Najaf Shah

Noddy does not rate Najaf Shah.

So question, why is he in the team? In fact, Noddy once said that Najaf Shah is like a larki. So obviously, he does not think that Najaf has the skills/strength/attitude to make it to Pakistan men's test team.

With such insight on our hands, why do some members keep on harping about Najaf Shah?

I myself have yet to see him, and am curious about the views of those who have. Enlighten please.

When I said team I meant Pak A team of course.

Even if he performs for Pak A, it would only be against a Zimbabwe A side right? Just like Hassan Raza's hundred the other day.

hormone pills. they take about 6-8 months to be effective, and it looks like they're finally working. the voice gradually gets deeper, and you notice some hair in places where it wasn't before.

I think his attitude was the reason why he wasnt picked earlier. He has won praise from woolmer so must have done something right.

His performances on the A tour have been pretty good but I'm not too sure what to make of them to be honest because Asif has also been shining.

Zimbabwe A were never going to be a s competitive as Sri Lanka A.

So you will always get quite a few people getting good outings. In Sri Lanka, for example, one or two people I spoke to said that Bazid looked so much the best Pak batsmen on view (actually the best batsman on view from either side) in a competitive series that it was impossible not for him to get noticed. Apparently in Bazid's case, its the Sri Lankan observers who asked questions as to why he had not been given a chance in the Pak test team! Apparently he played Fernando much better than all our other batsmen.

If Najaf gets the chance agaisnt stronger teams than he may distinguish himself a bit. But I havent seen him yet.

Najaf played the tests in Sri Lanka and did well. The Lankan bowling attack looked pretty good and Farnando can be a handful when bowling well. I did note that Bazid was the standout when others were failing in Lanka.

Well if Najaf did well in Sri Lanka that is a good sign. I'm going to ask my source about Najaf's performances in Sri Lanka - but the best way is to actually see the kid.

The Sri Lanka A batting is talented as well - a lot of talent on that little island.

This is what you'll probably hear: Good action, gets bounce thanks to his height and bowls with good control and swing. Pace around 83/4.

Well i saw bazid on TV playing against India A in Kenya. I must say he looked one of our best batsmen there. Probably second only to misbah. This team also had Naved Latif, Taufeeq Umar, Qaisar Abbas, Kamran Akmal and Faisal Iqbal. All these players struggled to make an impression apart from Misbah and Bazid

Has anybody been looking at Irshad's performances?

These were Najaf's performances in Sri Lanka (he wasn't in the original squad was only sent once Nazir left for India).

Najaf Shah 20 1 58 3

Najaf Shah 17.5 2 78 4

His main success was in the domestic season where he got about 70 wickets. And he impressed people who watched him on TV (as well as BW).

Im not surprised. I saw a couple of innings from Bazid agaisnt Wasim Akran and Co as far back as 1998! In the final of the day Pak national one day championship he stroked an effortless 70 at run a ball against PIA including Wasim and others with only 4 boundaries from memory. He seemed to be toying with Wasim at times.

I suspect he is the kind of player who looks very good when on song, and because of his lazy manner very poor when not in sync. Moin Khan at PIA was keen not to give Bazid any chances, putting him in at number 7 etc, so he was really held back for a few years. I personally though he was ready for test cricket around 1999, but I have hardly seen him bat since.

The thing that I liked was the fact that he had time to play (at least during those days) and that he mostly made his runs when others were failing. A negative agaisnt him is that he seems to be a nervous starter prone to getting out early, and one who rarely cashes in easy conditions. That is why he has so many detractors.

So not bad - not bad at all!

Now only Noddy needs to tell us why we should not get excited, and why Najaf should be lower down the pecking order. On balance Noddy had been in fabvour of Junaid over Najaf, and that is not a good sign! Najaf must have some serious problems I reckon - at least in Noddy's eyes.

Yeah he looked pretty out of sync in that paktel tournament

I didnt see the Paktel tournament but Bazid sat out a couple of months after his triple hundred.

Is the Paktel tournament the one where every seam bowler was recording figures of 7-14 or 6-15 etc? When teams were getting bowled out for 45 etc?

If so, the pitches were a farce. There were tufts of grass on pitches that made all seamers look like Ricahrd Hadlee.

