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Zafar Gohar performance watch in Test matches

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan make one change with Zafar Gohar making his Test debut in place of Yasir Shah <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NZvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NZvPAK</a> <a href="https://t.co/ppDGweeJuH">pic.twitter.com/ppDGweeJuH</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1345485070698688512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Debuting for Pakistan in the 2nd Test against New Zealand.

I feel he's already made an impact with the bat - but the real reason he is there is for his bowling.

What are our expectation from Zafar the Test match spinner?
 
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I was so impressed with his batting. Rashid Latif was doing analysis on him, he pointed out that he keeps netural stance till the delivery is bowled so sign of a promising batsman who can bowl as well
 
Lots to like about his batting, although he did seem a bit troubled by the short ball. Hope he bowls well
 
He was an excellent prospect at the U19s level, lets hope he becomes the finger spinner we so badly need. He has made a good start with his runs, and that should give him confidence to show his talent as a bowler.
 
angrypathan said:
Lots to like about his batting, although he did seem a bit troubled by the short ball. Hope he bowls well
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Which Pakistani batsman isn't troubled by short balls?

9/10 Pakistani batsmen are troubled by short ball, Zafar is a number 8 he is decent for his batting position.
 
Pakistan did the right thing by playing him. He scored 500+ runs in the last QeA Trophy which shows he is no muck with the bat, with the ball he surely can't be much worse than Yasir has been recently.

He was great today. Added incredibly valuable runs while batting against a fearsome fast-bowling attack.
 
He should have been selected long ago in all the formats instead of those so called all rounders Imad Wasim and shadab khan.He is much better bowler than them and even his batting seems better than those bits and pieces cricketers.
He will continue to impress.wonderful cricketer.
 
Gutsy effort with the bat.

He's someone who will battle hard and not throw in the towel.
 
His batting was well above my expectations and had he not gone for the pull shot at that stage, he would have gone on to make a gritty 50 in some very tough conditions.

My expectations for him as a bowler are quite simple. He needs to acknowledge that there won't be any spin on the pitch, so he will have to use his other variations like the slider and top-spinner. The off-break should be bowled initially to see if there is any spin on offer.

If there isn't spin, there will be bounce, and that is a useful weapon by itself.

I'd expect Rizwan to use him for about 15 overs, and he should come out with figures of:

15 overs, 35 runs, 1-2 wickets.

If he can get a few catchers nearby for the edges, it will do us really nicely. Rizwan needs to bring in some catchers initially, because he will find the edge much quicker than Yasir will.

I don't expect him to get 5 wickets, but if he can take a few wickets in the middle overs and keep the economy rate tight, it will be great for him.
 
its very hard for a spinner to just go for 3 runs an over , we should totally expect figures of 60/0 or 60/1 in 15 overs.
 
on the other hand if he has to bowl 15 overs then it will mean our fast bowling is failing to get wickets. Shan masood should bowl a few overs as well.
 
I have been saying for years that Zafar Gohar is a smart gutsy batsman. It amazes me that it I can gauge that by my minimal cricket understanding then what about out cricket administrators who have clearly been on an agenda.
 
So happy he's finally been given a chance, they've wasted atleast 3 years of him, if not more
 
Ahson8 said:
So happy he's finally been given a chance, they've wasted atleast 3 years of him, if not more
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Have they? He slept through what would have been his debut, while Yasir had an exceptional patch of form until 2017 which gave him the backing for another 1-2 years. The only real opportunity Zafar should have gotten that he didn’t was when Misbah called up Kashif Bhatti, but that was a year ago.

So you can say 1 year was wasted maybe, and Kashif Bhatti didn’t play in that time period either so Zafar would have been wasted for that one year even if called up.

3 years is a bit much. He also had a lot of good time to understand his game in domestic cricket, and his man of the tournament last year was the culmination of years of hard work and improvement.

I will also add that I believe 2.5 years ago Zafar had a shoulder injury which he went to the UK to have operated, and was out of action for a bit, and took him some time to recover form.

So... he’s been selected on time, or at most a year late, is what I’m saying. That’s fine.
 
Clearly already a batting upgrade to fluke Shah.

I dont want to get too far ahead of myself, but if Pakistan can somehow take this game into the 4th innings with a sizeable lead or a decent score for NZ to chase, this guy might just make his mark and put Yasir Shah out for good. Massive first ever Test for Zafar!
 
Zafar should have played all three formats for Pakistan long time ago. His sensible approach to batting was what Pak needs there tailenders to do not hit balls in the air from ball one or dead bat till they get an unplayable delivery.
 
