Danish is Now Our No.1 Strike Bowler : Inzamam Ul Haq

[Noreen]

As the team played in the Champions Trophy I have been training hard and spending time with my family. But now it’s time to focus on Test cricket and the West Indies.

I have been doing plenty of fitness training and netting with Mushy (Mushtaq Ahmed). I just finished a four-day match in the Patrons Trophy for my team Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) against Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) at Sheikhupura. It was a good game.

In the first innings I only scored five but in the second innings I came in at number seven when the score was 20-5 and we reached our target of 98 without losing any more wickets. I finished on 20 not out so I’ve spent some time at the crease before the first Test in Lahore.

Our preparations for the West Indies series have not been helped by the bans on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. We have named a squad that we think will give us the best chance of victory but the action against Shoaib and Asif was a hard decision.

They will be a big loss to Pakistan because they are special bowlers. We will still go into all our matches with the belief that we can win – especially the World Cup. This decision will hurt us more in the Test matches.

On the case itself, I would say that it’s very difficult to know about these things in Pakistan. There is no awareness about the medicines. I think this is the reason why they have taken the tablets or banned substance. Asif, especially, has not been to any anti-doping lecture.

In Pakistan if you go to the pharmacy without a prescription for a headache or an upset stomach, nobody is worried about what you have taken.

At their appeal, I hope their bans will be reduced. Even if the bans are cut, though, it is difficult to see them making the World Cup if they miss the West Indies and South Africa series. Spinners and batsmen can play straight away and get back into their game but fast bowlers need time to get their rhythm back.

If Shoaib’s ban is not reduced it will be very difficult for him to come back. It would be difficult for anyone who is 30-plus and out of the game for two years to come back from that kind of ban, not just him. I know Shane Warne was older and came back but he was only banned for a year and it is easier for spinners. Two years is a long time. I just hope he wins his appeal.

Danish (Kaneria) and Umar Gul are now our only strike bowlers. We also have Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi and Rao Iftikhar but they are containing bowlers, they are not wicket-taking bowlers. To win Test matches you need strike bowlers who will take wickets, so in this department we are in serious trouble.

Mohammad Sami is a strike bowler, is a good team man and has the pace and everything a fast bowler would want, apart from confidence. He had the chance to impress when Shoaib and Asif were out of the team in England but he didn’t play well and now he is still trying to get his mental levels back up to normal. It’s not a matter of whether he is good enough; it’s purely about his confidence.

Once we get to Multan, because we don’t have too many fast bowlers to choose from now, there is a chance we would look at playing a second spinner, depending on what the selectors want and what the pitch conditions are like.

Danish is performing well and Mushtaq Ahmed bowled well in England again. Then there is Arshad Khan and Abdul Rehman, while we also have Hafeez and Malik so there are options. Abdul Rehman gives us nice variation with his left-arm spinners.

Our camp starts tomorrow at the Gaddafi Stadium and we will train hard and pull together like we always do when our backs are against the wall. Hopefully we can come out on top against an in-form West Indies team.


http://inzamam.bigstarcricket.com/bs/players/inzamam/article_1338.shtml

[Amjid Javed]

Danish (Kaneria) and Umar Gul are now our only strike bowlers. We also have Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi and Rao Iftikhar but they are containing bowlers, they are not wicket-taking bowlers. To win Test matches you need strike bowlers who will take wickets, so in this department we are in serious trouble.

Mohammad Sami is a strike bowler, is a good team man and has the pace and everything a fast bowler would want, apart from confidence. He had the chance to impress when Shoaib and Asif were out of the team in England but he didn’t play well and now he is still trying to get his mental levels back up to normal. It’s not a matter of whether he is good enough; it’s purely about his confidence.


Wow great way to give Nazir and niazi confidence before test series and his comments on sami?

:20:

[Easa]

It is just the truth, Amjid. We like to critisize the big man on everything. Nazir, Rao, and Niazi are just containing bowlers who will have good economy rates while not picking up tons of wickets.

Do you want him to overrate the bowlers? Even then there would be a problem.

[the true passionist]

Wow great way to give Nazir and niazi confidence before test series and his comments on sami?

