Salman the "Puller" and Afridi's 3-men-at-point

[zulfiqar]

After seeing our wonderboy Salman (just was notifiedtoday by Sources that his birthday is same day as me, just a year earlier) knock the bajeezus out of ********* in the high-pressure Jubilee match, everyone has wholeheartidly wanted him to succeed. In the VB though he's been having a bit of a tough time and finding ways of getting himself out (when his stumps got cleaned up last time he looked clueless!).

One thing about him is that it seems that he tries to pull/hook anything that looks even a fraction short and a bit outside offstump. Ofcourse everyone (hopefully including him by now!) realizes that he totally sucks at it and needs to either improve it or take that shot out of his shot-book (it's one of my personal favs). He couldn't execute it properly and often it has gotten him out. He's not learning from his mistakes and is reminding me of Yassir the Fisherman or the ever-talented Imran Nazir. DOn't get me wrong, I rate Salman higher than those 2 and wud LOVE to see him succeed ... but that pull shot of his is going to ge thim out more unless he makes a change!

Second point was this strat of using 3 guys at cover/gully for AFridi. This has been working beautifully at containing batsmen and denying them runs through that area whenever Afridi bowls the right line/length to the R.H. bats. It doesn't seem to work on the Left handers so i wud suggest he drop it (afridi being a leggie means that the L.H. batsmen can then try to pull the ball as it will spin into him).

What'r ur thots on the 3-men strat or the sad tragedy of Salman the "puller?"

[zulfiqar]

Also the point I wanted to make about the 3-men strat for Afrdi was that other sides such as Aus would have two men cover that site. Pakistan sadly need 3 to get the job done. With Ponting, Clarke, and the Joker SYmonds, those guys have got probably the best inner-circle fielders of all time!

[MIG]

based on previous performances, can someone remind me of Salmans best scoring shots ?

[tahaqureshi]

well i would give him time..he is probably tired..

inzamam missed the last two tests...salman didn't...

either rest him..or make sure that he is focused enough to perform

[mansab]

One more thing i have noticed over the years that afridi's first 6 or 7 overs are very economical. It's his last 3 or 4 overs which go for runs. May be its due to tiredness or may be he is approaching death overs. Can anyone throw up any states?

One more point i noticed in today's match is that, commentators rate shoaib malik and kamran malik very high. Ian chappel went as far as saying that kamran is best keeper around. And micheal holding is a big shoaib fan.

[KB]

He probably needs to judge better between which deliveires to pull, and secondly work on the execution. Needs to use the crease more.

Might not be the worst thing for him to have had a few problems now, as it would be easier for him to work on these areas now, as opposed to lwhen he gets older.

[Daoud]

In pure keeping ability, Kamran is probably there - only Taibu gives him any competition now that Read is out of the Poms team.
Salman's problem is that hes too far out of the crease. You cant pull/hook well in Australia standing a foot out of the crease. He needs to bat a bit further in, and swivel, using the depth of the crease, giving himself more time

[Hash]

I think Salman needs a rest. He batted magnificently in the tests (NOBODY forget that), got a good 60 odd against Aus in the first one day but since then has lose his way a little. It happens....the important thing is we stick to him and don't let the whingers get their tails up.

[KB]

Inzamam - now there is a man who uses the depth of crease well when pulling and really swivels well.

That is one of the reasons he is the best puller of spin bowling in world cricket.

[Karachi King]

since i've seen Salman in ODIs, he is strugling to play hook or pull. this weakness of his has been exposed 2 or 3 times, i think, as he got out in a horrible way playing on the leg side. whenever he start thinking about playing hook/pull, he seems to struggle. but he is young & have the capacity to learn so i will give him some more time to come over this weakness as he has many other strong points to make his position strong.

another thing which i noticed about Salman is that he fumbles more than few occasions in the field one of which costed us the wicket of Ch'paul. he also has to overcome this problem too.

