Lot of guppies have been associating the term “match winner” with shoaib akhtar…and the only reason they seem to have is his pace…
well, i would say that sheer pace is nothing…we need to look at records…now, i dont have any personal grudge against this guy, but i fee lthat calling him a match winner is just unacceptable…so what we are going to do is that we will list all his match winning performances in both ODIs and test matches…and then decide whether to call him match winner or not…so instead of giving any unreasonable explanations, plz quote the exact match with reference from CricInfo…
here i start…btw, these r the only two matches where i felt that he gave a match winning performance…
now looking at his 107 and 32 no. of matches in both ODIs and tests, his performance seems to be just 0.94% and 3.2% respectively…so, would u call this guy a match winner???
We all know how often he delivers to what he is actually capable of. Using sheer pace and killing oneself for it is not professionalism. He has hurt himself more than the batsmen. Its a fact that injuries are part of this art, but this is insane that he drops out of every other series, because he is not 100% fit.
I agree that he is not a match winner bowler from the beginning. Atleast a match winner should show the performance every 3rd game if not every game. Him getting just one or two wickets and conceding 50+ runs is not match wininig sorry.
ok captain, the second one is not valid…if a team batting first scores 275 runs, and then wasim and waqar destroys the top order, and then this guy comes in and claims 5 wickets is no big deal…match winning performance is when u r defending a small target and then u rip apart the opponents batting…like a match in 99-2000 when pakistan drew a match with SL in Sharjah…Pak all out for 196, and SL cruising along to victory (i suppose they lost their 2nd wicket at 157 in 37th over), and then azhar mehmood and razzaq squeezed the opportunity and struck right in the heart of SL’s batting line-up…
anyways, lets say that we have 3 ODIs now in total…so that makes him 2.8% match winner in ODIs…
yeah smooth_guy, i totally agree with u....i have been saying the same for last few month, but nobody agreed...and now when i am asking for references, nobody has dared to show his/her face (excet the courageous Captain1) in this thread...
btw, dont u find it ironic....105 views and only one reply in favor of this show-off good-for-nothing guy...
and one more thing...i saw the Pak vs. SA match (the one that i quoted), and u wont believe, he only bowled 4.5 overs, coz he got injured...heres the reference..
24.1 Shoaib Akhtar to Gibbs, one run, flicked away on the on side
24.2 Shoaib Akhtar to Hayward, no run, into the pads of Hayward outside the leg stump
Shoaib not fully fit and opting to go again
Very bad decision to bowl after such a muscle pull
24.3 Abdur Razzaq to Hayward, no run, hayward gives a wild swing and
misses
24.4 Abdur Razzaq to Hayward, one run, pushes it wide of point awkwardly
24.5 Abdur Razzaq to Gibbs, one run, Gibbs keeping his cool and pushing
it to long off
24.6 Abdur Razzaq to Hayward, no run, full toss, Hayward wants to blast
it, mistimes and hits it to mid off
Well everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. There was/is/will never be a concrete agreement on it. I will post the link here once i find it and you can go through that thread.
^^ I think Knight , your qualm is of “fame” & " Appreciation",
Ok then don’t give it to him..I agree with you. The guy has a bad attitude and a flabber mouth. So now what. He is a main strike bowler when Pakistan had no other choices available after Zahid’s injury.
Shoaib only seized the available berth, and rode it well for some distance. He had some good spells to catch International media’s attention..which apparantly went through his head. But this is tolerated in that part of the world as glamour and side shows,a bit of a raz-ma-taz…
Mark my words;
This guy and few other teams mates of Pakistan side, the DAY they decide and to get hold of a winning touch,attitude,Body posture would be the day when all the critics would shut-up and turn the tables to bring Pakistan back onto the map of cricket.
They seems to have the ability but not the finishing touch. Education and mental approach of a rocket scientist is needed. Aqib / Haroon / Miandad have wasted the resources and the coaching time of Pakistan cricket team..jahil say jahil kiya seekhay ga,yeh to IMRAN he tha jis nay team ko combine rakha,
knight, smoothguy, I agree with you both that Shoaib Akhtar has not delivered as much as the talent he has and he is famous more than he has delivered. I only wanted to show a few matches where he somewhat played a role of 'match winner'.
armughal, i think u have some eye-sight weakness problems....did u read...i mentioned that instead of just bragging abt it, lets post some actual references from the matches...and does bowling out dravid and tendulkar means that we can win the match...gone r those days when indian team only relied on tendu....now each of their 11 players is a tendu in itself...so stick to the topic, mate...
saby, u r right....everyone is entitles to his/her own opinion....but that opinion needs to be based on somehting...i will wait for ur references...
raindance, i think i get it what u r saying...u r saying that he is "andhon mein kaana raja"....since we dont have any other good bowler, so that makes him the best...is this what u r saying....and i wasnt saying that he is not a good bowler (actually he isn't, coz he isnt consistent in anything)...all i was babbling abt was that is he a match winner, like many ppl on GS put it...
ok those of u who read the list, i am taking it out....
there r many who wud argue that bradman wasnt a match-winner or that miandad hasnt really done anything specail apart from that one SIX....
or that saleem malik's 70 something runs against india was the only achievement....
what can u do about these except feel pity for them and their narrow thinking....
so, cheer up and keep thinking what u wud wish about shoaib....
but just to torture u, he will remain in the team until the day his shoulder completely breaks up and he can bowl no more....
otherwise, i dont think pcb can afford missing shoaib out on any cost cuz they know the value he gives to the team....
what makes u think that miandad is only famous for his six or malik for his 70 odd runs against india...u need to get ur cricket right...
and armughal, being a mughal brother, i thought, u would come up with some sensible replies, but u disappointed me....
anyways, i am not against this guy...all i am saying is that if we think that his presence is necessary in the team, because we have no alternative, then we r in for a huge mistake...this way we can never improve ourselves...and the Team Pakistan will keep on declining...
and one more thing...why cant u just stick to the topic...i have asked for references...and u give me is ur personal views (based on ur stupid intuition)...if u want to express ur emotions for this guy or debate whether or not he is a good player, start a new thread and i will happily respond to u over there...here, lets simply talk abt references of the matches that he has won for his team...
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by armughal: *
ok those of u who read the list, i am taking it out....
there r many who wud argue that bradman wasnt a match-winner or that miandad hasnt really done anything specail apart from that one SIX....
or that saleem malik's 70 something runs against india was the only achievement....
what can u do about these except feel pity for them and their narrow thinking....
so, cheer up and keep thinking what u wud wish about shoaib....
but just to torture u, he will remain in the team until the day his shoulder completely breaks up and he can bowl no more....
otherwise, i dont think pcb can afford missing shoaib out on any cost cuz they know the value he gives to the team....
[/QUOTE]
