Srinath vs Zaheer Khan

[ravishingravi]

Srinath was one of the most unluckiest bowler I should say....

But it was his own fault. Always bowled a yard too short and beat the batsman when he could have got the edge by bowling a bit fuller

[Cricket Tragic]

That was his natural length. It's not easy to change like what kids on the internet think. Besides, he was always a seam bowler who hit the deck rather than someone who swung the ball.

[ravishingravi]

That was his natural length. It's not easy to change like what kids on the internet think. Besides' date=' he was always a seam bowler who hit the deck rather than someone who swung the ball.[/quote'] Probably kids on internet are only reflecting what cricket experts including the man himself said. Bowling is hard work. It isnt supposed to be easy. In fact srinath ' length in last year of his game proves this point that it can be done. Also maybe some adults on internet mistake bowling seam = bowling short. The idea is getting only enough deviation to get the edge not to beat the bat where you are a seam or swing bowler. Bowling full is not akin to bowling half volleys or looking for swing. Cant recall Ambrose or Walsh swinging it.

[Ultimate_Game]

Zaheer all the way for me as he has stepped up as the leader of the bowling attack and revels in the position and acts as a mentor for the other bowlers. Srinath was never able to do so. Also, Srinath wasn't as aggressive as Zaheer the way Zaheer is. Zaheer is a more complete bowler than Srinath was. Srinath was a pretty good bowler but didn't fulfill his potential fully whereas Zaheer has turned his career around after being dropped. Plus I still recall two incidents which makes me biased against Srinath... 1. Srinath once nearly fainted at the sight of blood after hitting a batsman on the helmet. IIRC it happened against either WI or SL when the batsman went for a pull and esged the ball on to the helmet. The helmet grill pushed against the nose & cheek and the batsman ended up with a cut on the cheek and a bloody nose (most propably a broken nose) and you had to see Srinath - it looked he had to be carted away as well along with the batsman. 2. This happened in 90s against Australia (probably on the 99 tour to Aus). Srinath hit Ponting with a bouncer and then went ahead and apologized to Ponting!!! That wasn't all. Ponting actually had a go at Srinath and Srinath simply turned back and started walking towards his bowling mark. This was the first time I have ever seen a fast bowler getting a verbal beating after hitting a batsman. Ponting essentially told Srinath to phuck off and go to his bowling mark and Srinath did! I lost all respect for Srinath that day and for me he can never be the first choice seamer for India. I would rather take Prasad or anyone else to partner Zaheer but never Srinath. Here's the youtube video of the incident... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfM8BJqJbSw]YouTube - ‪Srinath's unplayable delivery to Ponting‬‏[/ame] I sure will never see Zaheer acting the same way!

[jusarrived]

^ if anything you should have lost respect for ponting ...most of our players from 90s where that way , even the likes of Tendulkar & Dravid .

[Ultimate_Game]

^ if anything you should have lost respect for ponting ...most of our players from 90s where that way ' date=' even the likes of Tendulkar & Dravid .[/quote'] Nope. I respect Ponting to not cow down and give it his best on the pitch. This why I admire Gambhir a lot - he never backs down no matter what. No matter what you say about Ponting the guy was a fighter and surely there's no way I would lose respect for Ponting for telling a fast bowler to puck off and that too just after being hit - that takes balls. I am so glad we don't have players like Srinath in the current squad and the old adage of temperament and fighting spirit being better than talent alone couldn't be truer in this incident. I don't know about you but I don't want my fast bowler to apologize to the batsman after hitting him or backing off while the batsman is having a go at him. If I were the coach/manager of that squad I would have pulled off Srinath for the future matches. It's better to fight and lose with 11 men than with pu**ies in the side. And as for Tendulkar and Dravid, there's a difference between being staid & reserved and backing off. You will not see Tendulkar or Dravid backing off when bowlers have a go at them. They will stay there at the crease, may not say much but will not back down. In this case Srinath did. This clip doesn't cover the whole incident. Srinath actually walked back without saying anything with his head bowed down back to his bowling mark.

