Pathan should change his game if he wants to get back in the test side

[bharat297]

In my opinion. If Irfan Pathan wants to get back into the side (and I think he 'could' be our long term no.6, all rounder), I believe he needs to change his approach. I think he needs to firstly accept the fact that he is never going to be a 135+ bowler. At best he is 130. Therefore, I think if Pathan changed his style so that he became more of a medium pacer, who bowls with the keeper up to the stumps and bowls some cutters and slower balls and hopefully get some swing, he could be a very good addition to our test side as a replacement for Ganguly. His batting is good and he needs to continue to work hard on his batting because if Pathan can take the no.6 spot in Tests, we have a very well balanced side, with 2 spinners and 3 pacemen.

[Ram]

Forcefully disagree. For test cricket, one of the two of batting or bowling needs to be exceptional enough for a player to find his place in the team, on that strength alone. We must recognize that there is fundamental difference between tests and LOIs. For LOIs ( be it the 50 over format or T20), you need multiskilled players, coz the nature of the game is so fluid that you need people to raise their hands and perform roles that they normally were not accustomed to doing. But tests is an entirely different ball game. Rarely are test matches won on the back of a rearguard tail-ending partnership, nor are they won on bits and pieces contributions from all-rounders. So, blatantly, there is no place in tests for bits and pieces cricketers. If you want a place in the test side, you must be able hold you place either on the strength of a) Your batting b) Bowling Irfan doesnt fall in either of the category. I can easily point fingers to Indian pace bowlers who are better than him and Indian middle order batsman who are better than him. At these current levels of performance, Irfan should be nowhere near the test team. Of course, LOIs are an entirely different ball game alltogether.

[Ram]

His batting is good and he needs to continue to work hard on his batting because if Pathan can take the no.6 spot in Tests, we have a very well balanced side, with 2 spinners and 3 pacemen.

Had to point out the anomaly in this statement. Test matches arent won on 'team balance'. It won because the specialist batsman make runs and the specialist bowlers take wickets, full stop. Even the world beating Aussie team in the last 15 years had only 4 specialist bowlers and some part-timers and quite simply, they got the job done.

[The Outsider]

Pathan should spend 2 seasons playing as a batsman at number 4 or 5 for his domestic team with occasional bowling if he is to have a future in the Indian side. He is at the absolute bottom of the pecking order as far as fast bowlers in the fray for India are concerned. And anyhow, we just don't have good enough spinners to play 2 specialist ones. Sehwag can be used as a decent part time option.

[Online]

i read it as "change his NAME"

[diegovegaz]

he is nowhere near to swinging a ball his length is too short, line poor, indeed either wide outside the off stump, or drifting leg side the good length deliveries, which he rarely bowls nowdays, aren't fast enough for the batsmen to miss he is being targetted and hammered by all he should spend more than a year with wasim akram and waqar younus, relearn the art of bowling and come back

[DomainK]

He is doing well in tv dance shows. He has got some looks and can find some more roles if he tries hard.

[Fontaine]

Dude where's my swing? Seriously though, Pathan was swinging the ball and generally kicking ***** when he was playing a test in Australia where the pitch wasn't dead. The problem with Pathan is that he's not good enough to make a difference on dead flat pitches and since he has no pace is exposed. So please let's not judge him as a test player based on ODI situations like the Kit Kat and Asia cup. However, on bouncy, swing pitches I would consider him an important part of the test squad. Whether he makes the final 11 depends on who else is there etc.

[DomainK]

Dude where's my swing? Seriously though, Pathan was swinging the ball and generally kicking ***** when he was playing a test in Australia where the pitch wasn't dead. The problem with Pathan is that he's not good enough to make a difference on dead flat pitches and since he has no pace is exposed. So please let's not judge him as a test player based on ODI situations like the Kit Kat and Asia cup. However, on bouncy, swing pitches I would consider him an important part of the test squad. Whether he makes the final 11 depends on who else is there etc.

A very important one. He can make life very difficult for any opening batsman with some help from the pitch. But if there is no help, even school boys would score off him.

[bharat297]

I dno ... I look at sides like Australia and England and SAF and can see the benefits of having an allrounder there.

[Fontaine]

A very important one. He can make life very difficult for any opening batsman with some help from the pitch. But if there is no help' date=' even school boys would score off him.[/quote'] Who else does that sound like? Mitchell Johnson a couple of years ago that's who! It took Johnson years before he could learn to bowl better when the conditions didn't help, let's see how long it takes Pathan.

[yoda]

Mediocre all-rounders are useless in tests.

[The Outsider]

I dno ... I look at sides like Australia and England and SAF and can see the benefits of having an allrounder there.

An all rounder who can hold his spot in the side as a specialist batsman or bowler is a superb addition. Anything less than that is a waste in tests. It's not a game for bits and pieces players. Pathan should seriously consider playing as a specialist middle order batsman for Baroda. He is better than Yuvraj in tests and would have a good chance after our middle order retires.