Cause and effect – the fall and fall of Shami

[termination]

http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/effect-fall-fall-shami/120070 Cause and effect – the fall and fall of Shami Kritika Naidu | 7 August 2014 Back in November 2013, during a hastily arranged two-Test series against West Indies that would bring the curtain down on Sachin Tendulkar’s illustrious career, Mohammed Shami was handed a Test cap following his exploits in the One-Day Internationals at home against Australia. It was a bold move by the selectors, given that India had Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the experienced Ishant Sharma in their squad. Shami made an immediate impact. His raw pace, and the ability to hurry batsmen with pace and late reverse swing both ways created a buzz. All of a sudden, he was adorned with several titles previously handed out to many pacers – ones who disappeared as quickly as they were thrust into the limelight. The lad from Sahaspur in Uttar Pradesh, who later moved to Bengal to pursue his dream of being a fast bowler, ran through the West Indian line-up, picking up four wickets in his first outing in Test cricket on home turf – Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He then backed that with a five-wicket haul in the second innings to return figures of 9 for 118 – the best figures on debut by an Indian fast bowler. The general consensus was that India’s pace attack finally had the ‘X factor’. Shami justified that opinion with a decent outing in South Africa and a sterling show in New Zealand. But from the time the Indians have set foot in England, he has failed to live up to expectations. “His line has not been consistent,†TA Sekar, the former Indian paceman, said. “He has been a bit wayward in his line and length. In my opinion, he needs some technical correction in his bowling action which is not allowing him now to bowl where he wants to. He is only able to put the ball where he could, he is unable to bowl the ball where he wants to, – there’s a big difference. That is due to his arm positioning at the time of delivery.†Against West Indies, Shami’s key weapon was reverse swing. Eight of his nine victims in that first Test were either caught at short leg, bowled or lbw. In South Africa, Shami looked the most likely Indian bowler to pick up wickets, using the new ball effectively. In the three-match ODI series which India lost 0-2, he took nine wickets in three matches. He had only six wickets in two Tests at 43.83, but by the end of 2013, he looked on course to become one of the leaders of the Indian pace attack in the absence of Zaheer Khan, having ended the year with 17 wickets in four Tests at 26.17. In New Zealand, Shami was back to his impressive self once again. He ran in with the intent of doing something every ball. He was lauded for his skill with the old ball, deception and a slight escalation in pace by Indian standards with an excellent seam position. His relentless accuracy and the extra miles he put in instantly made him his captain’s go-to man. He ended that series – his third – with 10 wickets in two Tests at 35.10. But the last few months haven’t been kind to him. He has bowled, bowled and bowled, but the wickets have been elusive. The penetration is lacking and boundary balls have been far too frequent, releasing the pressure most times. Shami has looked like a person lost in the screenplay he was scripting. The fact that his best moment in the last three Tests was his 10th-wicket century stand with Bhuvneshwar in the first Test reflects illustrates his travails with the ball. He has conceded 36 boundaries in this series, 19 in the arc between midwicket and fine-leg. He has both failed to pick up wickets and stem the flow of runs – just 47 maidens in 315 overs — and, to top all of it, there has been a general feeling of helplessness around him. So, what has gone wrong? “In England, you should try to bowl up. He has been offering one loose ball every over,†observed Sekar. “At crucial junctures, he has gifted away boundaries. Every TV commentator has talked about his seam position. That is one thing, but with the same seam position, if he is able to hit the deck, then he’ll be a different bowler.†Although his ineffectiveness on the passive Trent Bridge track can be overlooked, his inability to step up on the green-top at Lord’s was a matter of big concern. At Lord’s, while Bhuvneshwar and Ishant pitched the ball up or bowled short in the second innings specifically, based on the condition of the pitch and team strategy, Shami was astray in his direction and length. “Even though Bhuvneshwar is not as quick as Shami, he is able to hit the deck and make the ball move off the wicket. At Lord’s, when Ishant was bowling well, he was hitting the deck,†Sekar, the mentor at Delhi Daredevils, Shami’s IPL franchise, said. “Even though his seam position was not as good as Shami, he was still extracting very good lift at pace off the wicket. But in Shami’s case, he is not able to do it because of the correction needed in his technique. “I’m sure I can get it done in two or three sessions. When he first came to the Indian team, his action was not the way it is now. It has changed quite a bit from that time. When I say action, it is not look-wise, it has to do technique, which I can spot. I think he needs to know that this is what is contributing to his bowling the way he is in England particularly. This has happened in the IPL too, where he gave away a lot of runs. I don’t know what the Indian team’s bowling coach (Joe Dawes) is doing.†In the absence of Ishant in the third Test at Southampton, Shami had the perfect opportunity to take centre stage and turn things around, but there wasn’t much change in the script as he returned figures of 1 for 123 and 0 for 24. “There is always a reason for someone not bowling well. There is always a cause and the effect,†Sekar reasoned. “The people who are sitting in the commentary box are seeing the effect, but they don’t know the cause. I know the cause, I know exactly what is making him bowl like this.â€

