Top order wickets

[daryl1985]

In terms of pure talent do you guys rate Sreesanth or Ishant Sharma higher?

[CSK Fan]

What great stats. If he can only be a bit more disciplined, he can go places! BTW, we should also remember, that India's bug bear has more often than not been the bottom order wickets and not top order. How many times have we lost a match after getting the team 5-6 wickets down but failing to finsih off the tail. But now both Zak and Ishant seem to be able to do that for us which augurs well

[Vijay.Sharma]

In terms of pure talent do you guys rate Sreesanth or Ishant Sharma higher?

Disco, any day and every day is better than Lambu talent wise

[Ram]

Sreesanth never was and never will be, a 25-avg-in-test-cricket bowler. The electric start to his test career was an anomaly, than the norm. He has so many factors working against him – As a bowler, he is too erratic and inconsistent. His body has been prone to semi-frequent injuries. Because of these two factors, he will always be in and out of the team. When you’re constantly undergoing such periods of transition, it is close to impossible to establish a pattern of wicket taking. Plus, more than half of the pitches that he plays his test cricket on are absolute graveyards for fast bowler. Especially when he’s playing at home, the window of opportunity to take wickets is extremely narrow (either in the 1st session when the ball is new and there’s some swing around or during the last session if there’s some reverse swing). In these conditions, Indian pacers are frequently going to have figures of 20-1-70-1, which is going to kill their averages. But, that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that he’s one of the standout bowlers of Indian cricket and should be an automatic selection in an Indian test side.

[Tigerbait]

Sree is a good support bowler in test cricket. Mental issues aside, he is good enough to play for India.

[Sachinism]

Sree will always remain a tool Everyone has been saying the same thing for years and it doesn't seem to have made an iota of difference

[yoda]

In terms of pure talent do you guys rate Sreesanth or Ishant Sharma higher?

Ishant. Has better control and can be better than Sree when at his best.

[Mariyam]

@ VVS: Are these ODI or Test stats? I have a rookie doubt here: The bowlers who open the bowling spells ( in ODIs) will be more likely to get wickets 1-5 than those who bowl in the mid overs. Right? So is it fair to compare Sreesanth to Ishant or Harbhajan in this regard?

[gaurav92]

@ VVS: Are these ODI or Test stats? I have a rookie doubt here: The bowlers who open the bowling spells ( in ODIs) will be more likely to get wickets 1-5 than those who bowl in the mid overs. Right? So is it fair to compare Sreesanth to Ishant or Harbhajan in this regard?

This stat is that of Test Matches. And there is always a possibility of a long first wicket partnership especially on these Sub Continental featherbeds, wherein our bowlers bowl 50% of the time. Its absolutely fair as both the opening bowlers and the first change bowlers have equal chance of picking top order wickets. For a new ball bowler, he will get some initial conventional swing from the new ball and for the first change quick, he will have to use the Reverse Swing in the middle overs to get wickets. But usually, India go in with 2 pacers only, so both of them have equal chance of picking Top order wickets.

[vvvslaxman]

@ VVS: Are these ODI or Test stats? I have a rookie doubt here: The bowlers who open the bowling spells ( in ODIs) will be more likely to get wickets 1-5 than those who bowl in the mid overs. Right? So is it fair to compare Sreesanth to Ishant or Harbhajan in this regard?

Not exactly. There is a reason why they bat up the order. Because they are good. It is not like Sreesanth bowls 25 overs before Ishant . In tests they all have more or less equal chances to have a go at top 5 batsmen if not opening. I am not using Bhajji here for comparison.

[Misu243]

Ishant Sharma will be key in the England series for sure. Expect some flying stumps.

[kabira]

Sreesanth has God Given talent, good action and great wrist position. Can run through the sides when on song. Unfortunately he has two enemies 1) Lack of concentration and 2) Complacency. He seems to go downhill when batsman get on top. Same thing he is happy with one good spell in one tst match and comes out cropper in another. Only one person can help him, and its Sreesanth himself. I am big fan of his bowling.

[vvvslaxman]

Tremendous seam position. He will go for runs because of his length. But that is the length that gets him wickets.

[CSK Fan]

i will repeat again. We never had problems taking top-order wickets. But we have always struggled taking tail-ender wickets. We have lost many matches because we couldnt get tailenders out after getting top order out cheaply

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[glogirl]

If India needs to win the series in Australia at the end of this year, then definitely Ishanth should play.