How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Kindly stop mentioning this SA series. I can easily bring your argument that 'SA batters' gave him easy wickets and they learned their lessons and look at home series against SA. What rubbish performances innings after innings! Apart from that series, can you remind us of another noteworthy performance in recent memory?

He is a very bad version of Stuart McGill right now. Difference is that McGrill bowls at maximum one bad ball an over, while Kaneria bowls 2-3.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Keneria's strike rate should not be compared with spinners who retired. For them, their average went down after they were over the top of their careers. For Kaneria, this is supposed to be his peak time. He should have much better average.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Exactly Asif,
what have we doee to giants like Saqlain Mustaq??! We have wasted his talent, made him play country cricket (where he had some success to claim)and rotten on our Pakistani team bench for no real reason. Now we have a very average leg spinner hyped up by PCB and we keep providing him 10-20 chances a year. I see no justice here.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

there are many saby, you cannot take this many wickets in test just by dimissing lower order or bowling too many overs. this thread has gone in hundered different directions. from past six years to this test to lower order to strike rate. it seems that people are hell bent on blame rather reason.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Saleem bhai:

Wickets per test is an irrelevant stat. In Qadir's time, i.e. in the 70s and 80s the bowlers hardly ever got to bowl more than once in a test. There was no such thing as a min. of 90 overs that had to be bowled in a day and a team could easily get away with bowling 68-70 overs in a day!. Now because of this very rule and because of the way the Aussies have revolutionised test cricket, we see more and more results even in sub-continental tests.

To give you an example 10 of the last 14 tests since 1999 between India and Pakistan have produced results (5 all with 4 drawn). By contrast only 11 of the previous 44 tests between the two sides produced results (7-4 to PAK)

More relevant stats as far as bowlers are concerned are bowling average and SR (wickets per 100 balls) and if you compare the two, Qadir has a slightly lower (only just) bowling average and a higher SR

QADIR: 67 Tests, 236 wkts, ave: 32.80, SR: 72.56, 5wI 15, 10wM 5

KANERIA: 51 Tests, 219 wkts, ave: 33.62, SR: 67.75, 5wI 12, **10wM **2

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

On the surface Kaneria's record seems quite respectable but stats don't reveal the whole story. The fact of the matter is no one rates Kaneria very highly among his peers. Abdul Qadir on the other hand is regarded by many as one of the all-time greats. Ask Warne (Qadir was Warne's inspiration and Warne actively sought his advice during his initial years), Ian Botham (who described him as a 'nightmare' on turning pitches), Imran Khan, Viv Richards and Richie Benaud (who short-listed Qadir and Warne in his World XI but picked Warne quite rightly in the end). Imran Khan was the only Pakistani cricketer who made Benaud's all-time World XI.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Qadir had the opportunity to play with a consistent bowling line up. Same goes with Murli and Warne. It is misfortune of Kaneria that he never had the opportunity so far to play with a consistent test bowling attack. Sometimes Shoaib is in, Asif is out, Gul is in others are out. It takes a combination to have a lethal attack. Look up at any game of Qadir you will see in the bowling line names like Imran, Wasim, Qasim, Aqib and Sarfraz. Imran was in there in all of them. Saqlain and Mushtaq had Waqar and Wasim. Same is the case with Warne and Murli. Moreover they became even better under great leadership, from Imran to Steve Waugh, these players had a great captain under them. How many times Kaneria, the only consistent bowler of Pakistan in recent memory, had the same opportunity? Still he has this many wickets.

It is easy to pick apart any bowler, but try to understand the perspective.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria “develop” into a world class bowler

You may find this interesting too.
I read this on Ask Steven on Cricinfo.

Question: “Who has conceded the most bowling centuries in Tests?”
Steve’s answer is, "The leader here is not unexpected - it’s Muttiah Muralitharan, who has conceded 100 or more runs in an innings on 51 occasions on his way to the brink of the Test wicket-taking record. In second place is India’s Anil Kumble (46, before the Kolkata Test), and then Shane Warne with 40, quite a way clear of the next man (and first non-spinner), Ian Botham (31). Danish Kaneria, who has played fewer than half the Tests of the others mentioned here, had gone for 30 bowling centuries before the Kolkata Test. "

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Asif Bhai, bura na manna. Above figures you quoted where you showed that AQ SR= 32.80 is BS. Unfortunately you quoted wrong figure and based all your arguments on that wrong figure.

