What happened to Irfan Fazil?

[Jahangir Khan]

What happened to Irfan Fazil?

This guy had genuine pace but he was wayward

Why don't our board develop players b4 bringing them in.

Asif looked raw in the test match, needs to tighten his action

[Rudi hater]

I thought he looked a great prospect with serious pace in the test he played at Karachi. its a shame he has disappeared like many others. He could bat too.

[Waqar's inswinging yorker]

hope rizwan,yasin and irshaad are nortured not destroyed

yeah played only 1 test, quite skiddy I think. Terrible PCB treatment. Then they pick guys like Rao and Rana and Asif and Khalil!

[Awesome Anjum]

Faisal proves too hot to handle
Charlie Austin - 25 June 2001

Galle continues to be a happy hunting ground for Pakistan's seam bowlers. Twelve months after Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Waqar Younis bowled out Sri Lanka to win a three-match Test series, Irfan Fazil, Pakistan A's fastest bowler, overwhelmed Sri Lanka A's batsmen on the first day of the final unofficial Test Match.

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, there can be no excuses. Unlike last year when the pitch was tailor made for Pakistan's bowlers, today's surface was devoid of live grass and pedestrian in pace. Sri Lanka A wasted the advantage of winning the toss and were bowled out for just 141 in 59.2 overs.

Irfan Fazil grabbed six Sri Lankan wickets for just 38 runs to record his best ever first class bowling analysis. The 19-year-old bowled three spells in all, but was most destructive in his final two-over burst after tea, in which he clean bowled three batsmen with fast reverse swinging yorkers, straight out of the Waqar Younis school of toe crushers.

The 19-year-old has played one Test Match, against Sri Lanka last year in Karachi, but on the evidence of this tour he will be soon playing again for the senior side. An enthusiastic cricketer, forever pestering the Press Box for bowling statistics, he generates his pace from a wonderfully rhythmical long run-up and classically side ways on action. The result is a 90mph fast bowler that swings the new ball out and the new ball in.

Sri Lanka at least fought back in the evening by taking three top-order wickets. If Prasanna Jayawardene, widely considered the best wicket keeper in Sri Lanka, had grasped a difficult one-handed chance off Hasan Raza, they could even ended have the day in the ascendancy. As it was Pakistan were well placed on 75 for three at the close of play.

Earlier, Avishka Gunawardene had single handedly held Sri Lanka's batting together for the second match in succession. Still sore this morning from a match winning unbeaten 82 in the Mercantile Cricket Tournament yesterday, he pummeled a belligerent 53 from 66 balls. He would have scored more too had Raza not shrewdly plugged his chief scoring area, the deep point boundary, right from the start of his innings.

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka he swung lazily through the line of Danish Kaneria's first ball of the match to be caught at cover on the stroke of lunch. Sri Lanka's last eight wickets fell for 70 runs.

Raza brought Imran Fazil back into the attack soon after the interval for a four-over burst, in which he claimed the wickets of Jeeantha Kulatunga and Chamara Silva. Kulatunga skewed a catch to backward point as he tried to cut a wide delivery and Silva, who faced 75 balls for his nine runs, was clean bowled as he shouldered arms to a straight fast delivery. Sri Lanka were 103 for five.

Malintha Warnapura, one of seven changes to the Sri Lankan side that played in Colombo last week, then added 15 runs in 43 minutes for the sixth wicket with Jayawardene, before being caught behind off Yasir Arafat. Irfan Fazil then returned after tea to mop up the tail in style.

© CricInfo

[Awesome Anjum]

I'm not even sure if he's playing for Lahore anymore - perhaps Noddy Bhai can assist in this regard.

[Officer Barbrady]

Yes on his debut he looked like a good raw prospect. Another one in the wasted bin.

[suhaib]

he hit 90mph often, bowled good is well.

[Bailan]

I think the biggest problem in the past has been the fact that with Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib, there was never room for anyone who wasn't very decent with the bat as well, thats why players like Razzaq and mahmood got to play ahead of genuine bowlers.

But now that the vaccum is available, I think we should see some really good prospects untill these prospects start to settle and become permenent part of the team.

[Officer Barbrady]

overlord, bowlers such as Fazil came on at a time when Wasim and Waqar were in decline at least in terms of tests played. Wasim barely played a test in 2001 and after. Shoaib had continuous injury problems so there was space for a bowler or two. It has been a matter of not picking and polishing the right talents.

[safehands46]

see the problem is these guys are bowling with these actions at such a young age when their body has not fully matured. I remember wasim and Imran always saying the fast bowlers peak is supposed to be 27 now these guy are playing so much cricket at the top level that when they reach there it has a strain on the body. I blame it on our structure and the lack of coaching.

[tahaqureshi]

GARY...DON'T CRITICISE RANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE IS A QUALITY BOWLER!!!!!!!1

[Bailan]

I was making a point to a time period of over the last 10 years, where shahid nazir, mohd. akram and many others disappeared quickly


btw .... who was the main stay of the bowling attacking from 2001-2003WC??

[DM]

I remember this guy and his 90mph yorkers when he was just 18. I wonder if he had one of those fast-bowlers' injuries where everything's never the same again?

Here are 2 clips when he played for us (ODI and Test respectively):

Irfan Fazil Vs Windies - Outside Edge

Irfan Fazil Vs Sri Lanka - Bouncer - Hear the effort!


That is some pace for a teenager!

[cornelius]

The guy had a dissapointing debut and a handful of games, and then returned to domestic cricket, and the much touted first fast bowlers camp, where he was much praised by sarfraz nawaz. the the guy went and did wonders for tha pakistan A side especially in sri lanka, where the sri lanka A caoch wrote of himas having great seam n swing, and a 90mph odd inswinging yorker....there was alot of hype on pakpassion too (it was then the old rivals board).....i think ive asked this question before but i dont get answers heheh, so where is this guy?anyone know?coz i dont see him in the domestic scorecards being posted....did i miss him?

[safehands46]

I was thinking the same thing the other day.

[Amjid Javed]

A poor mans waqar younis, no radar and no control.

hasnt performed for years...!

[Mercenary]

He played in the 05/06 season in Pakistan and even in one 20/20 game but either he isn't good enough or he doesn't get enough chances because his average the last few seasons is around 40 and his List A bowling average is around 30.

He hasn't performed, so he hasn't been in the picture. Perhaps it was an injury as DM suggested or perhaps he lost hope and stopped trying.

http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archiv...by_Season.html

http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archiv...by_Season.html