would never in a million years make a thread or post criticising non pakistani players.

TBH, Luke wood, Curran, Willey as a bowling attack, makes Bhuvneshwar kumar, Harshal Patel and Chahar look respectable.

 

[KingOfPakBreakfast]

The problem is the predictability of the likes of Hasnain and Dahani.

You know where they will bowl and the batters are one step ahead of them.

At the moment Shaheen, Haris and Naseem look our best options for the T20 World Cup.

Hasnain has the raw materials to be a very good bowler. You’ll rarely ever see his first two overs go for many that aren’t edges or too edges.

However, he like Dahani has not spent enough time in first class to develop his skills fully. Every time he shows a shimmer of promise in Franchise cricket, he is called back to toil away for Pak. He needs a good couple of years away from Pakistan just to develop his own bowling.

 

[Savak]

In T-20 Cricket on good batting wickets against world class strikers, as a bowler you need to be able to think on your feet and have the art of knowing when to bowl the right delivery at the right time. Wood did not bowl a single slower delivery in his opening spell to the Pakistani batsmen and i see our pacers resort to changes of pace straight away when its not required. Our bowlers are terrible at understanding and analyzing a batsman's strengths and weaknesses on the go.

The other thing is our pacers need to realize that they need to have different kinds of slower deliveries i.e. the slow finger spin off cutter and the back of the hand slower delivery (both full and bouncers). These deliveries require a lot of practice in the nets and the off season but you need to have different tools to keep the batsman guessing at all times.

I also didn't see a single full blooded yorker at the middle-leg by any of the pacers which is shocking.

 

[Savak]

Pakistan reselected Amir after his ban was over. Sharjeel was also given another chance. The only reason Asif and Butt were not selected was because of the age factor.

So let's not pretend that PCB has some high morals. They don't. In fact, no one does. Everyone looks after their own interests.

Pakistan needs Asif as a bowling coach, not as a brand ambassador for honesty and integrity and anti-match fixing campaign.

Asif was not a good limited overs bowler therefore i doubt he can do much for our limited overs team as far as bowling in the middle to death overs is concerned. However, he can definitely teach our pacers on how to make use off the new ball in all formats and the art of bowling long spells, how to set up batsmen in the longer format bowling long spells with disciplined, sustained bowling line and length.

 

[Savak]

The problem is the predictability of the likes of Hasnain and Dahani.

You know where they will bowl and the batters are one step ahead of them.

At the moment Shaheen, Haris and Naseem look our best options for the T20 World Cup.

Naseem gave away 10 runs per over i.e. 40 runs in 4 overs in the first game and in the Asia Cup final. This T-20 format is punishing for the bowlers. Rauf used to be an expensive unreliable scattergun but continuous cricket and experience has now taught him how to bowl in different situations.

With continuous cricket and experience, i expect the likes of Hasnain, Dhani to be much improved bowlers in the next 1-2 years.

 

[UsmanhailsAfridi]

What about Bhuvi kumar Harshal Patel and Deepak Chahar?

For OP they are best in the world

 

[Bilal7]

)

Maybe you should write a soap opera. I have seen more rubbish in this post than I did from the Pakistani bowlers today. You are seriously reaching out now. Firstly, there is no bad blood between Asif and Afridi. You are making a big deal out of a random comment here and there that means nothing and you will find every ex-Pakistani cricketer making such comments about each other.

One day they are sitting together on TV and the next day they are criticizing each other. The fact that you think Asif will make a grand plan to hamper Shaheen Afridi's career because he is Shahid Afridi's to-be son-in-law almost made me spill my coffee. I have seen many ludicrous comments over the years (and plenty of them from you) but this one is right up there.

Mohammad Yousuf and Ramiz Raja have openly abused each other on live tv and today the former is employed by the latter and neither of have had any issues. Heck, Wasim and Waqar never liked each other and they had no issues doing commentary stints together.

Shoaib Akhtar said the worst possible things about Misbah during the latter's captaincy career and when he retired, they had a friendly chat on his YouTube channel.

Furthermore, there is no difference between reselecting fixer to play for the team and hiring one as a bowling coach (no one said anything about "head coach".)

You could come up with many reasons to say why hiring Asif as bowling coach would be a bad idea but (1) trying to rationalize reselecting a fixer as a player as opposed to a bowling coach and (2) coming up with some soap opera/family drama involving Shahid Afridi are the worst possible reasons you could have come up with.

Yes, there is no bad blood between Asif and Afridi and there is nothing wrong with appointing a tainted match-fixer as the "bowling" coach (why not head coach?) of the team that he humiliated in front of the entire world.

We should also bring Salman Butt back as the batting coach and Amir as the captain, in all formats. While we are at it, do bring Malik and Younis on air as commentators. This will definitely not cause any drama and the team will not be in disharmony.

Enough of this garbage, dude. Your agenda is leaking.

The fact that you don't understand the difference between a regular player and the coach, who is in a position of power, is frankly embarassing.

 

[Jazx]

He was not a complete fast bowler at their ages. You can learn skill, practice and hone them, but you can never teach someone to bowl as quick as these lads do.

Mark Wood is a good example. He was average when he initially played, and today he is easily the fastest pacer in the world alongside Ferguson. He has also become quite adept at setting up batters on his strengths.

There are not many examples of such bowlers who just started with raw pace and become a complete fast bowler. The theory of just bowl with pace and learn the skills later is not working atleast with pak bowlers and no other teams follow this. Mark wood improved himself because soon he realized that just raw pace will not take him anywhere and same with shaheen who is a rare example from pakistan.

 

[kingusama92]

Shaheen and Shadab will push the other bowlers into their correct positions.

