Wahab has improved a lot over the past few years.  The first two years or so he bowled around the early 80s to mid 80s and now he has consistently been touching the 90 mph mark.  The only issue I see with his bowling is his line and length.  I believe that if he plays some more cricket, especially county cricket where he will bowl lengthy spells of 25+ overs, he will be able to sort this out. 

 

Wahab’s yorkers

 

Wahab has great yorkers, with some occasionally being misdirected and out of line.  However, playing county cricket is really going to help him a lot.

 

Wahab’s line and length

 

When he tries too hard to generate some extra pace, his bowling gets wavered.  These sorts of issues take some time to be worked out.  The more he plays the longer format of the game, especially four-day cricket where he will be bowling long spells, I feel he can get it all sorted out and he will continue to improve.  Overall, I am impressed with Wahab and the improvements he has made to his bowling in the last year or so.

 

Wahab playing all formats of the game?

 

That is something that needs to be considered because playing so much cricket makes a player vulnerable to injury and once a fast bowler gets a major injury, his career is naturally shortened.  He needs to focus on playing selective cricket.

 

Wahab’s Pace

 

It’s all about hard work and I’ve seen him work extremely hard over the past 5-6 years. He’s certainly trained hard and built up strength and as result has added around 5-7 miles to his pace.  I feel if he continues to train for another year or so, he will be able to add another mile or two.

 

 

On Umar Gul's lacklustre Test record

 

He has great yorkers and when the bowl is reversing, he is unplayable.  He excels in the Twenty20 format as you need to have a very good yorker.  I feel he needs to learn to get some assistance from the pitch and off the seam and add some cutters – in cutters, off cutters, leg cutters, to his bowling armory.  This will help him improve a great deal in test cricket.  

 

Umar Gul needs to add variety to his bowling.  While he does bowl the odd-delivery that’s 90+ mph, unlike Shoaib or Wahab, he was never an express bowler.  He doesn’t have extraordinary swing so he needs to work on adding variation to his bowling such as off cutters and leg cutters.  The best person who can work with him and guide him would be Wasim Akram.

 

To be able to perform in test cricket, either you need to have extraordinary control on your line and length like Glen McGrath - where you bowl for the entire day without bowling a loose delivery and maintain an impeccable line and length, or you need to add variation to your bowling as in the case of Wasim and Waqar.  In Gul's case, he tries to bowl like an express bowler, but he isn’t really express.

 

On Junaid Khan

 

Junaid has a very good action.  He has a great outswinger to the right-handed batsmen as well as a decent slower delivery.  He will continue to improve day by day and playing county cricket will do him a lot of good.  He will also get a good understanding of the conditions here in England and learn that it’s not all about pace but also the ability to maintain your line and length. I feel that Junaid should focus on building his strength by training more and maintaining a proper diet.  This will not only help him prolong his career, but will also help to improve him as a bowler.  He needs to build up his muscles as that is vital for international cricket.

 

On Tanvir Ahmed

 

I am very impressed by Tanvir’s fitness as he is almost 33 years old and has been a well-known name in first-class cricket over the past 12 years.  He is an extremely hard-working cricketer.  Even though he is not express by any means, he is a very good swing bowler and I feel that he can play cricket for Pakistan for another 2-3 years.  He can swing the ball both ways – inswing, outswing and he is Pakistan's only bowler that can swing the ball in all conditions. Out of all the fast bowlers in Pakistan, he probably has the best fitness.

 

On Mohammad Sami – where did it all go wrong?

 

Sami always had great potential and it was because of this potential that he actually played all those tests for Pakistan.  My personal assessment of Sami, since I have also played some cricket alongside him, is that he was not mentally strong and never realized his potential.  Sami relied only on his pace. Many years ago, all of us – Wasim, Waqar, and I, kept telling him that he lacked wrist control and that was affecting his accuracy. Furthermore, he was never really able to assess the opposition batsman’s strength and weaknesses.

 

 

 

Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of PakPassion.net.

PakPassion.net is a cricket fan's forum and strives to bring to the fans the views of those involved in the game. The views of such external contributors are presented without editorialising or comment by PakPassion.net. 

PakPassion.net does not accept responsibility for any reliance being placed on any of the information contained in this external article; anyone relying on the information presented herein does so entirely at their own risk.