[achilles]

A career of excellence > a good phase. Srinath > Zaheer.

[achilles]

Although, I would rate Zaheer > Srinath, if it comes to giving 300% in a game, to the extent of getting under the batsman's skin, getting injured while bowling, doing what it takes to win a game.

[Ultimate_Game]

Although' date=' I would rate Zaheer > Srinath, if it comes to giving 300% in a game, to the extent of getting under the batsman's skin, getting injured while bowling, doing what it takes to win a game.[/quote'] That's the reason I would take Zaheer over Srinath any day and this is what I was alluding to in my post.

[Vijay.Sharma]

Aww come on dude, get a perspective in life. This is a game not a fu

[achilles]

That's the reason I would take Zaheer over Srinath any day and this is what I was alluding to in my post.

I think Zak is one of the greatest fast bowlers of this decade.

[zen]

Q4NST8PVMJo 6/21 at A'bad against Aus :hatsoff: .... That was his first 5-for (iirc) and the beginning of his rise as the most effective pace bowler from sub continent from 1996-2001 Spells like those made him the hero [ame=

[/ame] His S/R from 1996-2001 is even better than Kumble's .... ^here we have Ganguly opening with Srinath so you could imagine the importance of Srinath's spells .... With spells like these, he used to make it easy for our spinners DkmmEIRHZJE&feature=related ^ a video from ICF he has always been good againt SA, which was a strong side of his time and ofc good players of pace I think Ind was lucky to have Srinath esp with how he bowled in late 90s and early 00s .... Zak, even though Ind top bowler at the moment, is not as good as Srinath. Given how the retired players are treated at ICF, I won't be surprised if Zak gives Sri some competition on threads at ICF .... On cricket field, Srinath would be the top dog :icflove:

[Ultimate_Game]

Aww come on dude, get a perspective in life. This is a game not a fu Disagree. When you are representing your team, or country, you have to do whatever you can to win. If you can't or won't do it then you don't deserve to be there. Sports is a cut-throat business and no matter what you say without the will and desire to win, to fight no matter what you won't get much ahead. This is one of the reasons India in 2000s was a much better team than in the 80s or 90s. If talent was the sole criteria we should haven't been so p*ss poor before 2000s but we were. Ganguly was the one who instilled that fighting spirit and belief as before that we were happy to simply compete and finish last. As for sports and war didn't someone say "Sports is war without guns" which is true for intl level. Not sure about you but I want my team to do whatever they can on the field to win and to fight till the last ball. They may not win all the time but I want to see that desire and effort to succeed at all costs. Before Ganguly this is what was missing and India did lose quite a lot even after Ganguly but he I will always remember him fondly that no matter what at least under him my team fought and did their best to win.

[achilles]

Aww come on dude, get a perspective in life. This is a game not a fu I will agree with a lot of things you've said. But there is nothing wrong in having both kinds of players. Also, I don't remember the last time Zak got fined. So he's gotta be in line with the CoC.

[zen]

I don't know about you but I don't want my fast bowler to apologize to the batsman after hitting him or backing off while the batsman is having a go at him. If I were the coach/manager of that squad I would have pulled off Srinath for the future matches. It's better to fight and lose with 11 men than with pu**ies in the side. .

Err, Indian fast bowlers hardly manage to hit the batsmen at 150 kmph. Instead of being happy that Ind had bowlers like that you won't to complain about irrelevant stuff :hmmmm2:

[zen]

Disagree. When you are representing your team, or country, you have to do whatever you can to win. If you can't or won't do it then you don't deserve to be there. Sports is a cut-throat business and no matter what you say without the will and desire to win, to fight no matter what you won't get much ahead. This is one of the reasons India in 2000s was a much better team than in the 80s or 90s. If talent was the sole criteria we should haven't been so p*ss poor before 2000s but we were. Ganguly was the one who instilled that fighting spirit and belief as before that we were happy to simply compete and finish last. As for sports and war didn't someone say "Sports is war without guns" which is true for intl level. Not sure about you but I want my team to do whatever they can on the field to win and to fight till the last ball. They may not win all the time but I want to see that desire and effort to succeed at all costs. Before Ganguly this is what was missing and India did lose quite a lot even after Ganguly but he I will always remember him fondly that no matter what at least under him my team fought and did their best to win.

