Is Irfan Pathan India's answer to NZ's Chris Harris ?

When Irfan started, not that long ago he was a slimly build pacer able to consistently bowl over 130, even went past 140 quite a few times particularly with his yorkers.
Then he went on some bulking program and came back looking like Shoaib Akthar. He had lost a lot of his original consistent pace and appeared to tire very easily making one wonder how he "bulked up". His batting though improved as a long pinch hitter during the Greg Chappell era. After being on the outer he has now returned, a little more fitter but still appearing more laborious than when he made his debut. Mind you he is still only 23. Now he appears to have become a street smart bowler in the shorter version with his pace variationss and accent on containment. Very much like Chris Harris.
I cannot see how he can be given the new ball in the longer version given the Harris bowling "niche" he has settled into and his laboured approach. Even in the shorter version the management is talking him of him as a "batting all rounder" which is a big turn around from where he started.

Will be interesting to see where he ends up.

Has he developed the Chris Harris receeding hairline yet?

No Irfan still has a full crop. Genetically lucky that way I guess.

Well he's only 23, so plenty of time to work on it.

Pfft, Pathan can only dream of being like Chris Harris.

PearlJ wrote:Pfft, Pathan can only dream of being like Chris Harris.

Bollocks. I would take Pathan over Harris any day andy hour any minute.

And bulking procedure is not that bad. When people like DIlhara Fernado came in to the scene they were skinny, and picked up a lot of injuries. But now he and Malinga are both very fit and can easily go over 140k when they bend their backs.

Problem with Pathan is his role in ODI cricket is not clear. He is primarily a bowler who can bat unlike a batting all rounder like Maharoof. The asian management is well known to mess up the roles of players and you have come to see that Pathan plays as a batting all rounder and Maharoof paying as a bowling all rounder! These selectors are sick b*stards!

1. Don't know about others but I've never seen him touch 140 ever.

2. He was not that good in tests as a bowler anyways.

3. He has been playing in the team primarily as a bowler these last matches.

4. He has been doing a damn fine job.

doremi wrote:1. Don't know about others but I've never seen him touch 140 ever.

2. He was not that good in tests as a bowler anyways.

3. He has been playing in the team primarily as a bowler these last matches.

4. He has been doing a damn fine job.

1. I saw him touch 140 with the delivery he bowled Gichrist in Australia, remeber? Then he bowled over 140 twice or thrice in the T20 tournament just weeks back.

2. He was a good test bowler till 2004, ie, for one year precisely. After that he disintegrated.

3. True.

4. Till now it is a fine job, but he'll be found out very soon. The moment batsmen would get hold of his tactics, ie, him primarily bowling leg-breaks, he'll be clobbered. He needs to rediscover his swing ASAP.

He's been India's most consistent bowler in this series, and his full pace ball(Ie not the slower ball which he now bowls about 50% of the time in ODI's) is around the 135-140 kph mark. Chris Harris never bowled faster than 110 kph, so there isnt really a comparison.

ATM, Pathan isn't fit to lace Harris' boots.

If Irfan Pathan continues to slow down at this same rate I calculate by his 29th birthday he will be unable to propel the ball to the other side of the wicket before the match has been completed and by the time he is 33 he will be so slow that his average delivery will be being faced by a batsman some time in the 1960s.

Pathan's lack of pace is surely quite a hyped up thing on this forum.

Yesterday, Pathan clocked 143.5Ks, with his average speed for the match being 137-odd Ks.

In previous matches as well, his average speed was in the region of 135-138Ks. Of course, he is nowhere near to the likes of Lees, Shoaibs, Bonds etc, but he isn't that slow as well.

If Dhoni is standing upto him, its testament to his WK skills rather than anything else apart from stopping Aussie bats to charge down the wicket to him.

He never was lighting quick. He's bowling quicker now than he ever really has before. It's just that Dhoni is probably better than any other current 'keeper in the world at standing up to the quicks.

Pathan has been quick in this series, at times quicker than Zaheer Khan. The only worry I have for him is his lack of swing, or maybe he is deliberately cutting it as he is coming as first change bowler.

Yesterday he even bowled that magical indipper of his which hits the batsman plumb in front.

All in all I'm satisfied by his comeback at ODI level. Will he make it to the tests?? That is the big question!

He should be opening the bowling ahead of Sreesanth.

In the home series against Australia in 2004 he wasn't just touching 90mph he was positively groping it. The reverse swinging yorker at speed that got Langer in one of the tests was a highlight. He then got that sidestrain that kept him out for a while and coupled with the deterioration of his bowling technique meant he became slower than David Beckham trying to work out the square root of 4.

Why would he want to know two square roots?

Well, he was never that good in test level anyways, and there definitely are Zaheer, Sreesanth, Munaf and RPS in the line before him for a test berth.

Doremi,

Pathan gives a balance with none of the bowlers can. And if he gets his those abilities of 2004, and Pathan over everyone for me.

BTW, do you know that Pathan has the best SR among all the Indian bowlers who've taken 90+ wickets in TESTS??

Chandan wrote:Doremi,

Pathan gives a balance with none of the bowlers can. And if he gets his those abilities of 2004, and Pathan over everyone for me.

BTW, do you know that Pathan has the best SR among all the Indian bowlers who've taken 90+ wickets in TESTS??

What happens when you remove his performances against Zim and BAN?

And a lot of it was minnow bashing Chandan. I don't want bowlers in the XI because they can bat, I want them to play because they can bowl, and on current form, as well as overall talent with the ball, Irfan Pathan is way down the pecking order behind Munaf, Zaheer and Sreesanth. If we continue the non-sense 5 bowler scheme, maybe he gets in as the 5th bowler, but don't see how else.

he's looking good in the one dayers but india aren't going to play 3 left armers in the tests and he's still well behind khan and rp in the tests.

doremi wrote:And a lot of it was minnow bashing Chandan. I don't want bowlers in the XI because they can bat, I want them to play because they can bowl, and on current form, as well as overall talent with the ball, Irfan Pathan is way down the pecking order behind Munaf, Zaheer and Sreesanth. If we continue the non-sense 5 bowler scheme, maybe he gets in as the 5th bowler, but don't see how else.

We won't have a 5 bowler scheme in Australia at least!

Chandan wrote:Doremi,

Pathan gives a balance with none of the bowlers can. And if he gets his those abilities of 2004, and Pathan over everyone for me.

BTW, do you know that Pathan has the best SR among all the Indian bowlers who've taken 90+ wickets in TESTS??

average of 45.21 and s/r of 82.8 without ban and zim would suggest otherwise. pathan is good in odis with the white ball, quite useless after the first 10 overs in tests with the red ball. we have much better test bowling prospects, even agarkar has better chances on good test wickets

Pathan was certainly over-hyped a bit when he first came onto the scene, but now I think he's being extremely under-hyped if some are saying he's a worse bowler than Agarkar.

He's got a lot of talent, and im pretty sure he'll be back at test level. Like Munaf, he is having to recover from the idiocy that plagued Greg Chappells stint as coach. Chappell basically wanted to turn Pathan into a batting all rounder, and Munaf into a 125kph line and length trundler.