Why is Mohammad Amir struggling with the ball in Test cricket?

[Abdullah719]

What is the reason behind Amir's struggles? He has had a few decent spells and often keeps it tight but finds wickets very hard to come by - hasn't taken a single five-fer since his return.

If you opt for 'other', please elaborate.

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

Fatigue.

 

[Syed1]

He doesn't lack in fitness or rhythm and has full support from the captain (most of the times).

I would like to belief what Asif said about Amir that he isn't coming as close to the umpire as he used to.

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

1.Mentally affected by 2010
2.Lack of support from other bowlers
3.Fielders letting him down

 

[Barragan]

I'm going to go with what Asif said about him not getting closer to stumps and he needs to pitch up a bit more.

 

[lahoriyah1234]

Amir needs good rest. He should have been rested for ODI series. And we should have tried new fast bowlers here. Inzamam ul haq, is annoying us now, picking same 15 everytime, no thought
Process of rebuilding the team or trying to find new bowlers in spin or fast department. Selecting Irfan, wahab, over sohail khan who could be a good decent lower order batsmen who can bowl well. Wahab and Irfan are poor selection both have failed to live up and most v injury prone.

Unless Inzamam changes it's mentAlity and show bravery and select young players and kick oldies out, only then we can get somewhere. Look at Aussies they didn't wait for months but they changed a whole batting unit after just 1 series. Then Inzamam says we dont have talent, oh bhai chance doo gaa tu pata chale ga naa.

 

[Syed1]

Amir needs good rest. He should have been rested for ODI series. And we should have tried new fast bowlers here. Inzamam ul haq, is annoying us now, picking same 15 everytime, no thought
Process of rebuilding the team or trying to find new bowlers in spin or fast department. Selecting Irfan, wahab, over sohail khan who could be a good decent lower order batsmen who can bowl well. Wahab and Irfan are poor selection both have failed to live up and most v injury prone.

Unless Inzamam changes it's mentAlity and show bravery and select young players and kick oldies out, only then we can get somewhere. Look at Aussies they didn't wait for months but they changed a whole batting unit after just 1 series. Then Inzamam says we dont have talent, oh bhai chance doo gaa tu pata chale ga naa.

Sir Inzi never selected talented youngster even when he was captain. He kept on playing same TTFs even though the team's performance was plummeting.

Inzi, the selector, found the perfect partner in crime in Misbah who also hates youngsters with a passion. Kaptaan fantastic Misbah even dropped the cream of our domestic (Babar Azam, Umar Amin, Kamraan Ghulam) after one or two matches in the PSL and instead decided to go with average (and old) players like Imran Khalid.

I despise Azhar's captaincy, but so far he has shown a knack of giving youngsters a chance. Sarfaraz is even better in that regard.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Still regaining his rhythm

 

[Mamoon]

One word: overrated.

 

[lahoriyah1234]

Sir Inzi never selected talented youngster even when he was captain. He kept on playing same TTFs even though the team's performance was plummeting.

Inzi, the selector, found the perfect partner in crime in Misbah who also hates youngsters with a passion. Kaptaan fantastic Misbah even dropped the cream of our domestic (Babar Azam, Umar Amin, Kamraan Ghulam) after one or two matches in the PSL and instead decided to go with average (and old) players like Imran Khalid.

I despise Azhar's captaincy, but so far he has shown a knack of giving youngsters a chance. Sarfaraz is even better in that regard.

It's very tough from here on, who will be the best person to lead Pakistan in the future. People criticised Ian Chappel. But he made a valid point that Misbah should have stepped down and let Azhar or even Sarfraz lead the team in SCG test. Misbah is a respectable personal and team loves him. But somewhere in the team, there has to be an individual who wants to take over and wants to be the Captain. Azhar deep down doesn't want too, to be honest he knows it too, he is not good enough to lead.

Sarfraz is a good choice for ODI and T20 but Test you need someone who holds test qualities as a Captain.

We will Miss Misbah and Younis. But i think They left it too late for Azhar or Shafiq to be tried. Misbah should have retired after England tour it would have been a goo end of him as a Captain.

I am hoping that somewhere down the line we can find someone like Kohli or Faf depulissi. Kind of character and cricketers. Chota Akmal had it in him but he destroyed himself.

 

[yasir]

I don't think he is fit enough to play 10 test matches in 6/7 months, that too mostly in away tours. Those are not the only matches he plays, he is in every ODI and T20 that matters as well...That's a lot of work load and like all past Pakistani players, you cannot refuse, even Yasir is playing SCG test as an injured player, we can all see that, who is our best bowler for last 2 years...

Maybe because of tough schedule, he did not focused on fixing his technical issues and increasing speed. If he want to be in the league of Strac and Rabada,\he has increase his speed by 5/7 clicks, that requires lot more fitness then what he has right now.

Plus he needs to pitch it up...It does not help if you have to play in three different conditions within the span of 6 months, length in ENG, UAE, AUS/NZ are all different, its like zero to Olympics instantaneously.

 

[AlphaFighter]

So many things

Fitness, he needs to build up strength, put some muscle mass, he is ineffective in his later spells.