:20:

i did say this before..but i hate the negativity of Inzi. How can you call bowlers who will play for you as containing bowlers and then expect them to take wickets in match situation :12: :12:

[Amjid Javed]

It is just the truth, Amjid. We like to critisize the big man on everything. Nazir, Rao, and Niazi are just containing bowlers who will have good economy rates while not picking up tons of wickets.

Do you want him to overrate the bowlers? Even then there would be a problem.

so samis a strike bowler is he? give me Shahid nazir over sami anyday.

:))

[Easa]

Sami has potential but you are right, I would also take Shahid Nazir over Sami any day. The thing is Sami has more natural talent than Nazir, Rao etc and that is what is being implied here, see.

[Amjid Javed]

Sami has potential but you are right, I would also take Shahid Nazir over Sami any day. The thing is Sami has more natural talent than Nazir, Rao etc and that is what is being implied here, see.

Well id rather a bowler who can bowl in right areas all the time and also make a batsmen earn their runs. Bowlers need to know that they need to bowl as a pair etc...

Potential and talent isnt the ability to bowl leg stump half-volley one ball and long hop then next!

the word talent is over used and in some case its hilarious to see it used.

[the true passionist]

oh not the sami argument again.

[faisalm]

Sami is rubbish. He will never deliver and the sooner that was realised the better.

[Amjid Javed]

I wont be shocked then if Umar gul is over bowled and run into ground by Inzi and i guess will just have to hope kaneria gets to his 100 quickly so he starts to take wickets!

[infamous9383]

Danish needs to perform well for pak to win the series no doubt about it.

[TaZ]

Mods
Pls delete all posts by AJ on sami. Another blatant attempt to increase his post count. His continous sami posts are akin to plundering runs against the minnows to boost your average :-)

[Amjid Javed]

Mods
Pls delete all posts by AJ on sami. Another blatant attempt to increase his post count. His continous sami posts are akin to plundering runs against the minnows to boost your average :-)

:))) I have to keep my Posting average above 50 :P

[Monsee]

Mods
Pls delete all posts by AJ on sami. Another blatant attempt to increase his post count. His continous sami posts are akin to plundering runs against the minnows to boost your average :-)



So are you indirectly implying he is Indian or Irfan Pathan :D

[offcutter]

will they ever give najaf shah a shot?

[Inswinging Yorker]

Undoubtly so..very good performance against the west indies at their home.

however one must not forget lara's 2 hundreds and chanderpaul getting 150 or so.

so it would not be all that easy.

[TaZ]

Monsee that's harsh man

[Sultan Yusuf]

It's that time again!

1. Convince everyone that Danish is our "trump card".

2. Danish with a shocking revelation: "I have mystery ball up sleeve"...

3. Let's get Shabbir cleared again.

And we call ourselves "unpredictable"!

[aabbasi]

Wow great way to give Nazir and niazi confidence before test series and his comments on sami?

:20:
What else should he say about them ? You were probably looking for the following statement:

"Although Asif and Akhtar are not available, we have an even quicker bowler by the name of Sami-Ullah Niazi and another mothwatering prospect in the name of Nazir, both hailing from Faisalabad . I am sure West-indies lara and gayle must be having sleepless nights, thinking of the prospect they would be facing."

Although, i do agree that relying on danish is not probably a good idea. He will wait until day 5 to get any sort of wickets, and if the match ends in 4 days then it is definitely bad luck for us. :19:

[cinderella]

What else should he say about them ? You were probably looking for the following statement:

"Although Asif and Akhtar are not available, we have an even quicker bowler by the name of Sami-Ullah Niazi and another mothwatering prospect in the name of Nazir, both hailing from Faisalabad . I am sure West-indies lara and gayle must be having sleepless nights, thinking of the prospect they would be facing."

Although, i do agree that relying on danish is not probably a good idea. He will wait until day 5 to get any sort of wickets, and if the match ends in 4 days then it is definitely bad luck for us. :19:

Mothwatering :)))
Wow I need sleep.

Anyway regarding OP, he's just being honest. Kineria is better than others. Gul isn't bad either.

Sami has potential though; he just doesn't use it.

[Invictus]

Yaar AJ its not about giving confidence. I bet you any money Rao, Niazi and Nazir already know what kind of bowlers they are. Inzi is not telling them something they don't know.