Srinath's picking up bucket loads of wkts shows that he is playing to win and a cut throat competitor :winky: Your points have no relevant to the discussion

[Vijay.Sharma]

Disagree. When you are representing your team, or country, you have to do whatever you can to win. If you can't or won't do it then you don't deserve to be there. Sports is a cut-throat business and no matter what you say without the will and desire to win, to fight no matter what you won't get much ahead. This is one of the reasons India in 2000s was a much better team than in the 80s or 90s. If talent was the sole criteria we should haven't been so p*ss poor before 2000s but we were. Ganguly was the one who instilled that fighting spirit and belief as before that we were happy to simply compete and finish last. As for sports and war didn't someone say "Sports is war without guns" which is true for intl level. Not sure about you but I want my team to do whatever they can on the field to win and to fight till the last ball. They may not win all the time but I want to see that desire and effort to succeed at all costs. Before Ganguly this is what was missing and India did lose quite a lot even after Ganguly but he I will always remember him fondly that no matter what at least under him my team fought and did their best to win.

Not sure how inquiring when a batsman is hurt can be considered as a player not giving his best and lacking in determination. Ganguly did not create a team of stupid bullies. He established confidence and determination in the team. I want my team to win with grace and I don't believe the world is made of inhumane, artificial aggression. One thing is sure: the world is what we make it to be. And per me the world is filled with grace. There must be grace in victory and defeat or at least I'd like my team to have that. Grace and determination are NOT mutually exclusive

[Cricket Tragic]

I will agree with a lot of things you've said. But there is nothing wrong in having both kinds of players. Also' date= I don't remember the last time Zak got fined. So he's gotta be in line with the CoC.

That's because ICC=BCCI. Didn't you know that?

[Ultimate_Game]

Err' date=' Indian fast bowlers hardly manage to hit the batsmen at 150 kmph. Instead of being happy that Ind had bowlers like that you won't to complain about irrelevant stuff :hmmmm2:[/quote'] To you it may be "irrelevant" but not to me. The sight of my team's fast bowler backing down while batsman is having a go at him is not something I'm proud about especially since all of the opponent teams' pacers were waiting in line to have a piece of our batsmen. As I mentioned inone of my posts above that this incident makes me biased against Srinath. There are some moments which always stick with you as a fan and rightly or wrongly whenever I think of Srinath that moment always comes back to me. You can call me prejudiced but for me Srinath will always be someone who would go down without a fight and would perform well but be happy to lose.

[Ultimate_Game]

Not sure how inquiring when a batsman is hurt can be considered as a player not giving his best and lacking in determination. Ganguly did not create a team of stupid bullies. He established confidence and determination in the team. I want my team to win with grace and I don't believe the world is made of inhumane, artificial aggression. One thing is sure: the world is what we make it to be. And per me the world is filled with grace. There must be grace in victory and defeat or at least I'd like my team to have that. Grace and determination are NOT mutually exclusive

It does not but when the batsman asks you to GFO and you go back to your bowling mark without so much as a word with head bowed it sure does. I am all for grace in victory and the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman signify the same, and I would never want someone to mouth off continuously like Andre Nel or Sreesanth, but at the same time you have to stand up for yourself and the team. You can't just turn back on your heels with a bowed head as a fast bowler. Zaheer is a perfect example - he doesn't mouth off unnecessarily or throw tantrums but you won't see him back off against batsmen or making batsmen's stay enjoyable out in the middle. Jelly Bean instance is one of the example. Even the WI team of 80s were generally well liked and didn't overdo stuff but I am 100% sure no team or batsman in the world would even dream of treating any of their bowlers the way Ponting did Srinath. And Srinath took it all lying down is what makes it hard to digest.