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[VIDEOS/PICTURES] Abrar Ahmed - International performance watch

James said:
Really interested to see how England play him in Karachi. Aggressively, respectfully, well, badly? Something else?

Key to England’s prospects of getting a 3-0 series win will be them settling on a consistent strategy to deal with Abrar.
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Think he can spin the ball so expect him to do well in Karachi also
 
Gets on with his job instantly

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A good sub continent spinner who can serve Pakistan for 10-12 years
 
MenInG said:
Can you explain to me the mystery part in him? Why do they keep on saying that?
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It’s just the wrongun and the inability to pick it easily yet. He doesn’t have any other notable variation

That doesn’t matter. All he needs to focus on is control and right areas to bowl on tracks that won’t assist him. That was the skill of Shane Warne. Containment is the biggest asset to any spinner, not his mystery or tricks.

As long as he can contain, learns the art of slowing the game down to his pace and rhythm, he will remain a threat throughout every innings.
 
The lone shining star for Pakistan from this 3 game horror show, hopefully he will create havoc against NZ team
 
MenInG said:
Can you explain to me the mystery part in him? Why do they keep on saying that?
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Because he is not a leg spinner. He uses his fingers to turn the bowl and his leg spinner is basically a carrom bowl bowled with ring finger. Moreover, his googly is also not a conventional back of the hand like normal googly. His google is basically a back of the hand carrom ball. Also i think he bowls a carrom ball with his middle finger which acts like a flipper and goes straight on. Thats why he is called a maystery spinner.
 
He has been the find of the tournament.

It could've been worse for Pakistan if not for him.
 
Abrar this morning before start of play

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Abrar removes a very well-set Ollie Pope

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How is he doing today? Have the english learnt to pick him? Seems like Harrby Brook has his number... still better than anyone else we have but needs to continue to improve!
 
3rd wicket for Abrar

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4th wicket for Abrar

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Another 4 wickets for Abrar, but they went for 150 runs at more than 4 an over. Only 5 of his 35 overs were maidens.

England seem to have thought about their strategy against him and decided that losing a few wickets is a worthwhile tradeoff for the runs they are able to take off his bowling.

It was 11 wickets for Abrar in his debut match, and you’d think that if Pakistan are to win this one he would need another 11 or so here given the light bowling stocks.
 
Great start to his career and the only positive out of this series for Pakistan. Would be interesting to see how he shapes up from here as most of the pakistanis fades after a promising start.
 
Brother is carrying the bowling attack on his back, with a desperate captain over bowling him into the ground.

As said above him and Saud are the only real finds of this forgettable test series.
 
Suleiman said:
Brother is carrying the bowling attack on his back, with a desperate captain over bowling him into the ground.

As said above him and Saud are the only real finds of this forgettable test series.
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Yes 💯 I am really impressed with Saud's dedication and Abrar's bowling and they are young. Hopefully will serve Pakistan for many many years to come.
 
i fear for abrar, can already see him bowling 150 odd overs against nz. he needs real support, he cant go into first innings on pak decks with the expectation to take 4 or 5 every time, that will set him up for failure.
 
Although I am still skeptical about his long term effectiveness, he is better than I thought he was and definitely something to work with. I would urge him to work on his pace- it's too slow and somehow get more leg spin. Both will be very difficult but would take his bowling to a different level
 
Many things to learn ie pace variations, length variations, needs to spin the ball prodigiously both ways and marginally. These were things Shane Warne was good at. He will be even better served by an attacking captain who will use him to take wickets and not worry about containment. Hoping he has learnt a lot by bowling to the English batsmen.
 
Good news is that he is young and has time to learn and will definitely improve - guess Yasir Shah's permanent replacement.
 
Outstanding debut series.given that he had zero support. In a one on one match up he owned pretty much all the English batsmen except Brook and to some extent Duckett. Brook's extraordinary batting against him took some sheen of his performance. Otherwise he held his own
 
If he can learn to increase his speeds and spin his leg spin then he will become deadly.
 
Lot relying on Abrar for Pakistan to make some breakthroughs against NZ
 
There is definitely a reliance on Abrar to take a fair number of the wickets here, but at the same time Babar needs to put a bit more trust in some of the other bowlers and give them more of a spell, otherwise Abrar will end up in a position where he has bowled 100s of overs across the four Tests v England and New Zealand and he will end up injured and/or fatigued. He was already starting to look tired towards the end of the England series having been in my opinion (and Nasser Hussain’s opinion) overbowled by his captain with too much put on his shoulders.
 
Once the mystery goes and with so much footage around, that won't take long, what will Abrar offer. He needs to work on his pace-it's too slow and got the odd one to go away from the bat sharply to keep the batsman guessing
 
Abrar bowled 42 percent of the total overs bowled by pakistani team in his first two test matches.

And in this innings too he has already bowled and the way things are going he will end up bowling 50 plus overs in this innings also. Babar azam needs to bowl 15 plus overs of salman ali agha as well.
 
Pakistan haven't had a genuinely threatening spinner in a while. Abrar seems like a good prospect though.
 
