Ishant Sharma a potential alltime great ?! Pfft! Ishant won't take 100 test wickets!

[CC1981]

And here is why: Ishant will play 6-7 more ODIs this month, then he will play 3 tests against South Africa, 2 against Zimbabwe, 3 against Sri Lanka...taking 4-5 wicket/match against them ( giving him 35-40 more wickets), will then play 15-20 ODIs in meanwhile...all this in the next 4-5 months. Our BCCI bosses will play Ishant in each and every match, even the farewell benifit match for Vengky (yeah, he never got one!), too busy to cash in on our 'saawla Ambrose'. Ishant will then play 1 test vs the Aussies, get injured and miss the rest of the season. Then he will come back against Pakistan next year, bowl at 125kph, get carted by MoYo-Younis for 100 runs everytime he takes a wicket and then it will be the Aggy route- in one match, 3-4 wickets-->injury--->out 2-3 months. No point getting all hyped up over him, he is going straight to the garbage pile in a year or two. BCCI may be the most mismanaged and corrupt board on the planet but they do one thing better than ANY other board: Overwork and then kill off young fast bowlers with promise. First Nehra, then Zaheer, then Pathan...Ishant is next in line to give 5-10 more tests of promising performance and then fade away to nothingness.

[fineleg]

U left out L.Balaji...yep, ZK staged a comeback...but most others will be burned and destroyed by bcci. Even RP Singh and SS will be injured by BCCI We will be left with trundlers like JPYadav for Tests!

[Guest HariSampath]

Wasim Akram : Ishant should play each and every game possible for next couple of years, that is the best way to develop his pace with his bowling muscles adjusting naturally, and Ishant is only 19. Imran Khan : There is no substitute to bowling in matches, and that is the best way for a fast bowler to develop. I always recommend a fast bowler does less gym and just bowl 8 overs per day in a match or as if bowling in a match at the nets, that is how I developed. And our ICF troll knows more than these two men ..LOL....ICF award for worst garbage post ( on cricket), 'cos he has other garbage posts on other topics too Preserve this thread, mods and please dont merge, we need this to shove it up CC's backside EACH time Ishant performs !

[CC1981]

And our ICF troll knows more than these two men

Obviously, because as far as Imran-Wasim's advice is concerned, they are 0-5 in the negetive direction- didn't work with Aggy, didnt work with Zaks, Nehra, Balaji or Irfu. They all played a lot, got injured and except for Zaheer, are /were finished inside the next 2-3 yrs of debut as serious bowling prospects. You can do chamchaagiri to the opinions of big-names. I will go by precedence and common sense, thank you.

we need this to shove it up CC's backside

Yet again, something grotesquely sexual comes dribbling out of your fetid middle-aged brain. Hmmmmm. PS: Sarcasm is obviously a trait lost on you. Yet another example of 'indian education' perhaps ?

[Guest HariSampath]

Imran Khan's advice and approach worked for 3 fast bowlers : Imran himself, and Wasim Akram and Waquar Younis , both of them have said this on record. All three are great fast bowlers, and obviously the Aggies, Balajis etc were never in that category ( maybe your canadian education refers to these classes as "great"...NO, ) with reference to your OP, the talk is only of potentially "great" fast bowlers, and NOBODY at any time had even considered Irfans., Zaks etc as potentially "great" fast bowler, Lethal , express etc. It is ONLY Ishant Sharma who has been termed such by almost all senior cricketers/ex cricketers/journos/fans etc cutting across countries. And if it comes to taking Wasim's word or your word on fast bowling, obvious whose word I would take, and when it comes to your word or anyone's word on anything, again the same thing..

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Guest HariSampath]

what if the choice was between toilet paper and his words ... my mind boggles

The way his words come in a torrent, I would think HE needs several rolls :hysterical:

[fineleg]

BB and HS - anyway you guys are in a fight with CC on the politics board. Best to restrict all fights there.

[King]

Feel free to contest someone's views but don't go around calling names guys. We don't want debates that doesn't concern cricket in cricket forums please. Keep this forums clean.

[fineleg]

Feel free to contest someone's views but don't go around calling names guys. We don't want debates that doesn't concern cricket in cricket forums please. Keep this forums clean.

Exactly. This conveys it clearly.

