Ishant

[Gambit]

Any good?

[Cricketics]

well seems to be good, touches around 141.. thing is just like piyush chawla, u can't tell about him, how good he will come out to be, perhaps if he gets ticket to england, then that will be a gr8 tester..

[Predator_05]

Good to see another Delhite making it to the Indian test side. I hope he does well. Judging by the cricinfo commentary, he was bowling in the mid 130's throughout. For an 18 year old, that isn't bad.

[sandtest]

he bowled around 135 and also wicket to wicket, tries not to give much room. let's hope he keeps himself fit...this is too early to say anything:confused_smile:

[Holysmoke]

he is more like vrv singh than anybody else. Nothing special , needs some work...

[Cricketics]

well the guy was bit bowling some extras, but we should not write him off. it was jus this first game, and he bowled well in first inngs.. 1 chance doesn't decide everything.. i am sure he will come back strongly..

[yoda]

He was terrible. Can't believe that such a useless POS like him get a chance to play test cricket so early.

[DesiChap]

He should be left alone and allowed to play at least 2 seasons of domestic cricket before international cricket

[Lurker]

One thing that bugs me is why the Indian spearheads are so weak and puny. Ishant Sharma looks tall and lanky but has weak shoulders and upper back, two key muscle group for fast bowlers. This is where VRV Singh scores over all of them. That VRV is a lousy bowler overall is a different ball game. The other day I was watching the video of Pakistan's debutant Najaf Shah. Take a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9ksq-oNq4 The chap looks big and strong, kind of Akram towards his prime. In my memory Waqar Younis was always a tough looking bloke as was Shoaib though Akram in his formative years was rather thin. I hope Indian management looks into this because with a physique like Munaf has currently(or Ishant Sharma or others) there is no way they can bowl at 90 mph plus. Currently I would rate only Sreesanth and VRV as big strong blokes along with Zaheer Khan. xxxx

[Ram]

One thing that bugs me is why the Indian spearheads are so weak and puny. Ishant Sharma looks tall and lanky but has weak shoulders and upper back, two key muscle group for fast bowlers. This is where VRV Singh scores over all of them. That VRV is a lousy bowler overall is a different ball game. The other day I was watching the video of Pakistan's debutant Najaf Shah. Take a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9ksq-oNq4 The chap looks big and strong, kind of Akram towards his prime. In my memory Waqar Younis was always a tough looking bloke as was Shoaib though Akram in his formative years was rather thin. I hope Indian management looks into this because with a physique like Munaf has currently(or Ishant Sharma or others) there is no way they can bowl at 90 mph plus. Currently I would rate only Sreesanth and VRV as big strong blokes along with Zaheer Khan. xxxx

I beg to disagree. Why this obsession with Pace ? And anyway, there is no saying that having a big physique is guarentee for pace. Pace comes from nice smooth run-up , explosion through the crease , Braced front knee and quick arm action. Not neccecarily from a big build. Agarkar is a classic example. He is probably the smallest of fast bowlers in India , but on his day he can as quick as anybody. Even Brett Lee is not that big built. The Biggest asset of Munaf, RP Singh and Ishant is their height. We have seen enough cases to see that extra bounce is more potent that express pace.Express fast bowlers are important , to run through sides on helpful conditions and clean up the tail. The focus should be on finding on bowlers who do well on most conditions, rather than a particular type.

[Predator_05]

Lurker you got to get over this obsession over physique. This is cricket we are talking about... Yeah, Ishant looks frail but in terms of speed there was no difference between him and that Najaf Shah. In fact the Pakistani's action looked very slow, no rhythym whatsoever and very laboured. Size doesn't really matter in cricket Lurker - otherwise how can a puny kid like Sami bowl at such high speeds ? Srinath in his first two seasons with Indian team had a similar build, but he could bowl with a brilliant action and generated good pace. Agarkar and Sreesanth can bowl mean spells as well, even though they are pint-sized. Fast bowling has nothing to do with muscle IMO. Irfan Pathan is strongly built, but how often do you see him bowling express ?

[Lurker]

I beg to disagree. Why this obsession with Pace ? And anyway, there is no saying that having a big physique is guarentee for pace. Pace comes from nice smooth run-up , explosion through the crease , Braced front knee and quick arm action. Not neccecarily from a big build. Agarkar is a classic example. He is probably the smallest of fast bowlers in India , but on his day he can as quick as anybody. Even Brett Lee is not that big built.

