The final round of IPL league matches is almost over, the tournament was a major success, cricket fans all over the world had plenty to cheer about their respective heroes but not so much for Pakistani Cricket fans.
10 Pakistani players featured in the tournament, but with the exception of Sohail Tanvir no body was able to perform consistently, ironically he is the most inexperienced of all the Pakistani players but while his senior team mates including the captain were warming the bench of their respective teams, Sohail Tanvir gave match after match winning performances.
He has played 9 matches and has taken 21 wickets @ 5.95 with an ave of 10. He is topping the bowling charts in all categories he has taken the highest # of wickets, he has the best bowling figures in a single match, his bowling ave of 10 is also the best, his econ rate 5.95 is only second to thornely who has bowled only 7 overs in the tournament. Sohail Tanvir has been the X factor for the Rajasthan Royals, In this tournament he is bowling like his hero Wasim Akram and has overcome his erratic line and now can swing the ball both ways. His senior Pakistani team mates after failing consistently have been warming the bench, the only other Pakistan player who has played 9 matches is Afridi who is averaging 11 with the bat and has taken 9 wickets in the tournament @ 7.62 with an average of 22.88. His team benched him after his failure with both bat and ball, he had only two good games as a bowler, he probably disapointment the Pakistani cricket fans the most.
Mohammed Hafeez played 8 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders after playing two good games in which Kolkata won he consistently failed with the bat and was not much used as a bowler there after.In 8 matches he scored a mere 64 runs a pathetic performance by a technically incorrect player. He is still holding the record of bowling the most economical spell in IPL in which he gave away only 8 runs in 4 overs against the Deccan Chargers.In an effort to defend his poor performance he made a statement that the senior players in Pakistan team who are selected automatically selected didn’t performed any better than him.
Shoaib Malik played 7 matches and batted in 5 innings only, he failed to hold his place in the Dehli team as he failed as a bowler and Dehli don’t need another batsman he was selected as an all rounder but wants to play as a batsman only, Dehli benched him when they realized he is not going to bowl, something to learn for the Pak selectors. In all fairness in his five outings he probably got only two chances where there were some overs left when he came on to the crease, his highest score was only 24 and is averaging a mere 13 in the tournament. He bowled only8.3 overs in 7 matches and took 2 wickets @10.
Asif also played 7 matches and has taken 7 wickets @ 9.42, he started the tournament nicely but then faded away he has been too expensive, now he is injured and is warming the bench.
Salman Butt has also played 7 matches, he scored 193 runs @ 27.57 with the highest score of 73, he warmed the Kolkata bench during the first round and was given a chance only when McCullum and Gayle left, several technical faults in his batting were highlighted in his batting, he is weak on the onside, and has no foot movement, he scores most of his runs on boundaries and fails to work the ball for singles, his SR was a problem, he gave a few good starts to his team but their was not much to cheer about his batting, he was another disappointment.
Misbah ul Haq also played 7 matches, he was benched initially for Kallis and Chanderpaul, but later on because of public hue & cry was given a chance to play, he was the biggest disappointment for Pak fans as he failed to capitalize on the chances he scored only 117 runs @19.5 with a highest score of 47. Its true that Rahul Dravid failed to use him properly and was treated unfairly for which the Royal Banglore team paid heavily. He is in the wrong team and should demand a trade.
Umar Gul played six matches, and took 12 wickets @ 8.17 with an ave of 15.33, he was benched when Shoaib Akhter arrived because after playing one good game he failed to take wickets and was too expensive,but after Shoaib got injured he played superbly and took wickets in all the matches he played and improved his average.
Kamran Akmal has played 4 matches and has scored 98 runs with an ave of 32.66 the highest by any Pakistani batsman, he has been warming the bench since the arrival of Smith, he had only one good outing with the bat scoring 53 runs, his performance has been average neither bad nor good.
Shoaib Akhtar played only three matches, the Rawalpindi Express started the tournament with a big noise but got derailed in the next match, in 3 matches he only bowled 7 overs took 5 wickets @ 7.71 and an average of 10.80. After playing three matches he quietly saw his team being knocked out of the race for semis while warming the bench.
Although Pakistani bowlers stood out, but batting remains a problem, the senior players have been exposed, Afridi and Malik they are selected in the team as all rounders one can’t bowl and the other can’t bat, Younis Khan has not been considered worthy to play even a single match, Misbah failed, Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal had average success but their performance was such that you would not like to count on, the problem is further compounded since Pakistan has already lost their bench strength to ICL , the selectors do not have any option but to again give automatic selection to these so called seniors for the upcoming Asia cup and Champions trophy.
A hint for the selectors,the youngest guy was the star amongst the bench warmers, so get rid of some of these so called seniors and inject some young players in the team.