Yes I think the key for him when he gets his chance will be getting through that early period. If he gets through that he will win supporters even it's with a 60 or 70. I have seen highlights of his inning against India A and he did look like a complete batsman with the shots that you would want. I also thought he looked much better than Misbah.

I heard against Zimbabwe he was shuffling a lot but then BW says there's nothing wrong with his trigger movements. He will need to get through that little period (perhaps with some luck) and he might never look back from there.

That was the two Zimbabwe games.

Ok pitches werent as flat as in India or Jeet lo di,l but they werent as bad as you described them to be. There were plenty of 200+ scores. Infact i seem to remember that Pak chased down a 290odd scoer against SL.

Bazid has so many detractors (people like Noddy etc) that he needs to take his chances when he gets them.

One thing is clear - he will have far fewer chances than his peers, and so must make them count. Those 2 failures against Zimababwe, one with a dodgy lbw, are still being used as justification to exclude him.

This will doubtless create additional pressure on Bazid. But pressure is a double edged sword - it can make you stronger as well.

if Bazid has the talent, then for Pakistan cricket's sake I hope he will get the lucky break and make it in this series. To my mind he is in last chance salon. There are too many people who dont like him, and they will only shup up if plays well in the West Indies. If he fails he is out - these are the unwritten facts.

Fairplay - you dont seem to see the big picture

Someone like Bazid has gotten into the team due to his famous father and uncles.
Hafeez, while he isnt a very skillful batsman, has other strings (or shouldI say ribbons) to his bow

Now you look at the bowlers side. The bowler with connections is Junaid Zia as his father was the head of the cricket board. But the question is, who is the equivalent to Hafeez. This Najaf Shah was the perfect candidate, but it appears that he wasnt willing to work on his batting and fielding to convert himself into a multidimensional superstar. Hence the shocking attitude

He will need to do well in the side matches atleast(might not get a chacne in main games)

In Bazid's defence the pitches in Kenya, where he did pretty well, werent batting beauties either. The ball seamed around quite a bit and he was coming in after fall of early wickets due to ALL the openers failing completely. Him and Misbah had to bat under pressure because of early wickets under pretty testing conditions.

We are obviously talking about a different tournament then. Im talking about some domestic tournament, when Rashid Latif even threw a match in protest.

At the beginning of the season batsmen were making plenty of doubles, and around Xmas time the PCB responded by leaving more grass on the pitches than on golfing greens. I know because I was in Pakistan at that time. Anyone who was turning his arm over was getting wickets by the dozen. Especially the morning sessions were almost impossible to bat in - with the pitches easing out a tad in late afternoon. There were quite a few players keen on moving down to number 6 etc.

From around December 2004 onwards many seamers took their wickets at aound 10 runs per wicket, greatly improving their aveages for the season. This is fact.

Hence najaf shah and shahid nazir doing well????

THeir success continued right through the season.

Which is important. I managed to see soem bowlers on display during the recent 20/20 and the only one I liked was Ali Imran Pasha.

Somewhat with a Mohammad Zahid type of windmill action, not as fast and very skinny, he had a bit of pace and good bounce. His opne chested action meant that he got natural in movement towards the right handers but I couldnt see him making the ball hold his own. He would bowl well at left handers but needs to be able to make the ball hold its own if he is to make an impact.

Still the best of the ones I saw - the rest were really mediocre. Janissar Khan had the best action of lot - alomost Lillee like - but is small and very stocky so was bowling low skidding outswingers. They werent swinging late either. Fahad Masood was burly and open chested gettng in swing, but none of these guys would be genuine new ball bowlers for Pakistan. In the 20/20 cup I saw some disnticlty ordinary bolwers on view.

Pasha stood out because he was soemthing extra, but that open chested action is going to make it very difficult for him to make the ball hold its own.

So hes a similar sort of bowler to Ntini then?

So who are our best bowlers not to feature for Pak yet. (feature for a period of time)

Doubt that he would have Ntini's stamina. Ntini's stamina is pretty amazing

Yup good choice. I saw Pasha in the under-19 world cup last year. He was far more impressive than Riaz Afridi (who went on to play a test) and the most impressive pacer in the semis/finals. Even though Riaz got more wickets.

He is 19/20 and definitely has far more potential than the Khalil, Riaz and Asif's of this world we have sadly tried. Hopefully we won't waste him.

That under-19 team had some talent with Pasha and the two impressive spinners. The batsmen looked a lost cause though.

