One interesting thing I noted was that in the Indian team, almost all their batsmen do double-duty as something else as well. Dravid keeps the wicket, which opens up a whole slot in the team. Ganguly, Tendu and Sehwag… all roll their arms. They may not be the best bowlers of their time, and can get hit here and there, but the deceptive speed and unpredictability gives them a little edge. Plus, bastmen wanna score maximum of these irregular bowlers and many times give away their wickets to catches on the boundry. And more importantly, it gives options to the captain… so that when a regular bowler is getting hit, an irregular bowler can be brought in to break the tempo. Ganguly had that option and Inzi didn’t had it.
Pak’s team is loaded with some players who are only batsmen… Inzi, Younas, Youhanna to name a few. It seems Yasir and Imran can bowl, though our captain doesn’t really cherish the possibility.
With international cricket getting so professional, I think our coaches should encourage batsmen to roll their arms during practice sessions to prep them up for a few overs in the main matches, just to break the tempo and hopefully getting a few crucial wickets.
I don't think that Ganguly is thrilled that he has turn to Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvraj etc. I'm sure that if Zaheer and Balaji had done the job for him (today for example), he would not have turned to his batsmen. While I think in general, it is important to play a sixth bowling option, using too many of the same type of bowlers (part-time spinners) can put you under the hammer as well.
One team that was truly exceptional in this way was the Saffie team of the mid to late 90s. Their batting always went down to number 10 if not 11 as well. And they could call up as many as 8 bowling options in one match. Plus, they fielded like tigers. That was one remarkable team. one of the best teams, I saw.
at some stage after the WC 99 i think the paki batsmen were given a chance to bowl some overs....
imran nazir, younis khan, taufeeq, imran farhat, even inzni and yoyo had bowling chances....
but ever since younis khan was hit for 24 (or was it 26) runs in a test against NZ by mcmillan, the part-timers were called off....
I thought that was a drinks break, when he ran away. Anyway, its so not fair on keepers. Any other fielder can go out and in, anytime they want… the poor keeper is stuck all the time behind the wickets… aakhir uss ko bhi tau shoo shoo aa sakti hai - ke nahi?
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*Originally posted by armughal: *
but ever since younis khan was hit for 24 (or was it 26) runs in a test against NZ by mcmillan, the part-timers were called off....
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weird... yesterday Yuvraj bowled so well... though he is just a part-timer.. he made it so hard for Pak batsmen to hit him. It involves practicing a lot in the nets, before a part time bowler is thrown into the mix. Probably our batsmen don't want to do the extra work.
If Afridi clicks as a batsmen, he will solve some problems.
thats why having batsmen like ijaz ahmed or amir suhail is useful....
wasti used to bowl decent medium-pacers....
shadab kabir can bowl too....
there was excitement over qaisar abbas, a left-handed middle order bat, who bowls useful slow left armers, but i dont know why he isnt given a chance after that england tour....
although he holds a better than excellent record in his england club cricket....
maybe we shud look at other players with such abilities....
bilal asad, farhan adil etc r good batsmen and i think they shud be given a chance as they bowl well too....
