Related Links : England in India 2008/09 | Irfan Pathan
I feel really bored to watch Irfan Pathan play for the country. In my honest opinion, he has to be sent back to the domestic cricket scene where he can work out on his bowling. He definitely has the promise of being a good all rounder at the international level but let’s face the reality, he is currently lacking the pace that is required to hurry up the batsmen in playing the false shots. More importantly, Irfan has lost the swing in his bowling which was his only plus point when he had made his debut in Australia in 2003/04.
Irfan Pathan has been clocking speeds of 125kmph and has really struggled to beat the batsmen genuinely. India has got to stick with wicket taking bowlers in all forms of the game and we do have plenty of them. Unfortunately as Irfan feels limited in his bowling, he keeps trying very hard to produce a wicket and in the process does spray the ball around both sides of the wicket and often drags it way too short. I think that he has to keep working on his basics at a lower level, especially the way he holds the ball, the release and other aspects if he wants to become atleast half of Kapil Dev.
Currently he is back in the Indian One Day team against England and the thing is that he might do well with the ball against them. But England is not a good one day team, the proper test for a bowler comes when the batsmen are attacking him fearlessly. England have been too defensive in their minds and any bowlers can excel against them, an example is Yuvraj Singh!! For the benefit of Indian Cricket and for Irfan Pathan himself, it is better to release him from the Indian squad and allow him to find enough time to regain the necessary standards in his bowling.
The lad actually wasn’t picked for the first three games and was busy playing for Baroda. He had done well for Baroda in I think a couple of Ranji games. If I am not mistaken, he did pick up a five-wicket haul as well. It is good for Irfan that he was the leader of the Baroda bowling attack which means that he was on the hunt for wickets all on his own for the team. There was an incident where he had hurled the ball dangerously back onto the striker Sanjay Bangar for which he was fined 100% of his match fees. Poor Irfan seems to be getting too frustrated I suppose with the lack of venom in his bowling. I hope Irfan realizes what all he needs to do to become a potent bowler at the international level. Even if that means a season or two out of national reckoning, let it be! He is still young and will get all his opportunities in the future. There is nothing to talk about his batting which is perfectly intact, everything is about his lackluster bowling. Irfan would have been the best bowler in women’s cricket with his speeds but definitely not an international class bowler in men’s cricket at the moment.