Well Akram has put to rest all the media speculations by saying that nobody has approached him from the PCB, so I guess he will continue to work as a floating bowling coach in these pace camps.
Welcome UTP:
Tanvir was found by Akram in the last years pacer camp, and Wasim gave him tips how to bring the ball back into the right handers, last year he was struggling to bowl that delivery but this year he is bowling it consistently, he still needs to learn to ball a quick bouncer like wasim Akram, Wasim had a very deceptive and quick bouncer, because he was tall and had a very quick arm action, it was a treat to watch him make the batsman dance when he used to target their rib cage.
I think PCB wants Akram to take up the job of bowling coach but he is currently employed by 10 sports and is not available full time.
Even if they hire Wasim for these pace camps even then it can prove to be useful as Mohammed Aamir, Wahab Riaz, and Mohammed Ramiz they are all lefties and Wasim can help them a lot.
I think PCB and players have decided to get rid of Lawson, its the same old blame game after every poor series the blame game starts and usually the coach gets fired.
IPL has exposed the Pakistani players, especially batsmen, we are way behind the other teams and all the senior players who failed will use all the political tactics to stay in the team.The easiest way is to blame the coach.
Sohail Tanvir is a find but lets hope he stays consistent and injury-free. He’s got a good head on those shoulders …but needs a lot of mentoring….which he will have to seek for himself….cos PCB is going to do nothing to bring the greats of Wasim & Waqar into the scene….
Its true that Asif came after a long injury layoff, but he has lost some pace, and now most of the batsman have figured him out he does not get movement with the old ball, and tries too much with the new one,I think they have taken out his stitches and he would be fit to play lets see if he gets selected.
Misbah I think after the initial humiliation, lost interest, and has not given his 100%.
I think Asif is injured as well and nobody wants to risk more in that state. From 3D’s perspective, they hoped Asif would do a Tanveer. To be fair to Asif, he was coming back from a long injury lay-off. He was even bowling wih a brace of sorts on his forearm.
Butt did the best among batsmen. What can one say about Afridi? If he had turned up from the right side of his bed, maybe things would have been different.
You are right about Shoaib Malik and his bowling. If he could bowl regularly, it would be wonderful for the team balance. Now Dilshan has taken that role.
The Misbah case is difficult to understand. I expected he’d play every match, but looks like Chandepaul was accomodated before he left for WI and then Steyn came in…BRC were always struggling with their 4 overseas players quota. Kallis and Boucher were always going to play…Steyn since he joined in. Misbah should have been playing that one spot right through.
He was disastrous in that match LOL
Rajasthan has rested its marquee players and have not taken this game seriously, the absence of Warne and Tanvir has made their attack look pedestrian.
Punjab will take some psychological advantage over RR from this match, but if RR manages to score 190 without their ace batsmen and ace bowlers then I guess their should be no advantage for Punjab X1 who are playing with their full strength.
SE Marsh and Pomerbach can probably demolish any attack in this tournament, SE Marsh bats like a robot he has an amazing range of shots and the amazing thing is that it never looks as if he is slogging, it will be an interesting match if these two teams reach the finals.
Scorpi
Somebody was listening to your complain they included him in the line up today,Younis is a test player, he is not suitable for limited overs cricket, he should not have been picked up in the first place.
The only funny incident which can raise an eyebrow is Younis Khan… the highest paid bench warmer from Pakistan… I found it strange that he did not even feature in the last match when everything was over. really strange.
Hi Abdul:
I wont say he has become Akram, yeah I can say I saw just a glimpse of Akram in him, their is still a lot for him to learn and prove.
He bowls well with the new ball, its yet to be seen if he can reverse it in the longer version of the game,Wasim’s bouncers were very nasty, Tanvir still has to develop a good bouncer. The progress he has made in just one year is amazing, If he keeps on working hard he might get close to Akram very soon.
Thanks SP
Asif IMO has never been useful for the shorter version, he has proven to be quite expensive for Pakistan in the Odis,he recovered from the elbow injury but got himself injured again while fielding. He is a bit overrated.
You are right next year their personal IPL stock will also fall, but most of these players have signed three year deals.
good post wasim!!
its been humbling experience for all pak players…while tanvir and gul can go head held high…others know that they have their job cut out for next season if they want to be good ‘buy’…
i also feel it was stupid of asif to come IPL half baked…look now…he is neither here not there…
Great article Wasim . The stats justsum up how dissapointing the performances have been from the Pakistani players with the exception of Sohial Tanvir who has been tremedous. Umar Gul also bolwed well in the last match. In my eyes Sohial Tanvir has the potential to be a matchwinner for Pakisan like Wasim Akram !
Now the Ipl is reaching the climax and the intensity is reaching full volume. I back Jaipur to win.