Irfan Pathan

He is still an incredibly skilled bolwer ith the new ball as shown against Pakistan with hat-trick but I agree as of late he has been a bit inconsistent bowling wise.A couple of months ago I would agreed with you that he was a bit inconspicuous with the old ball but in this series with England he has reversed the ball a lot - take for example the beauty that got Alistair Cook in the 1st test. Also, his batting has improved more than perhaps anybody in world cricket so he has focused on that a bit perhaps. He is starting to look better with the old ball but the only reason it has taken so long is in my opinion is that he rarely gets a chance with kumble and bhaji bowling with the old ball. Also, you must remember that his past 3three series have been on the dead sub continent where anybody's stats will suffer. In the previous series outside the sub continent- against Zimbabwe admittedly - he made excellent use of the helpful conditions - taking a world record 23 wickets in two tests iI think it was. He might have lost a touch of pace but he has gained control - the fact that he is bowling slower is apparen'tly bowling a tad slower is also dur to the fatc that he is holding his thumb across the seam rather than along it- he is aware of this though and does it by choice to gain extra swing. So the potential is still there to bowl faster. So do not worry - there is still much to come from the HOTTEST PROPERTY IN WORLD CRICKET!!!!!

i agree with sehwag no. 1.

i also feel that pathan is not being that effective with the old ball as he was a few yrs ago.

but still as long as he is taking wickets we shouldn't mind it.

but guys outside the first couple of overs, unless its a poor shot by the batsman irfan pathan is not performing, his pace is non existing, his average is around 120k i mean u have to say that is slow for an opening bowler, thats almost as fast as kumble

i bet no indian bowler is at present feeling as comfortable as pathan with the new ball.

in the recent matches he is the only bowler who is taking wickets with the new ball.

but he is facing a stiff competition from the others and he will have to increase his pace if he wants to be the pace spearhead

I agree that he has not been upto hi best recently. I think he is concentrating more on his batting because he enjoys it more and that the team has good bowlers like RP Singh, Sreesanth, Kumble. I think it's just for the time being. Another possibility is that he could be out of form.

but guys first day against england, HORRIBLE! to say the least i think his bad bowling is catching up to him, no more of the batsman bailing him out

i agree we should be patient but our bench strength is getting better and the one not performing can be in serious trouble.

i hope pathan finds his form and demolish the english batsmen in the next inn.

Originally posted by jumbo i agree we should be patient but our bench strength is getting better and the one not performing can be in serious trouble. i hope pathan finds his form and demolish the english batsmen in the next inn.

Fingers crossed for him.

Yeh, exactly, maybe he just wasnt so sure.

rp soingh can replace him for the bowling not batting

of course at present we don't have anyone who can replace him as others r still learning. he is a proven act

but if he has started concentrating on his batting and his bowling is affected then in near future he can be in trouble.

the thing is i don't think he is a fit as he was, the reason y he is bowling slower is because he thinks that is the speed where you get optimum swing etc, so therefore his body doesnt need to be as fit, still a good slogger though. But he still can bowl in the 80mph zone 2day against england he bowled on that read 84.6mph i think, but yer ur right he has lost alot of his fire as a bowler, patel is an interesting prospect though, sreesanth looks like a 14yr old boy.

His bowling has dropped off, his batting has improved but it is not consistent..He really needs to focus on his bowling, that is what India need a quality, swing pace bowler, not a half ass medium paacer like in the past. INDIA DO NOT need an extra batsmen, if he can slog or get osme runs at the bottomm that is handy, but he needs to be there as a bowler.

He is going away like Zaheer. He should not. Something is wrong with him. He will back soon. He is still a better bowler than Zaheer to go away that easily. Once he is back in form then he will come back hard and then will be more consistent.

The thing is that they are asking too much of Pathan! They want him to be an outstanding all-rounder! They want him to score runs and take wickets! Too much pressure, and he'll collapse.