You quoted Qadir SR = 32.80 and DK SR = 67.75 than making that as basis argued that Qadir is much better bowler. In your argument you talked about Qadir use to bowl less Over and that is why he got only 236 wks in 67 tests … blah and blah … but fact is that, if Kaneria had bowled as many Over as Qadir, he would have taken around 260 wks instead of 236 what Qadir took. True SR of Qadir is not 32.8 but it is 72.6 (12 overs) and SR of DK is 67.75 (11 overs) than you can see your argument becomes upside down. I believe that in your desire to show AQ better bowler than DK, you quoted Qadir average of 32.81 as his SR too.

You should also remember that DK most wickets are of top and middle order batsmen, not like A Qadir who use to come at the end to mop off tail end players.

Anyhow, here are real and true figures of both bowlers (I am quoting them even though my purpose was never to compare them, but had to do after some here started comparing them both).

A Qadir: **
Overall (13 years)
**Overs: 2810.2 Overs

Runs: 7742
Wickets: 236 wkts
5 Wkts per inning: 15 times
Best bowling figure: 9/56
Average runs per wicket: 32.81
Strike Rate: 72.57 balls per wkt (12 overs to take one wkt)
Economy Rate: 2.71

D Kaneria:
Overall (8 years)
Overs: 2473 Overs
Runs: 7362
Wickets: 219 wkts
5 Wkts per inning: 12 times
Best bowling figure: 7/77
Average runs per wicket: 33.62
Strike Rate: 67.75 balls per wkt (11 overs to take one wkt)
Economy Rate: 2.98

A Q: Played 13 years:
Pakistan best wicket Keepers (Rashid Latif and Moin Khan) were playing with ‘AQ’ and these wicketkeepers seldom use to drop catches or miss stumping chances:
Strike rate: ‘AQ’ on average use to take one wicket every 72.57 balls. Or use to need 12 over to take one wicket.

D K: Played 8 years:
Pakistan worst wicket Keeper (Kamran Akmal) plays with ‘DK’ who is expert in dropping catches and missing stumping chances.
Strike rate: ‘DK’ on average takes one wicket every 67.75 balls. Or need 11 over to take one wicket.

[Better SR of DK shows that DK is more attacking bowler than AQ]

A Q: Best bowling figures per inning, 13 years:
‘AQ’ played 13 years and in 2 out of 13 years ‘AQ’ took 7 or more wickets in an inning ( that comes to 15.4 percent). 8 out of 13 years ‘AQ’ took more 5 or more wickets in an inning (that comes to 61.5 percent).

DK: Best bowling figures per inning, 13 years:
‘DK’ played 8 years and in 3 out of 8 years ‘DK’ took 7 or more wickets in an innings (that comes to 37.5 percent). 6 out of 8 years ‘DK’ took more 5 or more wickets in an innings (that comes to 75 percent). 'DK' is still playing in 8th year).

Quality of wickets:
*‘AQ’ quality of wickets: *
Of ‘AQ’ 236 wickets, he took:
Top and middle order batsmen: 158 wickets or 66.9 percent.
Tail ender batsmen: 78 wickets or 33.1

*‘DK’ quality of wickets: *
Of ‘DK’ 219 wickets, he took:
Top and middle order batsmen: 155 wickets or 70.8 percent.
Tail ender batsmen: 64 wickets or 29.2 percent

Other figures of both bowlers are very close to each other (almost similar):
Average (runs given per wicket) and Economy rate (runs given per Over):

AQ:
Average: 32.8
Economy rate: 2.7

DK
Average: 33.6
Economy rate: 2.9

**Significance of good strike rate in test cricket: **Normally, test cricket result get decided in last inning. A team bowling in 4th inning may have given good total for opponent to chase or play out the game for draw. In this situation, team tries to take opponent’s wickets quickly without worrying about runs. In such situation, an attacking bowler with good strike rate is most useful as run becomes irrelevant.

