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If you wanted to end the Mitchell Starc v Mohammad Amir (Who's the best debate), you need to look no further than the following excellent post!
Congratulations to [MENTION=131678]Madplayer[/MENTION] for winning this week's award!
Congratulations to [MENTION=131678]Madplayer[/MENTION] for winning this week's award!
Starc and Amir are two players who are performing two different roles for their teams now. This is the reality and it needs to be appreciated.
Michell Starc is a strike bowler. An out and out aggressive pacer who gives it his all. He pitches the new ball up and lets it swing and swing it he does. He looks to get batsmen out lbw and bowled and his primary aim is to look for wickets all the time. His late swing at that pace is rivaled by a mere few in the modern era. He isn't afraid to bowl yorkers and boy, does he bowl a mean yorker. His yorker has venom and moves around like a snake and sneaks past under the bat or between the bat and pad of the batsmen. It has become a common sight when he is bowling. When he bowls a bouncer he doesn't look to shorten the length too much. He bangs it in just a little short of good length with all his might. This makes it all the more difficult for the batsman to negotiate it because reading the length and anticipating the bounce becomes a tricky ask. This is what the Pakistani bowlers of the past used to do. Wasim akram, Waqar younis and Shoaib Akhtar have all mentioned it a plenty of times in their interviews that Pakistani bowlers nowadays bowl too short when they bowl bouncers. It is because they don't want to put pressure on their shoulders and hence take the easier route. However, starc is different. He uses his height, strength and pace quite efficiently.
Adding to all that, starc's performance in the World cup 2015 was one of the most dominant display of fast bowling you will ever see in the modern era of cricket. An economy rate of 3.5 and an average of 10.1 in the premier cricket tournament of the world was an effort of legends. No wonder he was awarded man of the tournament being the single biggest factor in Australia's triumph in 2015 world cup.
Starc is yet to find his feet completely in the test format. He has not been ordinary by any stretch of imagination but there is a lot more to be done. The potential he has displayed thus far makes it a question of when and not if. Being the professional cricketing set up that Cricket Australia is, they take care of his work load and allow to play him little t20 cricket. Hence, he hasn't had an opportunity to showcase his ability completely in that format of the game. Overall, Starc is a brutal force of nature who bamboozles batsmen with his sheer ability to bowl jaffas and So far he hasn't really shown a lot of belief in trying to set up the batsman.
Muhammad Amir, since his comeback, has not been the bowler people thought he would be. In his teens he clocked 152 kph in Australia and swung the ball miles in England. The best batsmen of that era like Ponting, watson, Cook and the legends of yesteryears like Imran, wasim and Michael Holding sang praises of him. Since he came out of the whirlpool of spot fixing, he has looked a shadow of himself. Dwelling into the reasons for it or blaming his luck isn't going to hide the fact that he has failed to produce consistent results.
Muhammad Amir, post comeback, is a defensive bowler. His Raison D'etre seems to be not to get hit by the batsmen. He bowls a shorter length with the new ball and is reluctant to pitch the ball up. His lack of confidence is evident if you look at the spot where his foot lands while bowling. His pace isnt the same anymore, not that it was his primary weapon ever but his late swing is also a rare occurance now. He doesn't bowl the yorkers too often and relies on bowling away from the batsman which again displays a defensive mindset. The role of a strike bowler has been taken over by Hasan Ali. Hasan Ali's meteoric rise has reduced Amir to nothing but a support bowler who blocks one end. Amir's bouncer lacks the brute force to the point that the most dangerous delivery of a fast bowler seems gentle at times when he bowls it. Its not to say that he doesn't or can't bowl a mean bouncer to bamboozle the batsman. He can and once in a blue moon, he does. However, that doesn't make it a norm.
Amir's feat in the Champion's trophy final remains one of the peak points of his career so far and is reminiscent of what he could have become or what he can become if he puts his heart into it. In the test arena, Amir has been thoroughly average since his comeback. Apart from a couple of performances of note in Australia and West Indies, he has been off colour. His pace in UAE tests was depressingly low and it has raised concerns about his commitment towards the longest format. However, in his defence the abysmal wickets of UAE must be mentioned. One thing which has not changed and still remains Amir's big weapon is his ability to set up the batsman. He has a brains and he puts them to use. However, without the heart, the brain can only take you so far.
To sum it all up, Amir has become a tamed tiger who is unwilling to express his real nature while on the other hand, Starc unleashes the beast within like a free lion in the jungle. To the disappointment of many Pakistani fans, Starc's roar is louder and scarier than Amir's.