I have seen Munaf Patel bowl in the series against England. He looks impressive and can reverse swing the bowl. I reckon he is better than our own Mohammed Asif. He is certainly quicker than him.
What do you guys think?
Apart from Shoaib Akhtar & the Mohammed Sami - he is quicker than all other Pakistani bowlers. It won’t be long before he gets quicker than Sami also. See the link below.
By the way I am NOT Indian.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
Let's hope that this thread generates resourceful discussion from both sides of the fence.
Yes, you are right in your analysis. He certainly is below-par in terms of speed with Akhtar, but round-about equal compared to Sami, give or take a few. As far as line and length is concerned, as I have mentioned this before as well, I am extremely glad that India has now found a genuine pacer who has the ability to literally run through batting line-ups, coupled with decent amount of help from his other bowling partners (Pathan/VRV).
Regarding the million-dollar question as to whether or not Munaf is actually better than Asif, I would lean towards negative. Since this is his very first match in the International scene, and even though he is looking in excellent shape and form and certainly a long-term prospect for India (on paper), one needs to understand that it is not just the pace that automatically heaves your name in the team selection ballot (Otherwise, Sami would have won a dozen Grammy's by now), but it is the control in line and length, and maintaining it throughout. Yes, Munaf did display some wonderful spells of bowling, but once again, it is too early to pass a judgment.
Patel is going the exact same route as Zaheer and Pathan did, as the latter two had the factor of speed on their side when they first made their respective debuts as well, but as they graduated and time passed, the speed gun became slower and slower, eventually deteriorating and ultimately diminishing their pace altogether. Mentioned earlier, it is not just the pace, but the inclusion of it will be a difference in winning by one run when it is needed the most in final stages.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
Give him some more time.. one game doesn't prove anything.. lets wait till the end of Ind vs Eng series to compare him with others..
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
you cant judge a bowler by there 1st match. m.asif was crap in his debut everyone thought of him as a joke and he didnt get a chance for a long period of time but when he did he rocked each the country he played for. We dont know yet if patel is better than m.asif we will soon find out
what is his speed on average?
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
^ M Asif was a joke on debut? I disagree, he was good but unluckily there aren't wickets to his name to prove it. When PCB named their squad to India right after Australia where both Asif and Khalil played their first games I was surprised to see Khalil's name as he was the mediocre bowler and I believed that Asif should've gone instead.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
Like other guppies said its too early to compare M. Patel with M. Asif, both have similar style of bowling. Yes he has speed and Rana Naveed can easily generate more speed than him and even Yasir Arafat can do the same (speaking of speed).
M. Asif bowled against the one of the best batting line ups (Australia and India) and what we saw of him against India he has a very good line and length, and M. Patel bowled against england who were below par to their actual batting strength. I am not saying he is not good but certainly not better than M. Asif from what I’ve seen so far!
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
personally, i believe mohammad asif proved himself to be a solid bowler against india during the last series... and what i've seen of munaf patel, he seems promising... but then again, didn't mohammad sami also seem promising? regardless of that, munaf patel has been killing it this series- but as mentioned above, the england side is relatively weak.
hopefully he can prove himself in the future as a solid fast bowler. a lot of bowlers have a tendancy to make a strong run for a series and then just fall off the radar for good.
only time will tell.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
no I don't think he is better than Asif..Asif got wickets of dravid,tendulkar,laxman..the best in business.Englands' batting line up is not that good. He is fast ....bowls in the high 80s...has a good yorker and has good control.I am surprised that Indian selectors overlooked him for so long.He got into the side because one other bowler got injured.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
They have another new bowler in the side name singh or somthing.Manjrekar was saying he is the fastest in India..faster than Munaf.Lets see if they pick him for the last test.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
Can't compare, too early for both the bowlers..
Though Munaf will pick speed is sure, since he was suppose to generate 150+ speed when he was first heard about about some 2 years back...
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
average speed M.Patel : 135 kph
Fastest speed : 144 Kph
average speed of M.Asif: ????
fastest : broken the 156.4 KPH
although that was back in 2003 he has lost alot of speed by now
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
as someone mentioned somewhere else, even yasser arafat (who is labelled a medium pacer in our bowlers) can bowl faster than munaf patel....
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
Important thing is our "pacers" lack the capability of swinging the ball with accuracy, maintain LnL, variety etc.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
i think its too early to judge both these bowlers accurately
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
Mohammad Asif won us the Test series against India. Nobody can take that away from him.
Sincerely,
Captain Lota
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
^they are young let them mature.. Asif couldnt do anything afterwerds. By the end of the series he was easy picking for the indians.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
You saying Asif was picking in the ODI’s 
you may need to re-visit the games and see the scorecard and his bowling figures and plz apnay charoon chasmay laga kar dekhna, he made 10dulkar 
on his bowling 
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
I only saw the last match.. and almost all batsmen could pick him easily..
And he lost some pace as well.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
I think Munaf Patel has raw(Lagaan type) talent which requires nurturing and refinement through guidance. Here is where Greg Chappel's role would be crucial.
That said, he appears to be a complete dud with the bat....which is not good news since tail-enders today are often expected to contribute (esp in close One-Day matches). One reason I hated Nehra.
Re: Munaf Patel - Better than Mohammed Asif
^ lol nobody can beat Kaneria's batting
Sincerely,
Captain Lota