In a way, but he is lankier and has a higher arm action while Ntini skids on you. In fact, Pasha seems to get good bounce - sometimes very good bounce. He really bends his back from a very, very open chested and high arm action. I was thinking if his abck will hold up, but then we are told that open chested actions put the least strain on the back.

(Though see what happened to Zahid).

I didnt see any apart from Pasha that caught my eye. But then I didnt see most of the matches - and in the end the teams had figured out that spinners were far harder to hit.

Pasha would be about as quick as Mohammad Akram with a similar sort of bounce. I dont think he is physically very strong and seems to need to put in effort and bend his back. But he has an easy controlled run up to the wicket and a high arm action. He is nowhere near Mohad Akram in natural talent, but the ability to generate pace with bounce is always an asset.

But like you say, can he sustain it over a longer spell? I didnt see enough of him to make that call. He did not look very robust physically - plus I was worried for his back.

Well if bounce was his most potent weapon, i would like to know 2 more things What pace was he bowling at? how tall is he?

If he can generate bounce from a good length at around 90, he can be pretty devastating.

I've seen him bowl 10 overs at good pace. Pace isn't the issue but he looked raw back then. Even now he has only a handful of first-class matches.

He needs to fill-up as well.

The rest of the candidates were on duty with the A team and Yasir Ali didn't play the tournament. That sums up our bowling resources.

Did you watch Abdur Rauf? A bowler of much potential ruined by our system (now not half the bowler he was with a changed action)!

Has anyone seen Irshad recently?????
Howcome no one seems to talk about him on here anymore??? Something to do with his A team performances???

I've lost count of the threads u've made about Noddy.

That's quite an obsession u've built up there FP, in this thread alone u'e mentioned him in about every post you've made.

Koi khaas vaja hai, ya aise hee?

Well Najaf Shah seems a good prospect . Got many wickets in domestic cricket and did a good job on the A tours as Woolmer praised him !

He swings it both ways and Farhad saw him play and was also impressed.

Dont know wether noddy rates him or not but noddy bhai has his own opinions . If BW feels that he has potential then i belive it......

From what I've seen of Najaf Shah, and all I saw on TV was a few overs he bowled with the new ball in a FC match.......he is a genuine prospect. What impressed me was his ability to bowl a tight line and length at brisk pace, and the good amount of swing and bounce he generated. Khalil is a rank novice as compared to Najaf in this regards.

i prefer samiullah niazi to this guy - both good left armers but i would take niazi over him

Ali Imran pasha got oout Dhawan indias next batting hope very cheaply in the under 19 world cup and Charles Colvile was really impressed with him sayin he was very quick and had dat raw ability dat shoaib and sami possessed.

Talk of exagerration Mercenary.

If you understood poetic license I would have granted you some exaggeration. But since its pure hyperbole, I simply cant.

I have not mentioend Noddy in nearly every post in this thread, but like a third rate conman you have inserted comments about Noddy attributed to me.

Get over the fact that I am not going to automatically agree with Noddy. Also get over the fact that if Noddy makes judgements I find odd, I will pass opinion as well.

In short, get over your frustrations.

i like riaz afridi - just needs to build up his pace in realistic terms but he can get the ball to swing prodigiously

In the case of Bazid Khan, its good to see one of our youngsters forcing his way back into contention through consistent performances at domestic level and in the Pakistan A team.. and in the end, leaving the selectors with no choice but to give him another chance at the senior level.

It takes some resilence and mental toughness to be able to do that, and its not something our youngsters have been able to do in recent times... we have seen talented youngsters fail to do themselves justice at internatinal level, they are dropped and then disappear altogether. It's more a test of character and mental toughness than cricketing ability, to be able to go back to domestic cricket and fight your way back into the senior team through consistent performances like Bazid has done, a splendid effort by the youngster.

Hasan Raza would be the only other exception I can think of who has also performed consistently at the domestic level and the junior/A teams and if you go by merit, he has surely also done enough to be back into contention.. but surprisingly he continues to get overlooked by the selectors.

Back to Bazid, when I first saw this youngster bat at U19 level, in a youth World Cup in England some years ago.. if I remember correctly, that U19 team also had the likes of Hasan Raza, Taufeeq Umar, Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Jannisar Khan (who looked a talented all round prospect) and Bazid was the captain. As a batsman, his performances in that tournament were probably a little disappointing, but he looked quite elegant at the crease and good looking technique, with neat footwork , playing with a straight bat... reminded me a bit of a young Mark Ramprakash. He definitely looked a talented prospect.