Shaheen + Naseem for the new ball.
Rauf as the third pacer.
Shadab/Nawaz for the spin overs.

I wouldn't read too much into what's happening in Karachi. It's a completely different bowling unit with players in positions they shouldn't be in (i.e. Hasnain with the new ball or Qadir as the main spinner).

Usman Qadir, Hasnain, and Dahani won't find a spot in the final XI during the WC (assuming everyone is fit).

 

[Saj]

Naseem gave away 10 runs per over i.e. 40 runs in 4 overs in the first game and in the Asia Cup final. This T-20 format is punishing for the bowlers. Rauf used to be an expensive unreliable scattergun but continuous cricket and experience has now taught him how to bowl in different situations.

With continuous cricket and experience, i expect the likes of Hasnain, Dhani to be much improved bowlers in the next 1-2 years.

The T20 World Cup is soon, that may be too early for Hasnain and Dahani and that's why I think Naseem, Shaheen and Haris will most likely be the first choice pacers.

 

[Fenrir]

Very few bowlers have good T20 figures.Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine are only ones I can think of who don’t give too many runs.People are being harsh on young Pakistani bowlers.They are still raw and on flat wickets it is very difficult to contain batsmen.On quick and bouncy wickets they will be a handful if they bowl in the right areas.A few years back Pakistan had trundles except Amir.Now there are several quicks available.They will come good as they get experience of playing in different conditions.

 

[daytrader]

We have very good pacers and we should go with a 4 man pace attack to the WC. If one has an off day, another can cover instead of trying to hide overs. For me it would be:

8. Haris Rauf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammad Hasnain

 

[Fenrir]

We have very good pacers and we should go with a 4 man pace attack to the WC. If one has an off day, another can cover instead of trying to hide overs. For me it would be:

8. Haris Rauf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammad Hasnain

Agree

 

[TheSultan]

I’m not worried about our fast bowling. I think we have plenty of depth now. Yes they will take a hammering now and then on flat tracks, but that’s t20s for you.

The batting is as always the bigger concern.

 

[TheSultan]

Also concerned about the captaincy and leadership which at times is pathetic

 

[Ashmal]

There are not many examples of such bowlers who just started with raw pace and become a complete fast bowler. The theory of just bowl with pace and learn the skills later is not working atleast with pak bowlers and no other teams follow this. Mark wood improved himself because soon he realized that just raw pace will not take him anywhere and same with shaheen who is a rare example from pakistan.

And how long did it take Mark Wood to learn and improve...he's 32 now and has been playing for last 7-8 years.

People are being too impatient with these young Pakistani pacers, they are all in their early 20s and very inexperienced and they have all shown considerable improvement in last year.

 

[Jazx]

And how long did it take Mark Wood to learn and improve...he's 32 now and has been playing for last 7-8 years.

People are being too impatient with these young Pakistani pacers, they are all in their early 20s and very inexperienced and they have all shown considerable improvement in last year.

Only Shaheen improved, no one else. Naseem is the same bowler as he was earlier, just there are certain conditions where he looks effective and other places he always gets thrashed. I didn't really see wood's spell recently, i just replied over the earlier comment that if he sees the improvement in wood then definitely he improved himself as he realized that pace is not everything. Their is no impatience from me, same thing i have observed from almost all the pak pacers since wasim waqar left, only few are the exceptions.

 

[Ashmal]

Only Shaheen improved, no one else. Naseem is the same bowler as he was earlier, just there are certain conditions where he looks effective and other places he always gets thrashed. I didn't really see wood's spell recently, i just replied over the earlier comment that if he sees the improvement in wood then definitely he improved himself as he realized that pace is not everything. Their is no impatience from me, same thing i have observed from almost all the pak pacers since wasim waqar left, only few are the exceptions.

Naseem, Hasnain and even Haris Rauf have clearly improved in the last year.

Even in Tests, Naseem has bowled some good spells against Australia and SL recently.

They're not finished products by any means but they shouldn't be judged too harshly.

 

[hitthestump]

We have very good pacers and we should go with a 4 man pace attack to the WC. If one has an off day, another can cover instead of trying to hide overs. For me it would be:

8. Haris Rauf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammad Hasnain

Nawaz and Shadab are pretty much our most important bowlers right now. If they bowl 8 and Shaheen and Rauf get 8, why do we need two specialist pacers to fill 4 overs?

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

When you don't hav pace or bounce like India's GOAT and legend of all time Sir Bhuvi Steyn Lohmann Sobers and then you land up in aus conditions where it not gonna swing, u will be found out big time.
& then we have GOAT Yuzi Qadir Warne non spinning overhyped Chahal who's another guy just lucky to have played so many games for us.
what you have going for you is your guys have pace to start off with, they are young and surely will improve.
Our above named legends are teh product of India's media hype machiine which just hypes non performing mediocre pathetic has-never-beens.
On the big Aus grounds with true bounce but non swing pitches these guys are just canon fodder accidents waiting to happen and anything less than 4-0-40-0 will be a bonus and a surprise so great that even these guys close family will hav a half a cardiac arrest

 

[PakPremi]

I know memory goes as far as the last game only but not entirely true

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e..._wickets_career.html?id=12357;type=tournament

That was not the point made. I was referring to the tournaments both played together.

 

[Jazx]

Naseem, Hasnain and even Haris Rauf have clearly improved in the last year.

Even in Tests, Naseem has bowled some good spells against Australia and SL recently.

They're not finished products by any means but they shouldn't be judged too harshly.

Good to hear that naseem went Australia and bowled well. But let me know in which series or tour he did that. As i remember aus came to pak last time and won the series.