Gets the centurion, Tom Latham

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Is 10 wickets in a handful of innings supposed to be bad? On these pitches? You must be joking or seriously poor at understanding cricket.

If you expect him to take 7 wickets in every single innings he plays in order to be considered good then your standards are higher than Pakistani parents looking for the perfect daughter in law. :)))
 
Disappointing for him - another 100 and just 1 wicket to his name.

Bad pitches or has he already been found out?
 
5fer for Abrar - has toiled hard and well-deserved for him
 
Shamefully over bowled by Babar given his inexperience — over 60overs already !
To his credit, he has not let it get away going for just about 3 an over
 
MenInG said:
5fer for Abrar - has toiled hard and well-deserved for him
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Highlights

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MenInG said:
Highlights

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Nothing special in those wickets, more the batsman trying to go for him.
 
Another rubbish spinner produced by Pakistan. If you can't spin the ball appreciably, you need to bowling at 97-100kph+ all the time. His 85kph deliveries aren't going to send shockwaves at all. Only a matter of time before he will be consigned to the bin.
 
MenInG said:
Highlights

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Nothing special about his bowling.
 
He can't get wickets unless batsmen go after him. The more batsmen play him, the more he gets neutralized. He has to further work on his bowling to survive in the long term otherwise he is going the Ajanta Mendis route.
 
guy is in his third test, has outbowled everyone in virtually every innings he's bowled on absolutely dead tracks and "fans" are already writing him off. this is the best pak have, out of all the things there are to complain about he is not one of them, unless u want to see teams racking up runs like the first test in which he didnt play.

hes bowling nonstop, he has no time to absorb whats he learning to improve, needs to put on a little bit more muscle mass to get some more action through the crease, but he has to be persisted with.
 
ElRaja said:
guy is in his third test, has outbowled everyone in virtually every innings he's bowled on absolutely dead tracks and "fans" are already writing him off. this is the best pak have, out of all the things there are to complain about he is not one of them, unless u want to see teams racking up runs like the first test in which he didnt play.

hes bowling nonstop, he has no time to absorb whats he learning to improve, needs to put on a little bit more muscle mass to get some more action through the crease, but he has to be persisted with.
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No real revs on the ball. Wrist spinners don't last long if they can't rip it big and I don't think he can.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
No real revs on the ball. Wrist spinners don't last long if they can't rip it big and I don't think he can.
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So why do they keep on calling him a mystery spinner? This word should be banned
 
Nikhil_cric said:
No real revs on the ball. Wrist spinners don't last long if they can't rip it big and I don't think he can.
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theres leg spinners who gave it a big rip and failed too. leg spin as a whole has far too few exponents in the modern era to make generalisations.

last thirty years only 5 leggies have taken more than 200 test wickets. warne, kaneria, McGill were big spinners who threatened both edges, yasir and kumble for the most part were not and relied on trapping batsman with changes of speed and flight.

you are also judging him on extremely placid pitches where there is literally zero rough. my point is not that abrar will take 200 test wickets, but you cant write him off until he has played and failed at least 2 or 3 tests in helpful conditions.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
No real revs on the ball. Wrist spinners don't last long if they can't rip it big and I don't think he can.
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He’s not a wrist spinner — he’s a finger spinner who uses his fingers to get the revs on the ball.
Illuminating interview with him by Urooj Mumtaz where he said he sees himself as a finger spinner
 
The comments on here are ridiculous — he’s playing his third test for heavens sake.
On debut Warne took bowled 45 overs and took 1-150.
If he had been Pakistani, posters on here would have said this lad won’t amount to much — drop him now….
 
Teams have already realized that they need to avoid the cross bat slogs, play with a straight bat as he just attacks the stumps and doesn't spin the ball much.

He has a lot to learn to progress at this level.
 
gibsyhesperis said:
The comments on here are ridiculous — he’s playing his third test for heavens sake.
On debut Warne took bowled 45 overs and took 1-150.
If he had been Pakistani, posters on here would have said this lad won’t amount to much — drop him now….
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Abrar is missing the X factor that good spinners have. Firstly, he doesn't spin the ball much and most his wickets have been the batsman gifting it to him. Unfortunately, I do not see Abrar as a long term solution. I hope that I am proved wrong.

May be, Abrar can be more inpactful in limited overs cricket. However, he won't be able to break into the side as we have Shadab and other options who can bat.

Besides, please do not compare him to Warney. Warney was a different breed to anyone else.
 
Abrar's 23 wickets in the last 3 matches has earned him the role of the lead spinner for tests
 
After his first bowling innings, he has averaged 37 with the ball . Despite the "mystery", he has found the going tough.
 
Picks up his first of the innings:

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Disappointed!!

He does not seem like a bowler who can be trusted with long spells.

Let’s see if this experience makes him aware of his short comings and if he is willing to work extra hard.
 
Very average. Whatever "mystery" he had was uncovered by England in his debut match.
 
So, considerable criticism on here of a young bowler in his third test even though he has taken over twenty wickets to date.
(as a comparison Shane Warne, in his first three Tests took three wickets and conceded 346 runs).

