Any comments on Rao and Rana's Batting??

[pakistan_pride]

I personally seem them as great all rounders. Rao has shown in every match that he can bat and support the seniors players. To cite an examle just look at the last sheik Zayed Cup match between india and pak. Rao supported Inzi very well. Also Rana is a very good batsmen who has scored a century in domestic cricket. These both have great careers ahead of them and hope their batting helps out our test team against WI.

What do you guys think????

[Officer Barbrady]

They are handy with the bat but not 'great' all-rounders by any stretch of imagination.

[Mercenary]

they are bowlers who can bat more than all-rounders.

I think Riaz Afridi would be a more exciting prospect in this regard, he bowls an honest line and length and would do well on bowlers pitches, then add his batting which consists of Afridi-style aggression and you have another big hitter down the order!!

[Daoud]

Calling them allrounders is stretching it. But their batting isnt bad though

[Gasherbrum]

yup, rana's got a mean cover drive though. didn't he originally make the team as a backup allrounder to razzak?

[Ilyas]

Yes: Rana has scroed first class century. As for Rao, I do not think he is as good as Rana. However both these players plus Sami have to learn to play a few strokes on both the sides of wicket. Without that, they usually can stay at the wicket, but make no real contribution to the scorecard, especially Sami. Rana can play afew strokes, but still needs to improve on it. When Rana was not able to score runs in the one-day against India at Karachi when Pakistanis were chasing 350, I think confidence in his batting went down. It came back a bit during Aussie tour...

[Big Daddy]

lemmy make less painful for either .
ummmmmmmm.........no comment

[smoothcriminal]

i think out of the tailenders rana has the ability to become an all-rounder, not the Razzaq or Mahmood type all rounder(even though Mahmood has a pretty ordinary average in odi's), but some1 who can contribute with the bat

[the true passionist]

yeh they aren't great...handy is a good word....can even hold up an end for 3-5 overs
But it seems that they will not result in a hatrick while chasing 4 in the last over

[Awesome Anjum]

They are both handy with the bat. If rana worked harder he could improve at International level, as he is considered as an all rounder in domestic Cricket - perhaps his stint with sussex may help him.

[Asim2Good]

rana has improved lately in his batting as well but in beginning it doesn't look like that he can bat as well

[Master-P]

Rana can have a average or the early 20's as far as batting concerned and thats what afridi has so i don't know why people think he cant be casted as an allrounder.

[tahaqureshi]

I think in domestic cricket he is allrounder...but considering our atrocious domestic system, the PCB probably cut his average of 30 something to 15. Thats why he has been brought into the team as a bowler ONLY. Yet I think after seeing glimpses of his batting, we may have a real handy man with the bat who can be pushed up to 7 in the order if need be.

[waheed]

Ilyas Tape Ball Specialist Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 246 Yes: Rana has scroed first class century. As for Rao, I do not think he is as good as Rana. However both these players plus Sami have to learn to play a few strokes on both the sides of wicket. Without that, they usually can stay at the wicket, but make no real contribution to the scorecard, especially Sami. Rana can play afew strokes, but still needs to improve on it. When Rana was not able to score runs in the one-day against India at Karachi when Pakistanis were chasing 350, I think confidence in his batting went down. It came back a bit during Aussie tour...

Excellent Points Ilyas.

I've allways thought the same, the like of Sami and before him Saqlain are good at sticking around and can do a very good job for Pakistan in Test matches when there is a specialist batsmen batting with them. But if they find themselves in the situation, as often is the case where they are batting with the tail, there limited stroke play restricts what they can do and they tend get dismissed cheapely.

The need to develop a range of shots to play, as Sami currently has a good forward defensive shot, the glide to third man, the nudge of his pads and his one power shot the lofted off drive that he loves to play, apart from that I don't think I have seen him play any other shots.

If they do not develop the only time they will be able to contribute significantly to the team as batsmen will be as nightwatchmen, as was the case with Saqlain who famously scored one of the dourest and slowest 100's of all times, against New Zealand in 2001.

As for Rana, Rao, Sami, Arshad and the like I don't think they will go on to become allrounders, as the original post claims, and definetly not great allrounders.

Rana has the best potential out of the 4 with his greater range of shots, and for a lower order batsmen he is not afraid of the short ball, and normally plays it pretty well.

Only saw Riaz Afridi in one innings last year, but he seemed to be a front foot player who likes to drive. From what I recall he seem to have problems dealing with the short ball and eventually got out to it aswell.

[Daoud]

Right after the WC, Sami was batting and bowling brilliantly in ODIs. It looked like he could become a very useful bowling allrounder in that form of the game, and showed potential to be a better batsman (in ODIs) than someone like Wasim.

[Jahangir Khan]

Rana is an allrounder where as Rao is a bowler who can bat. Unfortunately for them both, due to the other allrounders in the side, their chances are limited with the bat and they need to concentrate more on their bowling as they are front line bowlers. Rana is a potential six hitter where as Rao plays more ground strokes and might be suitable as a 9th/10th wicket partner for one of the batsmen in a test match.

Hopefully, their batting won't be needed in Windies as the batsmen in the side should score heavily.

[waheed]

Disagree with that slightly, I think gone are the days when Bowlers should only concentrate on bowling and not batting.

It is a 3 Dimensional game as we are constantly being told, and bowlers need to put as much effort into there batting and fielding as much as there bowling.

Gillispie, and Mcgrath were rabbits with the bat when they started, but they have worked on there game and regullarly help Australia with very usefull contributions down the order, protecting there wickets when there is a batsman and playing shots when they are batting with the tail.

[Jahangir Khan]

I agree that bowlers need to be able to bat but first they need to be able to perform with the ball. If you are a bowler who is not performing with the ball but is doing so with the bat, you will be unlikely to keep your place in the side.

Australia are lucky because their bowlers are so well established and know exactly what they are doing with their bowling that they can afford to devote more time to batting.

If a bowler does not feel happy with his bowling, he needs to practice hard until he is, rather than turning his attention to batting.