Azhar Ali on Zafar Gohar

"Every player has nerves when they debut and given the conditions today, Zafar Gohar applied himself brilliantly and he played his shots whenever the ball came in his zone, he has shown today that he has a lot of potential and confidence to play at this level; I hope and pray that he will play more such innings for Pakistan and also take lots of wickets for his country"
 
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Thunderbolt14 said:
Have they? He slept through what would have been his debut, while Yasir had an exceptional patch of form until 2017 which gave him the backing for another 1-2 years. The only real opportunity Zafar should have gotten that he didn’t was when Misbah called up Kashif Bhatti, but that was a year ago.

So you can say 1 year was wasted maybe, and Kashif Bhatti didn’t play in that time period either so Zafar would have been wasted for that one year even if called up.

3 years is a bit much. He also had a lot of good time to understand his game in domestic cricket, and his man of the tournament last year was the culmination of years of hard work and improvement.

I will also add that I believe 2.5 years ago Zafar had a shoulder injury which he went to the UK to have operated, and was out of action for a bit, and took him some time to recover form.

So... he’s been selected on time, or at most a year late, is what I’m saying. That’s fine.
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Should have never dropped him from limited overs after his debut, that too for Yasir Shah.
 
the delay in zafar's career might be a blessing in disguise ... he is now mature, has given his dues in domestic gritted out his time....

so hopefully he can be the proper spinner we need in test

in LOI, don't know how much opportunities he will get given Imad....
 
And to think his career nearly ended in 2017 and he had to come to the UK for career saving treatment all at his own cost.
 
Does not matter even he had scored a 50, his primary job is bowling and he should be judged from that perspective.

But his batting performance yesterday showed his commitment to the team.

He earned his place is the team after years of hard work and he knows the value to it.

A spinners needs some time to settle down at international cricket and I hope he will be given a long run.

He is young but with 7 years of FC cricket experience, I have good expectations from him.
 
choudhary6964 said:
He should have been selected long ago in all the formats instead of those so called all rounders Imad Wasim and shadab khan.He is much better bowler than them and even his batting seems better than those bits and pieces cricketers.
He will continue to impress.wonderful cricketer.
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He is more suited to the longer format
 
moghul said:
Does not matter even he had scored a 50, his primary job is bowling and he should be judged from that perspective.

But his batting performance yesterday showed his commitment to the team.

He earned his place is the team after years of hard work and he knows the value to it.

A spinners needs some time to settle down at international cricket and I hope he will be given a long run.

He is young but with 7 years of FC cricket experience, I have good expectations from him.
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Whilst is primary role is to bowl i actually think he maybe in the team ahead of yasir based upon his batting same with shadab he gets in the team based upon his batting.
 
His temperament, calmness at crease and competitiveness is something which has been there since his younger days and I think its an important quality to have at international level.
 
really enjoyed his innings with the bat as he wasn't slogging but he played genuine shots against the pacers.his primary role which is bowling should be control the rpo
 
Saj said:
And to think his career nearly ended in 2017 and he had to come to the UK for career saving treatment all at his own cost.
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Hopefully with with new structure and players directly under the regions and employed with domestic contracts by PCB this will be much improved.
 
Titan24 said:
His temperament, calmness at crease and competitiveness is something which has been there since his younger days and I think its an important quality to have at international level.
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Indeed. We’ve had too many players recently who have just been content with their own performance only with little emphasis on the team winning. Need players who show that they care about winning and losing, not ones who will cut cake after making 100s even if it’s in a loss.
 
shamaan said:
Whilst is primary role is to bowl i actually think he maybe in the team ahead of yasir based upon his batting same with shadab he gets in the team based upon his batting.
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I don't think we should to make everyone an AR, whoever score some runs in a blue moon and that AR hides his lack of bowling performance behind those 20-30 runs . Look at Faheem Ashraf, his primary job is to take wickets and in 62 international matches he has taken only 60 wickets and in 25 ODIs his highest score is 28. Yes he is scoring some runs but what has been his bowling performance even in helpful condition in NZL.

Zafar Gohar is a left arm spinner and not an allrounder.

Faheem Asharf is a bits and pieces player.

Azhar Mehmood was the last genuine allrounder we had.
 
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BigShak said:
Indeed. We’ve had too many players recently who have just been content with their own performance only with little emphasis on the team winning. Need players who show that they care about winning and losing, not ones who will cut cake after making 100s even if it’s in a loss.
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Teams like NZ and Eng have been really paying attention to such aspects in the last decade when they are inducting players or identifying young players to keep in their radar.
 
Drove nicely when the ball was pitched up, dismissed by a short ball but you're not expecting a great technician at #8 but a useful batsman which he seems to be.

Hopefully he can hold up an end allowing Rizwan to rotate the seamers and produce the odd breakthrough.
 
Props to Yasir Shah in the pic. The smile seems genuine, always a smile on his face even when the guy he is with is replacing him. Extremely likeable guy based on his persona that translates from watching his behavior on the screen.
 
