What strategy does Yasir Shah need to employ at the MCG in order to be successful?

[Wasim_Waqar]

I don't have the channel currently to watch the series so I have only seen little bits. I understand that Misbah set defensive fields with 6 fielders on the leg side and asking him to bowl at leg stump to left handers.

What is the ideal field for Yasir and what line and speed does he need to bowl at? Also how much flight will he need to give the ball at the MCG?

 

[honeybadger]

I have no idea but it would be great for him if he avoided the long hops and full pitched filth. One of his strength's as a leggie is is metronomic accuracy. He looked off colour at Gabba (by his standards). Plus, he might need to adapt a little when it's not spinning. Warne would sometimes ditch the conventional leggie grip for the one with more over spin, when it didn't spin and there was appreciable bounce. Yasir needs to mix it up a little. Doesn't have to go into a T20 mode but it doesn't hurt to keep a batsman guessing.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

He's bowling to a whole lineup filled with Lefties, apart from Smith and Handscomb... That in itself is a massive challenge for a leg spinner. Couple that with Australian conditions and it literally becomes a nightmarish type of prospect for any leg spinner whether he is World Class or not .....

The approach of Yasir being used as a defensive option was partially correct and I can relate to the strategy of Misbah the problem was the execution was extremely poor and us trying to block the leg side as a method to ball dry did not WORK AT ALL !!

I don't know how they'll do it but they have to find a way to ball dry in these conditions.

 

[Inzi_fan_No_1]

Bat first hopefully as MCG is known to be flat. Get runs on the board and then Yasir comes in to play

 

[street cricketer]

He's a completely different bowler when he has runs on the board to defend. It's the same with most spinners, but even more so with Yasir. So it depends on Misbah to win the toss and your batsmen not finding themselves 130/7 or 8.

 

[o_ahsan99]

Yasir should bowl a more attacking off stump line to the left handers. As one of the commentators pointed out in first test, bowling an off stump line opens up several modes of dismissing the batsman. He can get them bowled through the gate, lbw, caught at keeper or slip off the google, get a return catch if the batsman get beaten in flight and bat pad if the ball bounces too much. Bowling leg stump he can only get the bat pad or caught at mid wicket is the batsman drives in the air.

If Yasir has to bowl leg stump to dry the runs, then he needs to have the square leg and mid on in the circle in a run saving position. Bowl a tight leg stump line and let the batsman take a risk by hitting over the top. Bowling the leg stump line and having a long on and deep square leg just allows too many easy singles.

I think Pakistan should play Imran Khan to control the runs and bowl long spells, thus allowing Amir, Wahab and Yasir to be bowl more attacking lines.

 

[o_ahsan99]

Most importantly, people need to take catches off Yasir's bowling for him to get wickets.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Not bowl that rubbish line to left handers

 

[Blistering Barnacle]

From what I saw of his overs (I didn't see him bowl throughout), I thought it was pathetic captaincy asking one of the best spinners in the world to bowl that line. And when he did bowl offstup vs legstump, the batsmen were in immediate trouble. Really puzzling. And when the greatest legspin bowler Shane Warne is completely put off, you should take note.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

I don't have the channel currently to watch the series so I have only seen little bits. I understand that Misbah set defensive fields with 6 fielders on the leg side and asking him to bowl at leg stump to left handers.

What is the ideal field for Yasir and what line and speed does he need to bowl at? Also how much flight will he need to give the ball at the MCG?

I think Yasir needs to find his line and length he bowled a lot bad balls.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

It doesn't take a genius to realize that he should be attacking the 4th stump line. Employ a 5-4 field to lefties.

Bowling to lefties: square leg(or deep backward square leg), mid-wicket, short leg, mid-on. On the right: Point( or backward point), slips, short-cover, point-cover, mid-off.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

I think Yasir needs to find his line and length he bowled a lot bad balls.

He did not. Misbah was asking him to bowl an impossible channel. Pretty much everyone who watched Yasir said he bowled well and praised his accuracy. But heavily criticized Misbah's gutless captaincy.

 

[MMHS]

If PAK bats first, probably scoreboard itself will fix his strategy & Aussies will help him implementing that, if PAK posts 350+ in 1st innings.

If Aussies bats first (read Misbah loses toss), he needs to

1. Set own fielding & don't bother whose who - he knows bowling tactics better than most, when on field
2. Be selfish, be very selfish - buy wicket for own stats & never look at the run rate.
3. Bowl in the channel that forces batsmen to play shots - Aussies are not Asian batsman against flighted spin.
4. Fake injury, after 29 overs a day - no way, he should bowl 30 overs in a day
5. Pick the bowling end he likes. He shouldn't sacrifice his comfortable end for other bowlers - without him his Captain will struggle to beat ZIMBOK/WI/BD & SRL will take back the rubber; he needs to make sure that his Captain knows that.
6. Learn the most filthy Punjabi, Sindhi & Urdu swears with everything in it - whoever drops the 1st catch, apply calling names at full volume, if possible by the side of the stamp camera & m'phone.

 

[FreakCricket]

yasir bhai need to pitch more fuller than he did in first test, and please no defensive leg stump bowling

 

[AlphaFighter]

Very simple, set his own fields, bowl according to his wishes and not listen to Misbah at all.

 

[Nothing matters]

Stop bowling outside leg stump for a start.

 

[in_cutter]

He will continue to struggle. I feel Asghar would have been a better choice.