[Dhondy]

There is a bit of hype, no doubt. Just saw that Srinath came up with a statement that Ishant is prpbably the "best bowler in the world" currently. That's just a staggering accolade to be heaped on a 19 year old who averages 45 in Tests, and will annoy many non Indians and some "Indians" like CC. You can excuse the enthusiasm though, can't you? This is India's first flirtation with fast bowling greatness. We have always yearned for the Imrans, the Ambroses, the McGraths, but never had anybody remotely close to them, except for Kapil at his peak, and even his career stats don't half measure up to these guys. So yes, we are all getting a bit carried away, which is bound to engender a bit of mirth among other fans. As for whether CC is right or Hari, nobody knows. There's certainly enough to support both POVs. The fate of bowlers like Balaji, Nehra, Gul, Asif and Bond is cautionery. Imran himself broke down several times through his career, and Waqar's greatness was truncated by his back problems. In the later half of his career, he was a good, rather than a great bowler. However, Wasim and McGrath epitomise the other side of the coin. They had phenomenal Test and ODI careers, rarely got injured, and Wasim, at least managed to maintain his speed quite late into his playing days. Can Ishant come even close to these two giants? Who knows? I am not in the prediction game, but it's fair to say that he's got a few people excited with his speed, movement, attitude and the rapid strides he's made in a short space of time.

[fineleg]

' date=' but it's fair to say that he's got a few people excited with his speed, movement, attitude and the rapid strides he's made in a short space of time.[/quote'] Only worry is "Is this a short lived excitement" Time will tell - like the affable Arun Lal would say heh heh

[Guest HariSampath]

I had posted on the other Ishant Sharma thread that it is early to call him already "great", and we can do that only after seeing him play game after game without wkts on dead subcontinent pitches, getting dropped , showing attitude and coming back after bad performances etc. But from what we had seen, he is certainly "potentially" great, no question about it. Not just the fact he added on 10 k pace in 4 weeks. He is able to bowl 10 -12 over spells , with 4-5 145K balls in his last overs, beats and gets batters like Ponting , Symonds and Clarke, with pace , movement and bounce. Has topped 150k. Has a very easy uncomplicated action, reducing risk of injury. See the past fast bowling greats who were tall, like Garner, Ambrose, McGrath , Walsh etc, they rarely broke down due to injury and all of them had one thing common, a nice easy flowing action. Gilchrist, who has faced him says he is "lethal", and for a top 'keeper like Gilly who had kept to and seen some of the best fast bowlers, say that, it is a huge compliment. Aussie fast bowler Fleming calls him as a potential # 1 in the world. Gavaskar says Ishant will surely become a top world class fast bowler. So does Wasim Akram. Ponting too says he is special...and these guys have a 100 years of top cricket between them and all are greats themselves. So, from what I had seen, I am also in complete agreement that he is definitely a potential fast bowling great. CC says Ishant will end up garbage....well....whats new !!

[Dhondy]

The magnitude of his task is illustrated by the fact that even if he were to take his next 100 wickets at 23, an unheard of feat for an Indian, who play around 45% of their Test matches at home, he'd still average only 25.42 with the ball. That's around Shoaib territory, but nowhere in the league of greats such as McGrath, Marshall, Donald or Wasim. The boy has a long, long way to go.

[Guest HariSampath]

^, but these averages are projections, and even to get 100 wkts at 25 is very good, considering he bowls half the time on Indian tracks. Most importantly, for a fast bowler to be succesful, he needs another comparable level fast bowler at the other end, playing consistently with him. Fast bowlers hunt in pairs,Lillee-Thommo, Wasim-Waqar, Windies bowlers, and Ishant will do lots better if he had a very good long term bowling partner.

[mhr123]

^' date=' but these averages are projections, and even to get 100 wkts at 25 is very good, considering he bowls half the time on Indian tracks. Most importantly, for a fast bowler to be succesful, he needs another comparable level fast bowler at the other end, playing consistently with him. Fast bowlers hunt in pairs,Lillee-Thommo, Wasim-Waqar, Windies bowlers, and Ishant will do lots better if he had a very good long term bowling partner.[/quote'] I am sure sharma and Rp can form a good pair... not sure if Zak can hold up . But if we have Zak , Sharma and RP even on Sub Continent conditions they would be challenging. I said it earlier Glen Mcgrath has come back but with a slight change , now he is playing for India. :icflove:

[Dhondy]

I am sure sharma and Rp can form a good pair... not sure if Zak can hold up . But if we have Zak , Sharma and RP even on Sub Continent conditions they would be challenging. I said it earlier Glen Mcgrath has come back but with a slight change , now he is playing for India. :icflove:

It's the much derided Sreesanth who has the best average among Indian bowlers, at 28, and I believe it's he, along with Ishant and RP who will form the backbone of the Indian attack for the next few years, while Zaheer will fade away.

[Guest HariSampath]

In tests, yes Sreeshant and RP will play successfully along with Ishant, but ODI's ??? First the spirit of Agarkar has to be exorcised from Sreegarkar, and we need to retrieve Sreeshanth :-)

[The Outsider]

The amount of workload a modern international cricketer endures is not comparable to the one Imran and Akram were subject to, so not sure if they are the best people to judge the situation.

[mhr123]

The amount of workload a modern international cricketer endures is not comparable to the one Imran and Akram were subject to' date=' so not sure if they are the best people to judge the situation.[/quote'] Wasim has recently retired from all forms of cricket, u cannot by any means label him has yesteryear cricketer.