:( Unfortunately Sami and Akhter are the last (visible) fast bowlers in Pak. Otherwise domestic league is flooded with medium pacers. (Barsat kay maindokon ki tarah) these medium pacers perform in a couple of domestic games and (with luck or most likely relation) make it to the team but most of them cannot afford to cross a few matches.
Talent is natural & academies can only groom that talent. No academy can produce fast bowlers but can help them with improve themselves.
Sami is having a very-long bad phase, and sometimes he looks to have forgotten his line, length and even the game. But resting a must-have fast bowler (who are very rare on this planet) in favor of spin and particularly a medium pacer is unwise and stupid.
who are they? ( :) )
When you feel stupid to compare them with Sami, then how can I go against my Captain?
McGrath, Lee scenario is very different. McGrath is a serious (& senior) compaigner than Bret Lee and most attacking options Aus have. This is much like Akhter-Wasim situation. Wasim (like McGrath) was an experienced medium pacer who had deadly accuracy, variety and selection, while Akhter was an emerging fast bowler with express pace. Wasim was never likely to make room for Akhter prior to his retirement.
^ similarly, not-deadly-not-accurate-no-variety-no-selection-Sami is easily replacable by a seamer/medium pacer who is more accurate and offers variety i.e. Umar Gul, Rana Naved, Shabbir Ahmed, we have been overly obsessed with thrill of speed, now that we (atleast fans) have learnt that mere speed doesn't earn you wicket we should demand exclusion of speedster who can't control his (bowling) direction.
I agree with you Captain. But Sami must be replaced with a better option. Like if Sami is replaced with Rana Naved or a bowlerof his caliber, then it makes sense. Even Gul must be preffered over Sami at this stage. Shabbir was another natural option, but not with an all-new youngster. If you can recall, there was a (short) time when Sami made headlines, after then he has almost always struggled.
^^ Fkhan2 bhai, you were right with your thoughts in this thread, but it was just a strange sort of H2H comparison.
I just looked at Stats and Sami's Stats as a bowler very close to Agarkar. Now I can see Agarkar in India team, since India doesn't have fast bowlers. But Sami in Pakistan team with those averages.... ??
Just to add Agarkar's batting averages are much better than Sami.
Yes you may be right here, but Sami helps an attack which (will most likely) begin with Akhter and Rana. Followed by Kaneria, Afridi and (likely) Malik bowling with Sami. These options can be used in a number of ways to formulate an all-spin, all-pace and Spin-pace combination for as many overs as (will be) there in an innings.
IMHO, Akhter+Kaneria combination is enough (and most-likely) to damage opponents in a test match (most of the times). Rana (and yes Afridi) are in good bowling form and they can deliver as well. Malik is a bit more than just a bowling option in Tests and he can come up with a wicket or so in an innings, and If Gul (or some better option) is added instead of Sami, then that will make Pak look a bit strong , but I guess Sami must be given (a complete last, i.e. at least 2 Tests) chance in this series. If he cannot deliver, then give him some rest and manipulate other options.
umer... what did Sami do to maintain his place for series against India in your opinion? If it were for me, Sami would have lost his place looooong time ago.
I am not opposing you here, Captain. But who will replace Sami???
Rana will start on his behalf, that is he will start alongwith Sami. Shabir can't play. So Sami can only be replaced with Gul, Rao or some fresh-blood medium-pacer.
Sami is a better bowler than Rao (I guess).
Gul can replace Sami at the moment as he looks like a better option and his inclusion can make our attack look solid.
As for fresh-blooded medium-pacers, they must not be preffered over Sami even if they have took 10-wicket haul against Quetta or Bahawalpur. Sami is a fast bowler and he deserves respect.
(Note on Fresh-Blood) Mohammed Asif can be a good option (as aired by PCB) but only in the future. IMHO he is even not the best in local competetions. Shahid Nazir and Niazi (of FSD) are much-better bowlers than him. Shahid Nazir and Asif (both from FSD) spent almost an year with national team but provided with no chance at all. Only players from Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Karachi can replace the likes of Sami, Asim Kamal and Akhter. It is just cause these players have some media or relative in PCB to support them. So PCB must put an end to this need-a-better-option dramma. Sami can bowl at 140+ and he can provide breakthroughs.
(almost the same time last years) We were made to believe that Akhter is not REQUIRED for a Pak side and Pak can win without him. But it is Akhter who seperates Pak from ROTW.
Umer shareef bhai AKA Professor wise guy, here is something specially for you by cricinfo on Mohammad Sami and his performance against India. By the way this is what you call HEAD TO HEAD COMPARISON.
"The key culprit for Pakistan was Mohammad Sami, who, apart from the odd testing spell, did precious little, taking 17 wickets at 54.60. His stats against the Indian top order indicates just how ineffective he was. Shoaib may be in top form, but he will still want better support from the rest of the cast. "
With the above figures, and averages like 100, 92.5, 66, 36, 35, 33 of six batsmen against sami, still do you think that Indians have struggled against Sami???
