PESHAWAR: Pace bowler Umar Gul, who is going to celebrate his 20th birthday on April 14, said that he would be feeling well after one-year absence from top cricket competitions.
Umar, who is considered as a budding paceman in his short playing career, stated this in an excusive interview with APP here on Monday.
Umar, who achieved his prime last year when India toured Pakistan, said with prayers of the people of Pakistan and good wishes of the fans, he will again emerge as a fine bowler.
Umar was the match winner in Pakistan’s only victory in the Indo-Pak Test series last year at Lahore, in which he took 5 for 31 in the first innings to enable Pakistan to record an emphatic nine-wicket victory. While the fast bowlers who were being puffed up for their sheer pace could not deliver, Umar set up a win with his accurate swing bowling, which heralded a bright future for him.
A fast bowler of growing repute, Umar is the latest in Pakistan’s assembly line of pace-bowling talent. He had played just nine first-class matches when he had been called up for national duty in the wake of Pakistan’s poor show in the 2003 World Cup. On the flat tracks of Sharjah, Umar performed admirably by maintaining excellent discipline and getting appreciable out-swing with the new ball.
“I did not spend my energy in other ways rather than keeping my concentration on the ball against any batsmen,” Umar said. Despite the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, Umar, did all with great spirit by proving himself as the soul runner.
i have no idea y that guy is getting that much attention?
he just delivered in one match he got no speed no pace no quality he is just an ordinary bowler who deliverd only against bangladesh
^ only against BD? read the article above, perhaps you forgot his performance against India. We already have seen lots of "pace" what it can do and we also have seen what bowling with "discipline" can do paired with some swing!
yaaah i have seen him against india and i really admire his that performance but dont u think he being over rated by just one performance i still dont think he is really a same act as SAMI and SHABBIR
Gul is a youngster and its the talen which is being admired and not his 2 performances. Though Sami bowled much better in previous ODI, his bowling shines as occasionally as Afridi used to shine with bat in past. I don't rate Sami much higher, he is average at best.
Gul and Shabbir are not "proven" performers, they have shown glimpses of that!
wel i wasnt talking about perfomances either but GUL can perform as surprise only once batsman knows his strength he is out he really dont have much of quality in his bowling that can keep u going.
sorry bro thats just an opinion and i do think he is being over rated
Calling that erratic outswingers not much quality Perhaps you know cricket more than anyone on this forum. With same pace and swing McGrath has been a killer for almost a decade now.
exactly pak need bowlers with good bowling line and length... if you dont take wickets but at the same time dont give any score as well, you still put pressure on the other team
hm… comparing umar to mcGrath hm.. that shows ur talent in cricket.
and talking about pace and swing RANA got better pace better swing then him but he still dont consider a regular attacker once shabbir, shoaib will make comeback all this lil pacer will dissappear like azhar mehmood, muhammad zahid have gone. i m not against umar or anything but i dont think overrating him will be a good thing he sure got a talent but let his talent work it a lil more and while we can use we already have like shabbir, sami, shoaib
Read my post again. I said using these two basics McGrath has been devastating. Its not a comparission. As Pathan, Balaji are making a good deal out of these things, same can be true for Umer. Its not like he is the best from the lot. But he does deserve a come back. And now since we have Rana, Shabbir, Sami, Rao and Akhtar , it will be a good contest between all these to earn a place in every other series. As we see happening in India, they can shuffle around the pacers at will, since they have a good backup in case of a out of form or injury case.
Its not over rating, its about having another intelligent pacer under the belt for some tough series to come, specially with ICCC 2006 in mind. The way Rana and Sami has put their efforts, is a big question for Akhtar and others. Its all about decipline and determination, even with very limited abilities. Umer is also very deciplined and will be an asset in years to come. Pakistan may not have lightning fast pacers, but some quality seamers with good decipline. Who knows from this lot some day we will have our own McGrath like or may be another Azhar Mehmood.
Perhaps you know cricket more than anyone on this forum. With same pace and swing McGrath has been a killer for almost a decade now.