Local.Dada said:
Props to Yasir Shah in the pic. The smile seems genuine, always a smile on his face even when the guy he is with is replacing him. Extremely likeable guy based on his persona that translates from watching his behavior on the screen.
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tbh even Yasir is probably happy. Keep that bowling average from increasing any more. he'll be back when we play in Pakistan.
 
poor first day with the bowl from him but what else can be expected when he is asked to bowl on one of the worst surfaces for spinners.
 
sindhiboy said:
This pitch is very unhelpful for spinners wrong place for him to debut
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Agree with the post. Posters are sometimes extremely harsh on spinners but the southern hemisphere is a very difficult part of the world to control the flow of runs especially for a touring spinner.

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7 out of 10 of those venues are all in SA/NZ/AUS. Hagley Oval is a hard place for spinners to exert control.
 
I have just watched his bowling from day 2 and Zafar was awful. If he was a partimer then he would just about be passable but he is a front line spinner. His bowling to Williamson was no better than a club spinners, no energy on the ball and no deception. He was slightly better to Nicholls but these are worrying signs. I would be amazed if he gets another game.
 
I am sure Ronchi will have told his boys all about Zafar and I am certain NZ will have done plenty of research on him too.

These guys leave no stone unturned, not like our guys who have no clue about new opposition players.
 
Spinners take time to settle down at international level, Zafar needs a long run before we can make judgment on him.

Can't compare him with a chucker or a UAE kind .
 
Not the pitch or conditions for him. We don't really have any spinner who can go for under 3 rpo in SNA like Maharaj does these days or Herath was doing till his retirement(a big ask to replicate herath). Or even Dom Bess has been doing since his recall.

He does spin the ball a lot though.
 
moghul said:
Spinners take time to settle down at international level, Zafar needs a long run before we can make judgment on him.

Can't compare him with a chucker or a UAE kind .
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I have made up my mind, I was hoping to be proved wrong but he is actually worse than I thought. His bowling reminded me of Asif Mujtaba, who was a part time bowler from the mid 80s to the early 90s. The only PK left arm spinner I thought as this bad was none other Nadeem Khan brother of Moin.
 
BunnyRabbit said:
Not the pitch or conditions for him. We don't really have any spinner who can go for under 3 rpo in SNA like Maharaj does these days or Herath was doing till his retirement(a big ask to replicate herath). Or even Dom Bess has been doing since his recall.

He does spin the ball a lot though.
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He can't spin the ball sharply away from right handers on good wickets with that action.
 
Bewal Express said:
I have just watched his bowling from day 2 and Zafar was awful. If he was a partimer then he would just about be passable but he is a front line spinner. His bowling to Williamson was no better than a club spinners, no energy on the ball and no deception. He was slightly better to Nicholls but these are worrying signs. I would be amazed if he gets another game.
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This iss a very different Zafar to the one I saw in 2015 who was putting furious revs on the ball and flighting the ball well. I have already posted that hagley Oval is one of the worst places in the world for spinners but even I noticed that he wasn't getting the dip through the air which is not dependent on pitch. Have injuries affected his action and momentum transfer ?
 
Very positive batting debut 👍🏽A bit disappointed in his bowling tbh it’s hard going for spinners in these conditions but looks inferior to the U19 days when he was ripping it @ 70-75 mph , bowling it flat @ 80+mph is a no no
 
Doesn't matter if the pitch isn't suiting spin you can still be accurate, show variation and control the run flow.

It's not Zafar's fault though just highlights how underprepared our players are in general at the top level.

Whether you get an 18 year old to debut or a 30 year old domestic legend, they're all in the same mediocre boat.
 
His bowling is pretty average. Nauman Ali was a lot better than him in 2019 season.
 
Bewal Express said:
I have just watched his bowling from day 2 and Zafar was awful. If he was a partimer then he would just about be passable but he is a front line spinner. His bowling to Williamson was no better than a club spinners, no energy on the ball and no deception. He was slightly better to Nicholls but these are worrying signs. I would be amazed if he gets another game.
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No dip or drift

It is like watching Amir Sohail bowl
 
Nikhil_cric said:
This iss a very different Zafar to the one I saw in 2015 who was putting furious revs on the ball and flighting the ball well. I have already posted that hagley Oval is one of the worst places in the world for spinners but even I noticed that he wasn't getting the dip through the air which is not dependent on pitch. Have injuries affected his action and momentum transfer ?
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Same here, I saw him at the U19 level and he looked a hell of a prospect but from what [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] was saying he has had some serious issues. Its sad and it gives me no pleasure in being so critical because the lad had some real talent. Its painful to watch.
 
Zafar Gohar:

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 55.000%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/u66knb" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
I understand zafar has had surgery in 2017... but 3 years (or let’s say 2 years) after recovery time is time enough to recover and be on top of your game.

