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Sajid Shah, another victim of the PCB?

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inzy_paratha

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I was looking through the scorecard of the recent HBL vs SBP thriller, and noticed a very strong bowling performance of 7 for 55 by a certain Sajid Shah, upon investigating I was amazed!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-domestic-2011/content/player/42611.html

Hes a right arm fast medium bowler from mardan :yk, 37 years of age now but with over 550 wickets at an average of 22 and a strike rate of 40! Incredible stats, on top of that hes scored close to 3000 first class runs. Now I know stats arent always the best indicator but this seems like a hell of a record, his time has obviously passed, but seriously unless hes bowling at below 75mph someone with such impressive stats should have been in international reckoning. Anyone know anything about him beyond the figures?
 
Wow, those are truly AMAZING stats. Unfortunate he cannot play for Pakistan now though.
 
Wasim, Waqar, Akhtar, Zahid..............etc victim my a.. and oh yeah add another 3 years to his age.
 
Not really a victim in the sense you are suggesting.

In his prime, he had to go up against the likes of Wasim, Waqar & Akhtar. Plus, there were budding prospects like Sami and Gul.

As you can see, he had about as much chance of getting selected as you and I. The names he was up against would have kept out many players.

I'd say he was just a victim of numbers, kind of like a lesser Macgill. Although, Sajid Shah was just a prospect, who knows maybe he would have completely failed.
 
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Sajid Shah was the best domestic bowler 95-03. He came close national selection number of times. Deserves to play for Pak without a doubt.
 
We have many players in our domestic system with similar stats, and I think that's why our domestic competition is flawed. If you can't pick a 20ish average bowler or a 55 average batsman and expect him to be good in international cricket, then it really becomes impossible to judge anyone.
 
Sigh....remember Wasim, Waqar and Akhtar? Why on earth would PCB have drop them to try out a new talent. Jeez use your brains a bit before you go on PCB Bashing Mode. Now if you have a batsman who scored back to back hundreds in every game and isnt being tried out nowadays, then we're all ears.
 
The problem with PCB has always been that they dont have no consistency in selection. It seems sometimes they pick players repeatedly on name or personal preference rather than deserving candidates

Instead of identifying a deserving pool of players and giving them opportunities We have over the yrs dozens n dozens of deserving players not selected, many players selected for a squad n never selected again and many players who played one game never to be seen again The list of ruined careers are endless.
 
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talha.raja said:
What?! How is his bowling average only 21 over so many games?

All I've seen of him is in t20 (ICL/FBT20) and he seems innocuous.
Click to expand...

Don't rate a pakistani bowler untill you see him bowl, even mediocre bowlers have good averages in pakistan domestic (standards of umpiring and batting are poor)
 
One player that has always intigued me is Asif Mujtaba. I look at his FC stats and they are amazing. Nearly 18000 runs at nearly 50 and over 300 wickets at 22. His List A stats are just as impressive. And by those stats alone he is nearly comparable to in my opinion probably one the best allrounds EVER in Mike Procter who like Barry Richards didn't get many chances to show just how good he was on the international stage but certainly left his mark in the small chance that he did.
 
met Sajid several years ago when he was playing league cricket in England.

Nice chap.

I heard from some of his colleagues that he would predict how he would get a batsman out and on what delivery and most of the time he was right :)
 
JibranAnsari said:
Don't rate a pakistani bowler untill you see him bowl, even mediocre bowlers have good averages in pakistan domestic (standards of umpiring and batting are poor)
Click to expand...

To add to that, Vinay Kumar of India averages about 22 with the ball, and we've all seen what a swing and pace demon he is...
 
I remember when England toured in 2000, the talk sport commentators were very impressed with him. I even remember one of them said that counties should have a look at him. They kept talking about his bouncer.
 
He was a bowler of real skill and class. Obviously nobody can predict how he would have coped at the highest level but as someone who has watched Pakistan domestic cricket closely over the decades I think Sajig was very unfortunate not to get a game for Pakistan. He was in the reserves in 1999 WC squad, so ery close. I understand he is a coach now.
 
Saj said:
met Sajid several years ago when he was playing league cricket in England.

Nice chap.

I heard from some of his colleagues that he would predict how he would get a batsman out and on what delivery and most of the time he was right :)
Click to expand...

The mystic meg of bowlers
 
He looked like a very good bowler on domestic scene back in the late 90s, regularly taking 5-wicket hauls from what I remember. Of course times were different then when Pakistan were spoilt for choice on fast bowling — these days we have pace bowlers who might even struggle to take a 5-fer against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh unless it’s a seamer’s paradise.. but I’m sure they would get a few play and misses outside off stump and earn praise for bowling well ;)
 
Bad timing for him. Pakistan was flush with fast bowling options then and had all-time greats in the XI.
 
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