Why is Mohammad Abbas so difficult to negotiate and why is he not a part of the shorter formats?

[stevewittry]

These are the two questions that I have been having for a while and hope I can get some perspectives on this forum.

Its understandable that he is accurate and can move the ball off the seam, more so with the new cherry.

However for most part he operates around 75 to 80 mph, hence for a decent batsman it would be easy to adjust even if they haven't quite seen it early.

Further, if he is as potent as he is, why is he not persisted in the shorter formats wherein he can push the opposition on the back foot with an early burst of wickets.

I would like to have some perspectives on this forum.

 

[Saj]

Clever bowler.

Little changes of pace, angle and seam position and uses the crease well.

He'd be a bit predictable for white ball cricket and batsmen would line him up as the bowler to attack.

 

[sweep_shot]

I think it is good that he focuses on one format. He can avoid injury. Also, Pakistan have some great LOI bowlers.

 

[angrypathan]

LOIs are played on pattas. Abbas would be cannon fodder

 

[Nasty Naz]

We already saw look terrible in ODI's vs Australia in 2019. He is a Test bowler. Leave him be as a Test bowler.

 

[Chokli]

Same reason Mohammad Asif never played a lot of LOI cricket.

 

[MenInG]

We will find out soon as Buttler and Woakes in OD mode.

 

[stevewittry]

We will find out soon as Buttler and Woakes in OD mode.

He has looked the most potent of all bowlers and even when Butler and Woakes were on the counter attack, they were cautious enough to see off Abbas while attacking the other bowlers.

 

[stevewittry]

We already saw look terrible in ODI's vs Australia in 2019. He is a Test bowler. Leave him be as a Test bowler.

Its about getting the right strategy for the shorter formats. Abbas as has been seen is most potent with the new ball. He is well off bowling his entire quota on the trot or in long spells when the ball is all new. The odds are that he would knock off the first 2-3 wickets without conceding too many. On good days, he can end up with a fifer which is major advantage to Pakistan.

 

[stevewittry]

Why isn't he bowling now after Pak has taken the new ball.

 

[Jeetlodil]

He can only do something with the new ball. Nothing with the old ball. Its better to not depend on him

 

[Nasty Naz]

Its about getting the right strategy for the shorter formats. Abbas as has been seen is most potent with the new ball. He is well off bowling his entire quota on the trot or in long spells when the ball is all new. The odds are that he would knock off the first 2-3 wickets without conceding too many. On good days, he can end up with a fifer which is major advantage to Pakistan.

lol no he can't. Even his List A track record is awful.

I know everyone likes to think that if you can play in Test, you can play in shorter formats but that is simply not the case. It's awful thinking like that the reason Shafiq, Younis, Azhar etc have played so many shorter format games for Pakistan and have been overall, awful at it.

 

[MenInG]

As Saj said in one of his posts - he didnt impress in the 2nd innings at all.

Same seem to have happened in UAE (Dubai) vs Australia where he just could not get wickets in the 2nd innings. Wonder if that is some issue?

 

[Third Man]

Its about getting the right strategy for the shorter formats. Abbas as has been seen is most potent with the new ball. He is well off bowling his entire quota on the trot or in long spells when the ball is all new. The odds are that he would knock off the first 2-3 wickets without conceding too many. On good days, he can end up with a fifer which is major advantage to Pakistan.

Sounds like you’re relatively new to cricket. Different balls, different pitches. A bowler like Abbas would be cannon fodder.

 

[MenInG]

Sounds like you’re relatively new to cricket. Different balls, different pitches. A bowler like Abbas would be cannon fodder.

Must be worth a try for ODIs?

 

[Kroll]

He's been found out.

With him bowling at 77, batsmen are standing way outside the crease and easily negotiating his deliveries. There was a graphic shown in the Test coverage proving this.

Is his time up or still the leader of the pack?

 

[shah_1]

Must be worth a try for ODIs?

He will be a flop. There is no space for medium pacers like him, he would be smashed around. Pitches are mostly flat

 

[Loralai]

Abbas has been exposed now for the third time. In South Africa, Australia and in large parts of this England series, he has been ineffective. He does not have the pace to trouble batsmen and is not useful at all when the ball is not moving.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Last 10 matches, 19 wickets @40.47 . A steep fall from his first 10.

 

[Ab Fan]

He is Pakistan's Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

 

[mmkextreme_1]

If you keep bowling at 77-79 mph, you are not going to trouble any top class international team.

The fact that he still hasn't learnt this is troubling. He must think that this is still Pakistani domestic cricket. If he doesn't up his pace to about 85 mph, I don't see him lasting much longer.

The worrying part is that his pace has dropped off a bit from 2 years ago.

 

[Fahdi]

Teams have negotiated Abbas by standing a few steps outside the crease against him. He has been pretty much toothless when the pitches have high bounce since he can't attack the stumps, basically making him a low bounce wicket specialist.

Someone above just compared him to Bhuvaneshwar, Bhuvi has added 7-8 kph of pace to his bowling and is capable of pushing any batsman standing out the crease back. Abbas on the other hand has lost pace. Just improving his fitness and athleticism should add a couple of yards of pace. Yet Abbas has done no work, when he tries to collect the ball in the field he looks like a 50 year old man. Looking at his posture one can tell his back muscles are quite weak.

I have supported him a lot but he is proving to be another lazy and unprofessional cricketer. Unless he starts working hard on overcoming his deficiencies Pakistan should look to replace him in an year or two's time.

