Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

How long can Team India carry brainless bowlers like Ishant Sharma .... He is beating even Ajit Agarkar in consistently bowling 3 short and wide balls every over ..... The batting cannot be shoring up the team every time ....

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Are there better alternatives?

Unadkat, Mohit, Zaheer, Praveen, Mishra, Ojha, Shami, Harbhajan, Munaf and Kaul could all do a better job.

Are there better alternatives?

England's_No7 wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Are there better alternatives?

Unadkat, Mohit, Zaheer, Praveen, Mishra, Ojha, Shami, Harbhajan, Munaf and Kaul could all do a better job.

To start with i would look to zaheer and Umesh Yadav .... atleast they have a bit of brains....

A few of those are spinners (of course) and a few Indian seamers are usually injured.

for a moment, I thought this was a thread about Lennon songs

Ishant Sharma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head

BestOfCricFans wrote:

England's_No7 wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Are there better alternatives?

Unadkat, Mohit, Zaheer, Praveen, Mishra, Ojha, Shami, Harbhajan, Munaf and Kaul could all do a better job.

To start with i would look to zaheer and Umesh Yadav .... atleast they have a bit of brains....

Have I woken up back in 2008? Harbi? Seriously, has never been the same player he was at his peak for about 6-7 years, and over the last few years barring his second innings destruction of SA in the last away series India played there(where the pitch was offering vicious bounce and spin), he has been far away from a test class bowler for at least 4 years. He has certainly done nothing to justify continued selection.

Same goes for Zaheer.... 2012 was an utter pants year for him, he has lost his pace and ability to swing the ball both ways, and without either he is just a sub par trundler... if he represents India again I would be very shocked.

Yadav also has no brains.... in fact his lack of guile is one of the few things that is keeping him back. He targets the stumps all day long, he never builds dismissals, asking the batsman to make routine mistakes.... it als usually means that he strays onto pads alot and his economy rate is not good enough at this level. A player who can swing the ball both ways and has that extra half yard of pace that most Indian seamers would kill for has to start to learn to use his qualities better.... he also has to get fitter, because he seems to carry too much weight, doesnt seem to be able to maintain quality through long spells, and keeps getting injured.

Mishra was probably the worst pick India have made in recent memory, Munaf was blunt as hell, Mohit has hardly played much 4 day cricket and is clearly a T20 specialist, Unadkat has a FC average that is at least 10, if not 15, worse off than others who have came out the same domestic scene... and worryingly they have all struggled, so what do they expect from him(his debut made him look like a trundler of the highest order)....

As for Shami and Kaul, not a chance either of them are test cricketers.... in fact, Kaul has been pretty poor for India A recently( seemingly completely outbowled by Pandey, and even the part timers like Rohit Sharma and Raina took more wickets).... bowling at that pace in a test match you would get absolutely killed... pretty sure Unadkat also got shelled in the A tour, but might be wrong.

Clearly the two Kumars are the future, especially Praveen who has looked the most promising test pace bowler India have capped since the retirement of Srinath.... sadly he can never get fit either.

His ODI figures are terrible, but Yadav looked very handy in the Ahmedabad Test against England. Clearly got potential, though he's past the age for potential.

Praveen doesn't seem to impress the selectors much. When fit. Don't know why.

Add B Kumar, and Ishant maybe isn't in the side.

I wonder how much SP has watched of any of these seamers in FC cricket to pass a definitive judgement on each and every one of them.
Anyways, I'm not saying there are Mcgraths coming through but enough to keep a 10th rate bowler like Ishant out of the side.

shankycricket wrote:I wonder how much SP has watched of any of these seamers in FC cricket to pass a definitive judgement on each and every one of them.
Anyways, I'm not saying there are Mcgraths coming through but enough to keep a 10th rate bowler like Ishant out of the side.

All have played either A, IPL or test cricket so I have seen them all....

His ODI figures are terrible, but Yadav looked very handy in the Ahmedabad Test against England. Clearly got potential, though he's past the age for potential.

He will get a long run in the team if he can get fitter, just because he has pace and swing that most others dont in India. But he needs serious work, he is very raw.... Australia's away tour showed that against a batting line up that even then was pretty underwhelming.

India A FC matches aren't televised even in India, so I'm not sure how you've seen them in the UK. And I think you're smarter than to judge Test prospects based on IPL.

Maybe some Indian seamers need to go abroad and learn to bowl in other conditions ?

Don't see many playing county cricket, Harjibhan did last year and Ghambir did this year, I think Zaheer Khan had a stint a few years ago too

SaintPowelly wrote:Maybe some Indian seamers need to go abroad and learn to bowl in other conditions ?

Don't see many playing county cricket, Harjibhan did last year and Ghambir did this year, I think Zaheer Khan had a stint a few years ago too

Yep, Zaheer became a completely different bowler after his county stint. Would love to see the likes of Yadav play county cricket. Won't happen though.

I like the Big Chill. Stick with him.

from_the_stands wrote:I like the Big Chill. Stick with him.

Every opposition LOVES the Big Chill...

On a serious note, can anyone think of a worse fast bowler to play for one of the top sides over 50 Tests and 60 ODIs?