**Example: **If team gave good target to opponent team in 4th inning and want to win, they would like bowler with good strike rate and not would not care about their average or economy rate. If team want to draw than they would like bowler with good economy rate. In earlier innings (first 3), where team wants to restrict opponent’s team total, team would like bowler good average. Overall, players provide compromise between all three, still to win games, best bowler is one that has good strike rate with reasonable average and economy rate.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria “develop” into a world class bowler

^ That was a typo error. It was n’t intentional. AQ’s SR is 72.56. If you read the last few lines I actually mention that AQ’s bowling average was slightly better but SR worse (higher means worse and vice versa) than DK. Still I would rather have Qadir than Kaneria in my side because the former was a match winner and had that star quality. I don’t think Kaneria has taken 10w in a match outside sub-continent. AQ took 10w at The Oval in 1987.

Qadir’s memorable performances

- 9/56 in an innings v England in 1987
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63470.html](http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63470.html)

- 30 wkts at 14.57 in the 3-Test series against England in 1987
Abdul Qadir - Progressive Bowling - Test Cricket](Abdul Qadir - Progressive Bowling - Test Cricket)

- 6/16 v West Indies in 1986
Scorecard - 1986-1987 Pakistan v West Indies - 1st Test - 24/10/1986 - Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Lyallpur) - Test No. #1055](Scorecard - 1986-1987 Pakistan v West Indies - 1st Test - 24/10/1986 - Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Lyallpur) - Test No. #1055)

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

Question is ... How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler?

Answer is ... as long as it takes us to find a better replacement. And if your answer is Abdur Rehman, than we can keep this thread open for a long time. :) No offence to anyone, but I am not sure our domestic cricket is producing any amazing new leg/off spinner that will beat the pants of Mr Kaneria. Then again, I may be wrong, as I do not keep tabs on Pak domestic cricket except for the odd bits of info popping up from here or there.

Is there a better replacement for Kaneria who is ready to take it to the next level?

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

the mere fact that we're now debating the relative merits of kaneria and qadir illustrates my point. it isnt as if we have Abdul Qadir in the selection pool, so GA even if u'd rather have him, you really cant. However, they're comparable in statistics (saying he takes more wickets or he gives more runs with such small differences in averaged numbers is really mining data at a level it shouldnt be mined). That should be enough to atleast show that some of the hyperbole against him is unjustified; he is a very good bowler, definitely world class, and the comparison to sami is rubbish. you could never have a numbers based discussion of sami vs akram for example, no matter how much someone liked sami.

yes he has bad form and reasonable approaches to his bad form may include dropping him, so long as we acknowledge that he is one of the better spinners produced by Pakistan. the numbers just cant not reflect overall class, when they're over such a large number of tests.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

^ I am not saying that Kaneria is not a good bowler but he has clearly been underperforming for the best part of two years now and it's about time we gave him a short break and tried someone-else

In 20 test matches since 2006, Kaneria has taken 76 wickets at 39.37; SR 80.21 (a wicket every 80 balls)!

You be the judge..

As for other leg-spinners in the selection pool, we don't know how good Amjad and the rest are as we have not given them a chance to prove themselves.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

GA look at the thread topic! and the initiators post, disputing statistics over an extended period of time as not indicative of class.

also, you never addressed the similarly atrocious (actually significantly worse) statistics of Kumble, at a similar phase in his career. you previously suggested (as I understand) once this happens to a bowler, hes done, such as what happened to Saqlain. My point is that mentality is the reason why Saqlain, one of the best bowlers (spin or otherwise) we ever produced, had an awful end to his career.

good bowlers are good bowlers, they're not magicians who have a secret that gets found out and then they're done. Wasim had a specific set of balls at his disposal. one could easily study him and figure out the variations possible. even moreso for mcgrath and kumble. doesnt mean that once Kumble for example has a bad patch (and like kaneria he did) we start threads like these.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

^ I am actually not in favour of dumping Kaneria or Akmal (he has shown that he is good enough to keep his place in the team purely as a batsman) for good but we need to give other promising cricketers a chance as well i.e. we need to have a rotation policy for 1 or 2 underperforming 'stars'. That will have two positive effects - first prevent player burn out and second let some of these established players know that there is competition for places in the team and noone can take their place for granted.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

How about a spinner as "strike" bowler? Do we have any? Or do the spinners get a wicket as donation/gift? Any idea which spinner strikes in 1st 5-10 overs? Which spinner got wicket of top 5 batsmen more?