Technical adjustments, like bowling closer to the stumps, watching his wrists, trying to rediscover the swing in both directions

A poor bowling brain. I have hardly seen him bounce any batsman out. All he does is pitch the ball up, short of a length on off stump or at the stumps, but he unlike Wahab does not utilize the bouncer at all. Every batsman knows that he swings the ball in but doesn't move it away and hence he has become very one dimensional now and batsman unlike previous players are quick to make adjustments.

He needs to think more especially as he has to adjust to the reality of flat wickets. For e.g. how about bowling the bouncer more, putting the batsman back, giving him something to think about, disturb his footwork, ruffle him up, things like putting a square leg and bowling a yorker, taking a second/third slip in and bringing the ball back into the batsman, taking a second/third slip out and bowling an away swinger

Reverse Swing. I am sorry but i don't recall seeing any reverse swing from Amir at all since his comeback.

Too many issues he needs to address, he needs to be dropped and be made to earn his place in the side.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Not attacking the stumps enough and making the batsman play. While he's making the batsmen play and miss, he's not consistently tight or full enough to catch the edge. Nothing else really. His pace is picking up every series. He consistently operated at 140-145 this series. His action is not as complete yet but it's getting there.

It would help if he had a captain who understood fast bowling.

 

[Mamoon]

When will he regain his rhythm? 3 months, 6 months, 1 year? Is anyone brave enough to put a timeframe and all others to hold him accountable when he is still impactless after this time period? Or will we keep making excuses after excuses?

Think it's an ego problem now. Even his diehard fans have realized that they were emphatically wrong about his potential, and thus are coming up with every excuse under and beyond the sun.

 

[LordJames]

Fatigue and some minor technical adjustments.

But even after that, he hunted in a pair. He is not good enough to lead the attack by himself but he is excellent when the pressure is build and kept from the other end.

 

[Abdul]

It's quite simple—he isn't good enough and his fans severely had too many expectations from him prior to his comeback. He has been exposed.

 

[PakSarZameen]

he was never that good.

Pitches were assisting him in 2010 and he was in good form, that's it.

 

[Rayyman]

Lack of luck and lack of rest.

 

[in_cutter]

lack of rest.

I was not aware that he played 50 Test matches on the bounce

 

[Rayyman]

I was not aware that he played 50 Test matches on the bounce

Why not rest him when the series is lost? Misbah has a habit of running bowlers into the ground.

 

[troodon]

Pitches in this Aus series are highways. Just hit through the line and you will be fine.

 

[JibranAnsari]

He is not the same bowler he was in 2010.

5 years of absence from international cricket has taken a toll on him. He has bowled a lot in the last year and apart from one t20 against india and early summer against some county sides he has looked extremely ordinary. We all wish that he could become as good as he was in 2010 but the fact is he has lost it.

 

[GrandMaster]

Believe it or not, Amir is still the best bowler in Pakistan team, much better than Wahab. He is quite unlucky not to get the wickets, but dropping catches off HIS bowling must be quite demotivating which eventually affect his overall bowling. He is only 24, I am sure he will bounce back in no time.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

1. Fitness Issues

2. Technical Issues

Isn't the same bowler as 2010 unless he turns it around in 2nd innings with technical improvements suddenly.

 

[in_cutter]

Why not rest him when the series is lost? Misbah has a habit of running bowlers into the ground.

Why should he be rested? Why should he be given special treatment? Do other bowlers not deserve a rest too then?

 

[WC-Passion]

He's not the same bowler he was back in 2010, struggling to get back the venom in his bowling that he once had.

 

[AlphaFighter]

Believe it or not, Amir is still the best bowler in Pakistan team, much better than Wahab. He is quite unlucky not to get the wickets, but dropping catches off HIS bowling must be quite demotivating which eventually affect his overall bowling. He is only 24, I am sure he will bounce back in no time.

Not really, Wahab has had far greater impact than over rated Amir.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

1. Needs to get Banana shape back in his action. (2010)

2. Upright seam with the ball aimed to go across righties. (2010)

3. More upright in delivery stride after 1st 4 overs. (2010)
Needs to strengthen his lower back, things and calves.


4. More agressive follow through. (2010)

5. Put on lean muscle mass.


When he will get his action's banana shape he will get much more swing and that too late swing. Action will look like previous action.


InshaAllah he will be back.


Meet Mohammad Asif and train with him at NCA.

 

[Markhor]

As mentioned Asif and Waqar, he needs to get closer to the stumps and increase chances of LBWs and bowleds. Also can pitch the ball up a bit more.

He's been wasteful at times with the new ball and has often ended up bowling too straight, feeding the batsmen on their pads and giving them easy runs. Also needs better support, likes of Rahat and Imran often release any pressure being built.

 

[Hasan123]

Asif might have been onto something when he mentioned that technical issue

 

[90MPH]

I think sadly Amir is not going to reach the heights of 2009/2010 period.

He simply doesn't seem to pocess that same late swing magic he once had.His accuracy also seems to be missing.

I think he just needs to pitch the ball up and be prepared to get driven - that's the best way he will get wickets. He needs a good mentor and work really hard at his short comings.

His attitude is good and pace is decent but just needs more patience and pitch the new ball up more.

Above all He's not a containing type bowler but a strike bowler and he needs to remember that.

 

[QalandarFan]

I'm a huge fan of him but I'm starting to think he won't get any better. Really hope he does.

Maybe if he does what Asif said that might help, but I think he also needs to work on his fitness, his pace has been down this test.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Just a matter of time.

Potential ATG.