[WEST INDIAN PASSION]

brian lara took two centuries off him at home.

hope brian fires again along with chanderpaul ,and sarwan.

it will be very crucial for us for our batsmen to perform.

we need to be mindful that danish bowled us out in jamica to draw the rubber.

[shahzadddd]

Inzy said the same thing before the England series. Also Rana is out of form which is a big blow. I believe he can really do the business in Test cricket too, but he has to overcome this dip!

[Logic]

It's that time again!

1. Convince everyone that Danish is our "trump card".

2. Danish with a shocking revelation: "I have mystery ball up sleeve"...

3. Let's get Shabbir cleared again.

And we call ourselves "unpredictable"!



:))) :))) I was just thinking about that. This series Danish didn't come up with his usual mystery ball statement.
May be he is tying to remeber/understand what his previous mystery balls were :))

[Khalil]

A Danish pie chucker is our best bowler ?

God bless pakistani cricket

[Muyazzim Khan]

If Inzi is counting on Kaneria to be the strike bowler then he will have very long days in the field as Mr Kaneria needs 30-40 overs to get a wicket. So for a 5for he will have to wait about 200 overs from hist "Ishtrike" bowler.

[Saj]

Make no mistake Danish has the ability to win a test match singlehandidly, but I still feel that he tries to do too much in every over. He tries too many variations and thus his control suffers. Instead of 5 leg spinners and then the googly as the surprise delivery, he will bowl a googly, a leggie, a top spinner, a flipper, then the googly and then possibly a leggie.

Today was a prime example of this. Taylor was the batsman and it was the start of a new over. Instead of working Taylor over, the first delivery from Danish was down the leg side and Taylor got off strike right at the start of the over. Hugely frustrating, but he's still learning the art and I think our expectations are too high at times.

[Muyazzim Khan]

Make no mistake Danish has the ability to win a test match singlehandidly, but I still feel that he tries to do too much in every over. He tries too many variations and thus his control suffers. Instead of 5 leg spinners and then the googly as the surprise delivery, he will bowl a googly, a leggie, a top spinner, a flipper, then the googly and then possibly a leggie.

Today was a prime example of this. Taylor was the batsman and it was the start of a new over. Instead of working Taylor over, the first delivery from Danish was down the leg side and Taylor got off strike right at the start of the over. Hugely frustrating, but he's still learning the art and I think our expectations are too high at times.

I agree with your point that he doesn't try the Warne method of planning a batsman out ie use googlie/wrong'un sparingly and tie him down with leg breaks. He doesn't bowl with patience like you are supposed to in a TEST match.

I dont think anyone really expects Kaneria to single handedly win us games because he isn't quite that good. But when he and Inzi keep saying he is a strike bowler it seems a joke. Kaneria is just a competent containing bowler and at best can be effective on helpful conditions in tandem with a pacer like in Multan Vs England last year.

Recently he has been woeful interms of wicket taking especially with players like Asif and Shoaib missing. Even though he bowled a huge number of overs he only managed to take 2-3 wickets at best when the seamers weren't taking wickets either.

His performances, ability and stats dont back up the notion that he is a strike bowler period.

[the_game]

Make no mistake Danish has the ability to win a test match singlehandidly, but I still feel that he tries to do too much in every over. He tries too many variations and thus his control suffers. Instead of 5 leg spinners and then the googly as the surprise delivery, he will bowl a googly, a leggie, a top spinner, a flipper, then the googly and then possibly a leggie.

Today was a prime example of this. Taylor was the batsman and it was the start of a new over. Instead of working Taylor over, the first delivery from Danish was down the leg side and Taylor got off strike right at the start of the over. Hugely frustrating, but he's still learning the art and I think our expectations are too high at times.

The thing is Saj, he got wickets with his variety in the beginning of his test career. This impatience of trying out six different balls every over was actually working for him. But he has had a bad year so far, and needs to realize that he has to take it easy and be patient in his spells.

[OZGOD]

i did say this before..but i hate the negativity of Inzi. How can you call bowlers who will play for you as containing bowlers and then expect them to take wickets in match situation :12: :12:

Well, this can be taken a number of ways. On one hand, you can believe Inzi and get demoralised before a series, or on the other it can motivate you to say "you're wrong, I'm taking a bagful of wickets this series to prove it".