 

[Indiafan]

He is Pakistan's Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

Except bhuvi bowls faster than amir today and way faster, easily 10 to 15kph more on average, than Abbas. No one stands out of the crease to Bhuvi

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Abbas is ineffective on flat pitches when ball is not swinging.

That is the conditions in which T20/ODIs are played mostly. So I don't think he will be successful.

 

[Kroll]

Teams have negotiated Abbas by standing a few steps outside the crease against him. He has been pretty much toothless when the pitches have high bounce since he can't attack the stumps, basically making him a low bounce wicket specialist.

Someone above just compared him to Bhuvaneshwar, Bhuvi has added 7-8 kph of pace to his bowling and is capable of pushing any batsman standing out the crease back. Abbas on the other hand has lost pace. Just improving his fitness and athleticism should add a couple of yards of pace. Yet Abbas has done no work, when he tries to collect the ball in the field he looks like a 50 year old man. Looking at his posture one can tell his back muscles are quite weak.

I have supported him a lot but he is proving to be another lazy and unprofessional cricketer. Unless he starts working hard on overcoming his deficiencies Pakistan should look to replace him in an year or two's time.

Excellent analysis. Another example of a test cricketer thinking he's made it and now too lazy to do the work to maintain skill and fitness.

 

[Junaids]

Totally ineffective outside Asia - unselectable.

His strike rate in his last 7 Test series:

94
69
66
Wicketless
89
89
174

Waste of space.

 

[Fahdi]

Excellent analysis. Another example of a test cricketer thinking he's made it and now too lazy to do the work to maintain skill and fitness.

Even maintaining is not enough. The emphasis has to be on trying to raise the level of one's skills and fitness.

It's something I have come to learn with Pakistani cricketers. The honeymoon period with "talent" only lasts an year or two. Things get a lot tougher after that. The only players worth rating are the ones who have the discipline and smarts to raise their game. This is the trait that sets Babar apart from the rest and its what I am looking out for in the up and coming so called stars. Take Haider Ali, I like him a lot but as we all can see he has some major flaws, unless he shows he is someone who is willing to work on his flaws he isn't worth backing. Imam also has a lot of good traits but his technical flaws are there just as they were when he started. It's a waste of time supporting players who can't work to improve themselves, they will never go beyond mediocrity unless they possess some super crazy talent.

 

[MMHS]

Main reason is the ball used in ODI these days. At his pace, Abbas will be a sitting duck even with the new machine stitched Kookaburra ball.

 

[Justcrazy]

He is finished in all formats , he is played because of his past performance , which hurts the team in long time.

 

[Savak]

Lol, if he bowls at Khalid Mahmud's pace of 78-82 mph, he will not succeed.

 

[Saj]

No chance.

He'd get smashed all over the park in limited overs cricket.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

He is actually 37 years old. His prime was in 2011-16 at age 28-33. He had a nice last swansong at the end of his career, in 2017-18 at age 34-35. But now he is finished at age 37.

 

[RyanRyan10]

He did his job in the Manchester test. Youngsters lost them the match. Pakistan fans are too harsh on him. He is still the best Pakistan pacer.

In Limited formats, he can be used with new ball and bowl in middle overs. Shaheen & Wahab can bowl in the death overs

 

[Abid Z]

He’s not a LOI bowler period.

But as a test bowler he’s one of the best we’ve produced in a long time. He will add swing to his armoury hopefully. A couple of yards of pace might help. He’s better off improving his batting a little more so we don’t have 3 no 11’s.

 

[Saj]

4 overs 0 for 49.

I think that puts to bed the limited overs bowler theory.

 

[TeymurBlake]

Abbas gets a place over Zia ul Haq. WOW!

 

[MenInG]

 

[MenInG]

Seems to be picking up now

 

[MenInG]

So 1/16 in 3 overs for Abbas - excellent figures.

 

[The Viper]

Highlights of his 2/24 vs Balochistan

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[mmkextreme_1]

See the difference between how the English batsmen played Abbas and how these Pakistani batsmen are playing him.

The way the English batsmen were batting against him outside the batting crease is something that these batsmen need to do as well. Abbas becomes useless when batters use this technique against him.

 

[Junaids]

Mohammad Abbas has been exposed a Very Poor Man's Mohammad Asif outside Asia.

He shares Asif's metronomic accuracy and ability to make the ball seam a tiny bit into and away from the batsman at a pace in the high 120's.

The problem is that on SENA wickets that makes him very accurate, but unless it is a total greentop he can't do much more than be economical if the batsmen just take guard outside their crease.

Asif at times could look a bit inoccuous too, but he had the advantage of being 4 inches taller than Abbas, so any batsman taking guard in front of his crease was in physical danger of a rising ball hitting him on the hand.

We saw in South Africa and then at Adelaide and then again in England that Abbas just can't dismiss batsmen. His average in England was relatively ok - 5 wickets in 3 matches at 35.80 - but his strike rate was 93.6, which is appalling for a quick bowler. Anderson struck at 53 and Broad at 39 balls per wicket on the same pitches with the same balls.

I think that the problem is that in 2018, Pakistan toured England in May when the wickets were more helpful than in August 2020. But also, Abbas has gone down from being a 130K bowler to a 126K bowler, and combined with his lack of height he now has a major problem.

Abbas in South Africa, 2018-19: 5 wickets in 74 overs, average 46.20, strike rate 88.8.
Abbas in Australia, 2019-20: 0 wickets for 200 in 29 overs.
Abbas in England, 2020: 5 wickets in 78 overs, average 35.80, strike rate 93.6.

These are not acceptable figures for a man the wrong side of 30 to remain in the Test team.