"Form is temporary, class is permanent"
"Catches win matches"
These are the things that we normally tend to hear about the batsmen and fielders respectively when they find themselves out of form and selector's radar. Nothing about the bowlers though. We have been witness to so may run fest's these days. The one's that get close are billed as instant classics. A case in point being the match played at Rajkot last year between India and Sri Lanka. That epic match at Johannesburg had its moments for the batsmen but nobody remembers that Bracken had a five wicket haul in the match. Considering the match and the situation it was a Titanic performance. One point that can be easily derived from all of this is that not only does a bowler, need to be on the winning team but he needs to deliver a knock-out punch to be remembered
Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, and Suraj Randiv are the bowlers who have been in news in the last one month for various reasons. While the first two are embroiled in match-fixing controversy and are still having the backing of their board, Randiv, on the other hand was publicly punished by his board and his act was denounced in the public
Making his debut against Australia and going wicketless in his debut match. It was not until next year that he got his second opportunity against India at Faisalabad. On what was a featherbed, he got a single wicket to show for his efforts. The only silver-lining was that it was his first wicket in Tests and Yuvraj Singh was his victim. It was in the very next Test against India that he shot into prominence. More so in the second innings when he cleaned up both Laxman and Tendulkar
He burst upon the collective consciousness of the cricketing world when he grabbed 11 wickets in the second Test against Sri Lanka thus enabling Pakistan to win the series 1-0. It was thrilling to the senses when he swung the ball both ways and it seemed as if Pakistan unearthed their next great bowling talent ....
The joy was short lived as he got embroiled in one controversy after the other. He was a part of the controversy with Akhtar and was then caught up with taking Nandralone and was found to have failed the drugs test in IPL. This match fixing row now more or less ensures that it would be the final nail in the coffin for him
Mohammad Amir, the 18 year old sensation has just embarked on what seemed to be a long journey. He exploded into the crowd's senses with a wicket of the first over he bowled in Test cricket. After 6 wickets in his first Test, he failed to take any more wickets in the series. He had to endure a pretty ordinary series in New Zealand too. It was in Melbourne that he burst onto the world scene with a five wicket haul and the present tour to England where Pakistan played both Australia and England was pretty productive for him. Its a pity that his career is slipping into depths just as it was about to start blooming. Will the ICC ever let him play again or not will be answered by time
One thing that needs to be stated here is when Gibbs was found to be guilty, he was let free with some fines and Ajay Jadeja was awarded a 5-year ban. Is the ICC biased towards the batsmen?
Coming to Suraj Randiv, he earned the collective wrath of a billion people when he denied Sehwag a deserving century by bowling a no-ball. He was crucified by his own board which suspended him for a match. Well he was bowling within the rules- gamesmanship or not. No rule in MCC states that a player should be allowed free passage to 100 if he is on 99. Would there be a similar outrage if the umpire gives a wicket run-out instead of stumped and it all happens because of the batsman's deliberateness! I don't think so
Its time bowlers are treated properly as they are the most vital cogs, who need to take those 20 wickets to put their team on a winning platform
"Catches win matches"
These are the things that we normally tend to hear about the batsmen and fielders respectively when they find themselves out of form and selector's radar. Nothing about the bowlers though. We have been witness to so may run fest's these days. The one's that get close are billed as instant classics. A case in point being the match played at Rajkot last year between India and Sri Lanka. That epic match at Johannesburg had its moments for the batsmen but nobody remembers that Bracken had a five wicket haul in the match. Considering the match and the situation it was a Titanic performance. One point that can be easily derived from all of this is that not only does a bowler, need to be on the winning team but he needs to deliver a knock-out punch to be remembered
Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, and Suraj Randiv are the bowlers who have been in news in the last one month for various reasons. While the first two are embroiled in match-fixing controversy and are still having the backing of their board, Randiv, on the other hand was publicly punished by his board and his act was denounced in the public
Making his debut against Australia and going wicketless in his debut match. It was not until next year that he got his second opportunity against India at Faisalabad. On what was a featherbed, he got a single wicket to show for his efforts. The only silver-lining was that it was his first wicket in Tests and Yuvraj Singh was his victim. It was in the very next Test against India that he shot into prominence. More so in the second innings when he cleaned up both Laxman and Tendulkar
He burst upon the collective consciousness of the cricketing world when he grabbed 11 wickets in the second Test against Sri Lanka thus enabling Pakistan to win the series 1-0. It was thrilling to the senses when he swung the ball both ways and it seemed as if Pakistan unearthed their next great bowling talent ....
The joy was short lived as he got embroiled in one controversy after the other. He was a part of the controversy with Akhtar and was then caught up with taking Nandralone and was found to have failed the drugs test in IPL. This match fixing row now more or less ensures that it would be the final nail in the coffin for him
Mohammad Amir, the 18 year old sensation has just embarked on what seemed to be a long journey. He exploded into the crowd's senses with a wicket of the first over he bowled in Test cricket. After 6 wickets in his first Test, he failed to take any more wickets in the series. He had to endure a pretty ordinary series in New Zealand too. It was in Melbourne that he burst onto the world scene with a five wicket haul and the present tour to England where Pakistan played both Australia and England was pretty productive for him. Its a pity that his career is slipping into depths just as it was about to start blooming. Will the ICC ever let him play again or not will be answered by time
One thing that needs to be stated here is when Gibbs was found to be guilty, he was let free with some fines and Ajay Jadeja was awarded a 5-year ban. Is the ICC biased towards the batsmen?
Coming to Suraj Randiv, he earned the collective wrath of a billion people when he denied Sehwag a deserving century by bowling a no-ball. He was crucified by his own board which suspended him for a match. Well he was bowling within the rules- gamesmanship or not. No rule in MCC states that a player should be allowed free passage to 100 if he is on 99. Would there be a similar outrage if the umpire gives a wicket run-out instead of stumped and it all happens because of the batsman's deliberateness! I don't think so
Its time bowlers are treated properly as they are the most vital cogs, who need to take those 20 wickets to put their team on a winning platform
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