 

[Pete Rose]

He's a completely different bowler when he has runs on the board to defend. It's the same with most spinners, but even more so with Yasir. So it depends on Misbah to win the toss and your batsmen not finding themselves 130/7 or 8.

His fist and second innings averages are not too far off. Most legspinners are required to keep the first innings runrate down and pitch in with a wicket or two, but they are required to come to the party in the second innings. His MO is not more or less than usual of what a legspinner does.

 

[Pete Rose]

He will continue to struggle. I feel Asghar would have been a better choice.

There is no basis for this claim

 

[IcedEarth]

Leg spin to the right handers, and stop aiming for the lbw with too many front of the hand stuff. That line of attack is great in SC, but on pitches that does not spin much, it's the big spinning delivery that takes the batsman.

For lefties, he has to put more over spin on the ball and start targeting the outside edge as Warne used to do. When pitch starts to spin, then he can go for the glory ball of spinning through the gate.

 

[street cricketer]

His fist and second innings averages are not too far off. Most legspinners are required to keep the first innings runrate down and pitch in with a wicket or two, but they are required to come to the party in the second innings. His MO is not more or less than usual of what a legspinner does.

Yasir's averages by each innings:

1st innings - 50.06
2nd innings - 26.00
3rd innings - 31.77
4th innings - 20.97

Clearly he's much better when he has a score to defend. Nothing surprising there, most spinners are most potent when bowling last but it's more pronounced in the case of Yasir. Also scoreboard pressure is probably the biggest factor that helps a spinner in overseas conditions. Spinners generally do well when they're bowling after having runs on the board. It's very hard to pick 5fers bowling first consistently unless you're Warne or Murali.

Yasir's strengths are his unerring accuracy and always attacks the stumps. These things choke the opposition batsmen when they're trying to bat out a day or chase a target on the last day. Also him being a leggie helps the matters and will get more zip from the hard compact surfaces that are present in Australia than what a finger spinner may get. So I expect him to do well in the MCG and SCG. Won't be surprised if he picks up a 5fer or two in those matches. But like I said, he needs something to bowl to and for that the Pakistan batsmen have to step up. Unfair to expect him to do much if the batsmen collapse spectacularly like they did in the first innings at Brisbane.

 

[New Yorker]

if pak bats first, probably scoreboard itself will fix his strategy & aussies will help him implementing that, if pak posts 350+ in 1st innings.

If aussies bats first (read misbah loses toss), he needs to

1. Set own fielding & don't bother whose who - he knows bowling tactics better than most, when on field
2. Be selfish, be very selfish - buy wicket for own stats & never look at the run rate.
3. Bowl in the channel that forces batsmen to play shots - aussies are not asian batsman against flighted spin.
4. Fake injury, after 29 overs a day - no way, he should bowl 30 overs in a day
5. Pick the bowling end he likes. He shouldn't sacrifice his comfortable end for other bowlers - without him his captain will struggle to beat zimbok/wi/bd & srl will take back the rubber; he needs to make sure that his captain knows that.
6. Learn the most filthy punjabi, sindhi & urdu swears with everything in it - whoever drops the 1st catch, apply calling names at full volume, if possible by the side of the stamp camera & m'phone.

potw

 

[The_Odd_One]

He will continue to struggle. I feel Asghar would have been a better choice.

Yes, Asghar who has not played even an ODI yet, will be a better choice despite being a slow left armer and playing his debut test onBoxing Day at MCG.

Good logic.

 

[Buffet]

Strategy should be to do exact opposite of what he did in the first test and he will do fine. First test, he didn't bowl bad, but it was a poor strategy.

 

[Pete Rose]

Yasir's averages by each innings:

1st innings - 50.06
2nd innings - 26.00
3rd innings - 31.77
4th innings - 20.97

Clearly he's much better when he has a score to defend. Nothing surprising there, most spinners are most potent when bowling last but it's more pronounced in the case of Yasir. Also scoreboard pressure is probably the biggest factor that helps a spinner in overseas conditions. Spinners generally do well when they're bowling after having runs on the board. It's very hard to pick 5fers bowling first consistently unless you're Warne or Murali.

Yasir's strengths are his unerring accuracy and always attacks the stumps. These things choke the opposition batsmen when they're trying to bat out a day or chase a target on the last day. Also him being a leggie helps the matters and will get more zip from the hard compact surfaces that are present in Australia than what a finger spinner may get. So I expect him to do well in the MCG and SCG. Won't be surprised if he picks up a 5fer or two in those matches. But like I said, he needs something to bowl to and for that the Pakistan batsmen have to step up. Unfair to expect him to do much if the batsmen collapse spectacularly like they did in the first innings at Brisbane.

Thats interesting. Although I look at first team innings and second team innings where the average is off by five or six points. but yes if we are talking first day of test match that average does balloon up.

 

[street cricketer]

Thats interesting. Although I look at first team innings and second team innings where the average is off by five or six points. but yes if we are talking first day of test match that average does balloon up.

This isn't a day by day average but rather an innings by innings one. 1st innings indicates the average in first innings of matches where Pakistan had to bowl first. 2nd innings indicates the average in the first innings of matches where Pakistan batted first. 3rd innings average indicates the ones where Pakistan had to bat last and 4th innings for the ones where Pakistan bowled last.

 

[Syed1]

Stop bowling outside leg stump for a start.

He would have to convince his captain for that

 

[Nothing matters]

He would have to convince his captain for that

He's just too nice needs to man up and ask Misbah to let him set field for himself.