[Pathan007]

man this Salam BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT is getting on my nerves.he doesn't score lately and on top of that he has SUCH PATHETIC SHAMBOLIC fileding dropping TWO catches in 2matches.if he does this is in 1or2more games get the F out of him from the team.

[Muddaser]

:-*

[Schiller]

I cant believe it, you guys are asking for Butt to be dropped now?

[Muddaser]

Yeah and lets replace him with Farhat or Nazir!

For once we have a decent batting lineup and we should persist with all the batsmen in the present squad.

All we need now are a couple of decent pacers.

[Pathan007]

dude let alone batting.how about his PATHETIC fileding.don't take my point away towards the other direction.u Salman Butt fan.i said "lately his batting and on top his fielding now"

[Naveed]

Well Salman is a very young player and he is bound to go through peaks and valleys. I have full confidence that he will work it out. He does however need to work on fitness and fielding and show more commitment. Give him a good run.

[Muddaser]

Pathan007, who shall we replace him with?

Farhat?

Taufeeq?

Nazir?

Are they any better?

[KB]

There is no doubt they should certainly stick with him. I think he has enough character to get through this relatively lean period.

[Saqlain_doosra]

Give him a chance, he's only started yet. We can't just drop him after few bad games. I don't wanna see Imran Nazir scenario happening with him.

Afridi's figure were runed in th elast over or 2

[Kean0]

I say too many gold fish's in this pond, most of you lot have very short memories!

Salman is a class act when battin, needs a little work on his pulling, (surprising for a lefty) and a alot of work on his fielding.

Does seem a little lazy for such a young guy!"

Nevertheless his talent can not be doubted, let him be and let him settle.

So P!ss off you bunch of gold fish's!

[Naveed]

Muddaser, I think that you forgot Elahi.

[Schiller]

I cant believe tht people are already syaig he should be dropped

[Naveed]

I cant believe tht people are already syaig he should be dropped

Well these are Pakistani cricket fans after all...

[Pathan007]

well, if some1 is taking place for granted then they need to be dropped

[fair_play]

All outstanding bastmen pull well the ball is a fractionally short - sometimes from slighlty outside off.

Its natural but also practise makes perfect. I say let Salman experiment a bit and develop his reportoire.

[zorawar]

He is definitely weak on the leg side... He needs to practice the hook pull more in nets and play it less in games for now. Specially on faster pitches.

Yesterday, I think Butt's dismissal was also partly due to the slow scoring by Akmal who is supposedly being used as a pinch hitter but seemed like taking himself too seriously after scoring the century against WI in the first game. The pressure of only having 30 odd runs after 10-11 overs got to Butt.

[cricket_crazy]

Salman has problem against short pitch stuff but I don't think he should be dropped. I feel he is just out of form.

[Rob H]

Salman is just having a slump. It'll pass away

[Naeem]

Butt saab will come good again Inshallah. I cant beleive the reaction we are having after a few bad games with people calling for him to be dropped....hav eyou forgotten how bad we are when we expose our middle order to the new ball. Even if he didnt score a 50 or 100 - his 2st job was to take the shine off the new ball. So hes still scoring runs and doing a job even when out of form...when his form comes back - he will cash in BIG inshAllah!

[Imy]

Naeen Butt really needs to Improve his fielding, in one days you cant drop catches. Simple ones. Its not once i think he has dropped three catches in three games. Batting he is going through a rough patch he will get over it

[Naeem]

Imy - dont know whats happened to Salman's fielding recently! He has taken some good catches for Pak and fielded quite well in some games also...so I think it must be a vision thing. I mean, Shoaib M also dropped catches recently and we all know what a class fielder he is!!! I wonder if his slump in form has coincided with him having to do some bowling???

[exuberance]

Its only a matter of time..
Butt will come good..he expects a whole lot better from himself..
I think hes just low on confidence, with the loss in form and dropped catches..he just needs to get these things out of his mind..
I'm sure he will come through..

What I am worried about is that Shoaib Malik's number 3 position has been disturbed....it seemed that he had made that his own..
perhaps strategies will be different for the Indian series..