However I must admit that as much as I was pleased at seeing Bazid finally get selected last year in that tri-series, I was a little disappointed with what I saw of Bazid's batting in his brief stay at the crease in that series. His batting stance seemed to have changed quite a bit, he was almost crouching .. and the footwork was all over the place, shuffling and fidgeting.. maybe it was just nerves?

I was surprised because his technique looked pretty immaculate and orthodox at youth level, his footwork was neat and he had a fluency about him that our other batsmen didn't seem to have.. so how that stylish looking young batsman, changed into looking like a cross between Jack Russel/Saleem Elahi/Misbah ul Haq, it really is intriguing.. he certainly looked far from elegant from the little I saw of him, in that tri-series.. but hopefully his shuffling/fidgety mannerisms were just neves..

Having said that, I would like to see Bazid getting a chance to play in the test series... rather than the one-dayers, its about time we started to introduce our young players , especially the batsmen, at test level.. rather than throwing them in random one-day games in situations where you expect them to get quick runs.., it would be wiser to groom these players in test cricket, take their time and allow them to get a proper feel of international cricket.. before expecting them to go in and crash, bang , wallop from ball one in a one-day game! I'm sure fair play will agree..

i dont think men like girls can make to the team..lol..if that is the case!!

lol - he must have that nickname for a reason

Majid

It's quite easy to say that we should groom our youngsters at Test level rather than in random ODIs, but realistically speaking that would entail dropping an established team member or two. If Butt gets dropped to accommodate Bazid, then all hue and cry would ensue about inconsistency in selection and waste of talent etc. This is the dilemma. Unless of course, a batsman is really out of form or opts to sit out (like YK did before the BD Series), it is quite impractical to replace them with a youngster.

Mind you, the chance did come their way when a few players led by great Inzamam chose not to play Aus in Sharjah docile tracks few seasons back citing injury as the reason (or fake injury more so!). Where Misbah blew away his chance by playing recklessly, Hasan Raza definitely impressed, yet sadly he was ignored later on and Bhanja was given the nod over him.

A good day for Najaf.

Andrew Miller's view:

"The PCB's enforcers were Najaf Shah, a promising 20-year-old left-arm seamer from Lahore, who took the first two wickets of innings,...the first man to fall was Andrew Strauss, who offered no stroke in Najaf's second over of the day and was comprehensively bowled for 5 (10 for 1). Trescothick and Michael Vaughan had carried the score along to 41 for 1 by the drinks break, but Vaughan - who demonstrated a peculiar weakness against low bounce during the Ashes series - was a constant lbw candidate as he propped uncertainly forward. Sure enough, Najaf swung one back into his pads to earn a well-deserved second scalp."

I for one have always rated Najaf Shah best of the lot of left armers in Pakistan (mind you none of them are very special) but last I saw him was in the Patron's cup final of 2004/2005 season and he looked pretty quick to me, is tall (above 6 feet easily) so gets good bounce more so on the lines of Zoysa.

Just seen Najaf Shah on Sky Sports.

Run up similar to Zaheer Khan and a very high arm action.

First wicket seam into the left hander and the second swung into the right hander.

He is definitely bowling 140kph. I mean definitely.

I honestly cant believe he isnt playing for Pakistan.

Asif, Khalil, Riaz and Rao are $hat compared to him.

Sounds good Muddy. Well hes only 20 so its good to hear we have an excellent bowler waiting in the wings.

Yes he is a very good prospect.

No hype.

Go watch the highlights on Sky Sports News.

Is there a clip online?

Check on sky sports.

The guy is very tall and thus gets very good bounce.

Not to forget that he can swing it into the right handers.

Good to hear. Did they show Yasir Ali bowling?

No Yasir Ali or Irshad.

All Arafats wickets were bowled. All seamed into the right handers.

Ok and I'd assume he was slower than Najaf since he is generally medium pace?

Definitely slower.

Around 130-135kph.

Jeez your'e smart. I thought it was obvious that 140 kph ISNT medium pace

can some1 provide the clip online. bcz to watch the hilights on sky sports u need to be a paid memeber.