Pathan - Allrounder ?
NO! Not Yet! All those journos, ex-cricketers, commenters, whom-so-ever, puhleeease nip the debate right there in the bud! Sorry, but we don't want to lose our lead bowler for want of an elusive allrounder.
For past one week, almost everybody has been crying hoarse over the arrival of next Kapil Dev. Already, comparisons with Wasim Akram have went over board. Need a collective will to stop that, and we have a valid reason to do that. Remember what happened 3 years back with Sehwag Vs Sachin comparisons. Some cheeky guys, went even further and adjudged Sehwag was better than Tendulkar.
Now Sehwag is a pale shadow of himself. It has been more than an year and half, since Sehwag lost his one-day form. In last 47 matches, Sehwag has scored just One century, and that too way back in November 2003. The one before that had come in Jan 2003. Luckily, he looks in nice touch in test matches.
The problem in our country is that just a few good performances old new comer is started getting compared with seasoned players who have proved themselves over a long period of time. No doubt Irfan Pathan has a nice batting technique, but right now his batting average in Tests is just 27.33, while in LOI is 17.41. He has a lot to prove, as of yet.
If we keep on forcibily making an allrounder out of him, we will load him with undue burden. The fallacies of top batting order, shouldn't be indirectly diverted to him. Those 'Gods on Off side', 'Very Very Specials' and others need to perform with bat, not him. Yes, he may hang around, chip in, or bang it once in a while. But primarily let him bowl(wonderfully), the way he has been doing till now.
He must not bat for others, or he may not be able bowl as himself. Remember Ajit Agarkar?
For past one week, almost everybody has been crying hoarse over the arrival of next Kapil Dev. Already, comparisons with Wasim Akram have went over board. Need a collective will to stop that, and we have a valid reason to do that. Remember what happened 3 years back with Sehwag Vs Sachin comparisons. Some cheeky guys, went even further and adjudged Sehwag was better than Tendulkar.
Now Sehwag is a pale shadow of himself. It has been more than an year and half, since Sehwag lost his one-day form. In last 47 matches, Sehwag has scored just One century, and that too way back in November 2003. The one before that had come in Jan 2003. Luckily, he looks in nice touch in test matches.
The problem in our country is that just a few good performances old new comer is started getting compared with seasoned players who have proved themselves over a long period of time. No doubt Irfan Pathan has a nice batting technique, but right now his batting average in Tests is just 27.33, while in LOI is 17.41. He has a lot to prove, as of yet.
If we keep on forcibily making an allrounder out of him, we will load him with undue burden. The fallacies of top batting order, shouldn't be indirectly diverted to him. Those 'Gods on Off side', 'Very Very Specials' and others need to perform with bat, not him. Yes, he may hang around, chip in, or bang it once in a while. But primarily let him bowl(wonderfully), the way he has been doing till now.
He must not bat for others, or he may not be able bowl as himself. Remember Ajit Agarkar?
posted by Unknown at 3:23 PM
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