I sometimes wonder if some posters follow the arch of test cricket.
Spinners seldom mature until their late twenties (Graeme Swann felt he wasn’t ready to play Test cricket until he was 30).

Also, he’s being led by an average captain — captaincy is crucial for spinners.
(look at the improvement in Leach under Stokes vs Root).

Patience is a virtue, though somewhat missing in a lot of Pakistan fans.
 
gibsyhesperis said:
So, considerable criticism on here of a young bowler in his third test even though he has taken over twenty wickets to date.
(as a comparison Shane Warne, in his first three Tests took three wickets and conceded 346 runs).

I sometimes wonder if some posters follow the arch of test cricket.
Spinners seldom mature until their late twenties (Graeme Swann felt he wasn’t ready to play Test cricket until he was 30).

Also, he’s being led by an average captain — captaincy is crucial for spinners.
(look at the improvement in Leach under Stokes vs Root).

Patience is a virtue, though somewhat missing in a lot of Pakistan fans.
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If Pakistan fans ran Pakistan cricket, it would be a complete dumpster fire series after series.
 
With wrist spinner, we have to be patient, Warne is not born everyday . Even Qadir was struggling for years until Ik took over and supported him and brought best out of him .

There will be ups and down in Abrar's career, captain and selectors should show faith on him . He is one to be invested on.
 
gibsyhesperis said:
So, considerable criticism on here of a young bowler in his third test even though he has taken over twenty wickets to date.
(as a comparison Shane Warne, in his first three Tests took three wickets and conceded 346 runs).

I sometimes wonder if some posters follow the arch of test cricket.
Spinners seldom mature until their late twenties (Graeme Swann felt he wasn’t ready to play Test cricket until he was 30).

Also, he’s being led by an average captain — captaincy is crucial for spinners.
(look at the improvement in Leach under Stokes vs Root).

Patience is a virtue, though somewhat missing in a lot of Pakistan fans.
Click to expand...

Sadly, they are a lot like the ridiculous media.

Abrar is so young and wasn't even bowling in FC until last season and somehow fans are clamoring for this very young spinner to carry the attack. On any decent team, he would be coming in as the 4th bowler to be relied upon turning conditions. Here, Pakistan are running him into the ground on flat conditions and despite already taking heaps of them, they somehow want him to be better. Tons of bowlers struggle at the start of their Test career. Why? Because Test cricket is incredibly hard.

Furthermore, being a leg spinner in Test is the hardest thing to do and there is a reason why literally none of them around the world even play and much less are good at it. There hasn't even been a notable leggie since Yasir Shah. Give the kid some time and maybe if the team was half decent, they wouldn't be playing this rookie like their main wicket taking bowler.
 
Abrar has a massive ceiling. He has bowled well considering his experience and the conditions. But Babar and co are at risk of setting him back big time by over bowling him. It would be great if Yasir was back in the team and could act as a bit of a mentor for Abrar. Maybe Saqi can do this but having a fellow senior leggie in the team who has put up big performances would really help.
 
offstump said:
Abrar has a massive ceiling. He has bowled well considering his experience and the conditions. But Babar and co are at risk of setting him back big time by over bowling him. It would be great if Yasir was back in the team and could act as a bit of a mentor for Abrar. Maybe Saqi can do this but having a fellow senior leggie in the team who has put up big performances would really help.
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Not a bad idea , leggies take years to mature , its the most difficult art of bowling to master . But, once they mature they possess great potential as match winners . Saqi, can't help him much , Mushi can .
 
Babar is the worst captain you can ask for as a budding leggie
 
decent pace for the wicket ball, what were his speeds like otherwise today?
 
gibsyhesperis said:
And as I mentioned, he had Ben Stokes captaining him….
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And facing mediocre Pakistani batsmen.

In the practice match in UAE bowling to England batsmen: 8 overs, 73 runs, 0 wickets at 9.12 economy.

Pakistan batsmen even gave Will Jacks a 5 wicket haul.
 
These are the overs Abrar has bowled/total team overs in first 3 tests

1: 22/52; 29/65
2: 35/82; 12/29
3: 68/195; 3/8

Total: 169/431 = 39%

Below are Yasir's overs in first 3 tests

1. 17/104; 25/92
2. 14/68; 22/89
3. 17/88; 18/71

Total: 113/510 = 22%

Abrar is being given too high workload too early in his career. He is bowling more than 1/3 of Pak's overs. Whether he can be a long term successful bowler in Tests is unknown but the way Babar is using him it is unlikely
 
Gets the set batter with a quicker one

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Another one, with some help from Sarfraz

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Not sure why are people so fixated on the mystery part.

If anyone thinks he is in the mould of Mendis/Mujeeb/Theekshana they are completely off mark.

He lands the ball in good areas and is able to turn it. As long as he does that, he's always going to get wickets.


Judge him like any normal spinner and he is good.

I'm 110% convinced he is the best spinner in Pakistan right now.
 
Very useful wicket of KW!

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