There is no obession with pace. The simple fact is that any world dominating team till date, be it Bradman's Invincibles, Lloyd's West Indies team or Steve Waugh/Ponting's Australia team has atleast one out and out pace bowler. The West Indies of late 80's were still a potent team thanks mainly to Ambrose/Walsh. Same with Pakistan. My point is no team ever has been a top-level team without an out and out pace bowler. Pacers are needed to pose doubts, and specially to make dents within lower order bats. Noone is suggesting India should have 4 Brett Lees, but why should India have 4 line and length bowlers? It would be like English team of 70's and 80's, a team of Mike Hendrick and Chris Old and I am sure you know what happened to that team.

The Biggest asset of Munaf, RP Singh and Ishant is their height. We have seen enough cases to see that extra bounce is more potent that express pace.Express fast bowlers are important , to run through sides on helpful conditions and clean up the tail. The focus should be on finding on bowlers who do well on most conditions, rather than a particular type.

Fair point on extracting bounce. No disagreement there. However I am not sure if I am convinced that Zaheer Khan, RP Singh extract a lot of bounce. Ishant Sharma should, considering he is 6'6 but it is still early days. xxxx

[Ram]

Zaheer is more of a hit-the-deck bowler... But RP Singh definately extracts xtra bounce. And what do we mean by pace ? Zaheer averages around 135-137. RP is in the 138-139 bracket and crosses 140 often.Same is the case with Sreesanth and VRV. Even Brett Lee is just 4-5 kms quicker in terms of average pace.If we go by pure stats ,we would be surprised to know how many bowlers are almost as quick as Brett lee , Shane bond etc ( read Flintoff , Darren Powell, Dilhara Fernando). But they are rarely considered express quick. Ultimately , its the bowler's skill nd not pace that matters.

[Lurker]

Zaheer is more of a hit-the-deck bowler... But RP Singh definately extracts xtra bounce. And what do we mean by pace ? Zaheer averages around 135-137. RP is in the 138-139 bracket and crosses 140 often.Same is the case with Sreesanth and VRV. Even Brett Lee is just 4-5 kms quicker in terms of average pace.If we go by pure stats ,we would be surprised to know how many bowlers are almost as quick as Brett lee , Shane bond etc ( read Flintoff , Darren Powell, Dilhara Fernando). But they are rarely considered express quick. Ultimately , its the bowler's skill nd not pace that matters.

FACT: Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, possibly West Indies all have atleast one bowler who can bowl faster than India. FACT: Only Bangladesh/Zimbabwe doesnt have someone faster than India. FACT: Brett Lee is capable of touching 150 consistently, as is Shaun Tait(one reason why Australia are dominant), none of Indian bowlers exceeds 145. FACT: Fastest bowlers are often the best bet against tail-enders. Indian bowling continues to be exploited by even the likes of Bangla tail-enders. Look, I am not saying we need 4 Mohammed Sami. NO. But we do not need 4 Munaf Patel either. We need a good left armer with heigh and bounce(Zaheer Khan), we need a right arm pacer with good seam control(Sreesanth), one good spinner(or two depending where we play) and a good out and out pacer like Tait or Malinga. That would make me happy. xxxx

[Ram]

Look, I am not saying we need 4 Mohammed Sami. NO. But we do not need 4 Munaf Patel either. We need a good left armer with heigh and bounce(Zaheer Khan), we need a right arm pacer with good seam control(Sreesanth), one good spinner(or two depending where we play) and a good out and out pacer like Tait or Malinga. That would make me happy. xxxx

Agree with you... yes..

[Anakin]

FACT: Ozs have not been dominant because of lee or tait, rather for McWarne duo. Let's see what happens now. I'll bet they won't win as many as they've been for a long time

[Predator_05]

FACT: Ozs have not been dominant because of lee or tait' date=' rather for McWarne duo. Let's see what happens now. I'll bet they won't win as many as they've been for a long time[/quote'] Exactly ! AUS's best bowling attack; McGrath, Gillespie, Warne, Kasprowicz/McGill/Fleming, etc. This was the bowling attack which won them those 16 consecutive tests. Lee has always been an average bowler in Tests - he has over 50 caps, but that average is still in the 30's. How pathetic.

[King Tendulkar]

To me he looked ok. Good strong run up and delivery and bowled fairly accuratley. He may not be ready yet but in 3 or 4 years time I reckon he will be a good pacer. Bowled low 80s will surley in 2 or 3 years time have increased that.

[gator]

if bulk dictates, how fast abowler bowls, Haydos will clock 160 right out of bed... if u go down history, some of the best fast bowlers were lean, mean machines.... Roberts, Holding, potentially Malinga, Akram in the 80s and early 90s, Bob willis... even Imran used to have very puny arms in the mid 80s when he was at his fiery best.... Pathan has one of the best physiques in world cricket at the moment... but he struggles to even clock 125 kph...

[gator]

Bowled low 80s will surley in 2 or 3 years time have increased that.

will hold true for all other team, bar us... we only go lower thanks to restaurant businesses ;)