[Geordie Ahmed]

Well, this can be taken a number of ways. On one hand, you can believe Inzi and get demoralised before a series, or on the other it can motivate you to say "you're wrong, I'm taking a bagful of wickets this series to prove it".

spot on, its a shame some PP'ers dont see it that way. i believe this is Inzi's way of firing the "containing" bowlers up, he has dangled the carrot and its upto them to show what they have to offer

[OZGOD]

spot on, its a shame some PP'ers dont see it that way. i believe this is Inzi's way of firing the "containing" bowlers up, he has dangled the carrot and its upto them to show what they have to offer

It's a mental challenge as well - the strong, competitive players will want to prove Inzy wrong, the weak ones will fall by the wayside.

[PlanetPakistan]

Inzi isn't the 1st captain to say this...I remember during the test series vs IND Lara was almost begging the selectors to give him some 'strike' bowlers! In his mind someone like Tino Best was a much better option than I Bradshaw(in tests)

[infamous9383]

Umar Gul might have something to say about this now

[RazaSohail]

Wow great way to give Nazir and niazi confidence before test series and his comments on sami?

:20:

I suppose claiming that Gul and Nazir cant take wickets on this Karachi pitch (on which windies quicks are bowling quite decent btw) is a great way to give Nazir and Gul confidence before test match, :13:

i am guessing this Amjid Javed character is going to stay as far away from this post as possible. perhaps citing personal issues. ;-)

[cricketcrazy]

Danish is our No 1 spinner just like Razzak is our best allrounder (Inzi please stop this...)

[Amjid Javed]

Gul/nazir bowled very well in 1st test on Wicket which was tailor made for their bowling styles, so instead of giving them a dead track in multan which nulified them, the karachi wicket doesnt look any better then the multan one.

[RazaSohail]

Gul/nazir bowled very well in 1st test on Wicket which was tailor made for their bowling styles, so instead of giving them a dead track in multan which nulified them, the karachi wicket doesnt look any better then the multan one.

in other words they cant match the standards of windies quicks who bowled more than decently on this pitch. not too much confidence!!

[Amjid Javed]

in other words they cant match the standards of windies quicks who bowled more than decently on this pitch. not too much confidence!!

West indies bowler bowled alot better then the pakistan seamers in 2nd test yes. The bowled with more discapline and Lara seemed to have plans and good field settings for Most pakistan batsmen, add to that the fact pakistans batsmen threw most of their wickets away in multan, then yes W.I bowlers proved more potent.

[RazaSohail]

West indies bowler bowled alot better then the pakistan seamers in 2nd test yes. The bowled with more discapline and Lara seemed to have plans and good field settings for Most pakistan batsmen, add to that the fact pakistans batsmen threw most of their wickets away in multan, then yes W.I bowlers proved more potent.

so why is it, Amjid, that when you say this, it is an objective statement. but when Inzi says it, it demoralizes our bowlers?

[Amjid Javed]

so why is it, Amjid, that when you say this, it is an objective statement. but when Inzi says it, it demoralizes our bowlers?

If i was captain of Pakistan i wouldnt come out in public and start stating that my bowlers were there just to contain etc.. it sends out a negative message to players and basically sends out a postive signal for the oppostion.

[RazaSohail]

If i was captain of Pakistan i wouldnt come out in public and start stating that my bowlers were there just to contain etc.. it sends out a negative message to players and basically sends out a postive signal for the oppostion.

so the captain of Pakistan should disengage from reality and back his bowlers regardless of how bad they truly are? when he does that to Razzaq and Kaneria you criticize him. it seems there isnt much he can do to please you.

[cricketcrazy]

so the captain of Pakistan should disengage from reality and back his bowlers regardless of how bad they truly are? when he does that to Razzaq and Kaneria you criticize him. it seems there isnt much he can do to please you.

He can say whatever he wants to his bowlers INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM not in public.

[Sultan Yusuf]

Let's forget about the implications of Inzi's comments. Whether they were meant to movitate/demotivate the players is up for discussion and pure speculation from either side.

However, to say something ridiculous like "Danish is our No.1 Strike Bowler" speaks volumes about Inzi's judgement.