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

^ 70% of kaneria's wickets are against top/middle order batsmen. think the contention there is that he takes longer to get them out, although i havent really seen any basis for saying that. unless he has an incredible average and strike rate in that 30% against tail enders, the numbers suggest that his figures against the top order cant really be that bad (since 70 percent of his overall excellent numbers are coming from the top/middle order)

GA i too think having a second spinner on tour and resting kaneria after bad matches should be an option. i think he should remain an automatic selection for the squad, but not the playing 11.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

^ what about striking in 1st 5-10 overs? Thats what I think people have complained about more... he takes lot more overs to "get settled/rhythm" then begins to take wickets, by that time fans have already made up their mind about him!?

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria "develop" into a world class bowler

^ i guess its like the complaint people have against yousuf of starting off slowly even though his strike rate at the end of an innings is pretty good. dunno if thats a fair criticism, doesnt seem like it should be a big deal to me anyway. if he bowls a lot of overs, but still has a good strike rate, logically hes taking a lot of wickets when alls said and done, even if top/middle order fall in a sudden burst at the fag end of his spell (as it would have to be, to meet the strike rate numbers).

i personally doubt thats the case.

Re: How much longer do we let Kaneria “develop” into a world class bowler

Asif Bhai: Zara soncho. Do not let prejudice amd pesonal bias blind you :slight_smile:

Do you know that at present Danish Kaneria ranks 16th in the list of World bowlers (including fast and spin bowlers)? Do you know that at present, Danish is the second best ranked Pakistani bowler after Shoaib (who is ranked 9th).

LGICCRANKINGS.COM](LGICCRANKINGS.COM)

Kaneria recent away figures (actually 2007 figure):
**3 test matches against SA (2007): **
Ovs: 179.1 … 395 runs … 15 wkts @26.33 runs per wkt

The above match figures are against one of the best team in the world on their home ground. SA ranks 2nd best team behind Australia. Any spin bowler that can do that to SA in SA can not be written off and ‘Kaneria’ has done that not long ago but in 2007, and you want him to be dropped or to write him off? Why? Personal bias and prejudice, right?

**Since many are trying to compare DK with Abdul Qadir, without knowing facts and figures, lets compare them a bit. Do you know that Abdul Qadir did not gave ‘Even ONE AWAY FIGURES in 13 Years of his test bowling career close to DK above figures’? **

Best Abdul Qadir away figure is against SL when SL was young and inexperience team, that was in 1985-1986, and what was that figure? In 2 test matches Abdul Qadir took 5 wickets and that is Abdul Qadir best ever figure playing outside Pakistan. [If you know any of his figure better than this figure outside Pakistan, than let me know :)]

**2 test match against SL (1986): **
Ovs: 65.3 … 174 runs … 5 wkts … @ 34.8 runs per wkt

Here are ‘home and away’ figures of both bowlers (DK and AQ): One can easily see that A Qadir use to become less than ordinary bowler outsider Pakistan, whereas DK is reasonable.

A Qadir:
Home figures:
Ors: 1700 … Runs: 4506 … Wkts: 168 … BF: 9/56 … Ave: 26.82 … SR: 62.29 … ER: 2.58

Away figures (outside Pakistan, Qadir use to become below average bowler):
Ors: 1110 … Runs: 3236 … Wkts: 68 … BF: 7/96 … Ave: 47.59 … SR: 97.97 … ER: 2.91

D Kaneria:
Home figures:
Ors: 1128 … Runs: 3182 … Wkts: 104 … BF: 7/118 … Ave: 30.60 … SR: 65.12 … ER: 2.82

Away figures (home and away figures are comparable):
Ors: 1244 … Runs: 4180 … Wkts: 115 … BF: 7/77 … Ave: 36.35 … SR: 70.14 … ER: 3.11

Another thing I have to say is that to me, Saqlain Mushtaq was probably the best spin bowler Pakistan has produced and he should have been playing for the country much longer. Unfortunately many Pakistanis do not care about merit and it is the prejudice and bias of such people that is harming Pakistan in all walks of life. If we stop being prejudice and bias, recognize people for their work rather on who they are, support and appreciate merit, than we as Nation would overcome most problems, and would excel in many fields positively.