I understand that In New Zealand it’s hard to get good spinning wickets but they have had the likes of vettori, santner etc bowling on these slippery wickets and doing ok.

What astounds me is this. Prior to this test somebody would have seen this kid bowl somewhere in new Zealand in the nets or in the practice matches. It’s so obvious that he was not ready for this test match. I feel for him as I stayed up late just to see him bowl as did half the nation. But what we see is a half baked rookie well out of his depth bowling wise. Now obviously as Pakistan fans we would hope it’s nerves or it’s the pitch or anything else, but if this is the best Left arm spinner god help help us.
 
Zafar Gohar - The hyped savior of Pakistan Cricket?

Almost 5 years of hype. People wanted Imad out as he couldn't spin the ball. He was the no 1 T20 bowler at that time and people wanted Zafar in. 5 years he was hyped as the best spinner in Pakistan. As if he was the second coming of Shane Warne himself. Or at the very least, Rangana Herath.
And after all this hype, I'm being told that he was not playing to take wickets? How on earth do you justify that for someone for whom people said that he should be playing every test in UAE ahead of the best Pakistani leg spinner of the last 20-30 years?
He is making his debut so he's not as much as responsible as the others. But this humiliation is as much as on us for hyping a spinner how can't land two balls in the same area.
This thread is going to be bumped alot.
 
Well, he has the SA series to show some commendable performance, otherwise, move on to Sajid Khan.
 
mohammad asif first test match

18 overs 88 runs 0 wickets.

lets give the guy some more chances.
 
Let’s get some perspective here first. Here’s a guy who has barely bowled ANY overs in competitive FC cricket for over a year, making his debut in probably the worst conditions for a spin bowler with a captain who was more worried about rushing through his overs and getting over rate up than anything else.

That Zimbabwe series cost the likes of Zafar valuable match practice in the QeA trophy. He, along with the likes of Abdullah, Haider, Shaheen, Hasnain etc would have gained so much more playing in the QeA trophy at that time than that silly Zimbabwe series.

I fear now that a new selector is coming, Zafar will get dropped which will be totally unfair regardless of what anyone may think of him as a bowler he atleast deserves a few games before being discarded.
 
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JibranAnsari said:
mohammad asif first test match

18 overs 88 runs 0 wickets.

lets give the guy some more chances.
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Honestly don’t know what people were expecting from a guy who has barely bowled any overs in FC cricket since last year. Misbah should’ve let him play QeA trophy rather than warm the bench during the Zimbabwe series.
 
How can a guy who overslept and missed a flight to a test match be a saviour of anybody?

Add him to the long list of 'never will bes'.
 
Why you guys are expecting from spinners on green mat NZ pitches?
The spinner has no role in NZ.
Lets talk about Abbas, Faheem and Shafeen.
 
With all due respect he might be an absolute crap bowler but why are you writing up this post after a drubbing on debut in New Zealand, that too on a pitch that is statistically one of the worst places for spinners in history? Take your issue with the management, NOT the bowler.
 
You have to feel sorry for Zafar. He is asked to go to press conference at end of disastrous day and explain failures of team as a debut player.
Playing a spinner on this pitch was itself a bad decision
 
He didn't deserve his chance

A bowler averaging 36 in 2019 season is no savior for us. He will most likely average 40+ going by his domestic performance. Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan had better stats than him. No gives a damn about his batting, Pakistan has to take 20 wickets first
 
It’s a tough place to debut but going at 5 an over isn’t good enough he should’ve aimed for figures like 2-100 of 32 overs.

At least people scapegoating Yasir now realise it’s tough for a spinner outside Asia in some places unless your Warne or Murali if Zafar keeps performing like this overseas his test career will be short.
 
shah_1 said:
He didn't deserve his chance

A bowler averaging 36 in 2019 season is no savior for us. He will most likely average 40+ going by his domestic performance. Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan had better stats than him. No gives a damn about his batting, Pakistan has to take 20 wickets first
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Forget about the steps-Sajid is also a terrible bowler, i hope he doesnt get anywhere near the national team
 
globalcitizen said:
You have to feel sorry for Zafar. He is asked to go to press conference at end of disastrous day and explain failures of team as a debut player.
Playing a spinner on this pitch was itself a bad decision
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You have to play a spinner, he just isnt good enough
 
Bewal Express said:
Forget about the steps-Sajid is also a terrible bowler, i hope he doesnt get anywhere near the national team
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Can you explain in detail about Zafar and Sajid problem ? At least Sajid has performed unlike Zafar
 
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We've chucked the poor lad into the deep end. The expectation on him to keep it tight hasn't work due to the pitch offering way more to pace and bounce. Unfortunately not only is he doing poor but our pacers have been worse.

For the SA tour it would be wise to rejig some of the pacers up and manage them properly. But with Misbah and Waqar in charge, that will prove to be futile.
 
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