1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013

[phoenixdesi]

Re: 1st Test: Pakistan v South Africa, Johannesburg, Feb 1-5, 2013

@ehsan

Why so much poison against Umar Gul. Lets look at his bowling figures for this match:

First Innings 2/56, with an economy rate of 2.94
Second innings 2/58 with an economy rate of 4.14. (BTW, you might have noticed that only three wickets fell in the second innings, of which Gul took two)

Only Gul and Hafeez got 4 wickets each in the match.

Till you get another Aamir or Asif that is the best you have got and he is not bad and therefore to say he should sit out the tests is just not good. We always hark after untested players here saying why so and so is not playing and when they do play they are just not International standard. Rahat being the latest example.

problem is that this is the best he can do after 10 years…he can never run through any batting line up…just look at his test performance in last 4 years…

just to give you perspective … I did filter his test record …
in last 30 matches since 2009 he has secured 95 wickets with no 5 wickets/innings performance and yes in those 30 matches, he did play matches in Australia, England, NZ and WI as well where wickets are fast … and when he takes wickets it is always 2 or 3 wickets here and there…never a convincing spell…now that is pathetic performance to say the least from the senior most bowler…junaid has done so much better

but i do agree with you that we don’t have much on the bench either…but the counter argument is that had we invested in a “donkey” for last 4 years, even he would have taken 90 odd wickets in 30 matches…so why not invest in young blood? …who knows that young talent may improve…umar gul nay abb kaya improve hona hai…