[Sooda]

Interesting, I know too little about fast bowling to know what precisely he means... but the upshot is, as he says, WTF is Joe Dawes doing?

[kosingh]

All these experts offer all sorts of different opinions and end up confusing these young players. In this test series, Ganguly said Virat was struggling because he was opening the face of the bat too much, and not playing straight. Then 30 minutes later Nasser Hussein says that Virat was struggling because he was not opening the face of the bat enough, and looking to play straight on balls he should be playing with an open face. Akram said he had worked with Shami over the couple of years, and got him change his action slightly so that he can learn to swing it both ways. Now Shekhar comes and says Shami's action has changed, and he needs to go back to his old action.

[Muloghonto]

I agree that coaches and commentators overdo the technical analysis, often with ill concept and prejudices that mean nothing ( i would never ever correct an incorrect bowling action like Akram's) but bowlers do change their actions over time. Bowling fast is a complex physical phenomena and over the years, changing body shapes, strengths and injuries do make the actions differ at subtle levels. This is how bowlers suddenly lose their zip after so many years but still in their 20s ( Pollock for example. He was much faster as a 25 year old than a 28 year old). Some corrective action is required.

[AmreekanDesi]

For a person who failed to take a single wicket in his two tests along with failing to make an international career when India had next to no pacers and were in desperate need of support for Kapil ji, Sekhar sure as hell loves running his mouth a lot. I would take his pearls of wisdon with a pinch of salt.

[sachin34357]

shami will pick 12 wickets in this 5 ODI matches

[CG]

All these experts offer all sorts of different opinions and end up confusing these young players. In this test series, Ganguly said Virat was struggling because he was opening the face of the bat too much, and not playing straight. Then 30 minutes later Nasser Hussein says that Virat was struggling because he was not opening the face of the bat enough, and looking to play straight on balls he should be playing with an open face. Akram said he had worked with Shami over the couple of years, and got him change his action slightly so that he can learn to swing it both ways. Now Shekhar comes and says Shami's action has changed, and he needs to go back to his old action.

No virats problem was opening the bat face too much.Its always recommended to play straight in this conditions .Akram says many things he thinks its easy for everybody as it was for him to master both swings many have lost it under akram trying to master both swings.

[Cricket_Hacker]

Hope he does well in ODI's.We need to succeed atleast in one format

[div]

No virats problem was opening the bat face too much.Its always recommended to play straight in this conditions .Akram says many things he thinks its easy for everybody as it was for him to master both swings many have lost it under akram trying to master both swings.

But Nasser said playing straight is not Kohli's natural game,although Kohli tries hard in overseas conditions...According to Nasser it is better to play ur natural game.

[Muloghonto]

For a person who failed to take a single wicket in his two tests along with failing to make an international career when India had next to no pacers and were in desperate need of support for Kapil ji' date=' Sekhar sure as hell loves running his mouth a lot. I would take his pearls of wisdon with a pinch of salt.[/quote'] The difference between a great coach and a great player is that the latter is able to implement what it takes to produce the results, the former is not. Does not make their observations and understandings of the game less valid. I could know everything about wrist position, head position and strides about bowling fast but if i am four and half foot tall, i will never be a worldbeating fast bowler. does not mean i cannot coach them, as i would know just as much as every other fast bowler would, if not more.

[Marco Polo]

He is the best fast bowling talent we have. 1 bad series won't make him a bad bowler.

[CG]

But Nasser said playing straight is not Kohli's natural game' date='although Kohli tries hard in overseas conditions...According to Nasser it is better to play ur natural game.[/quote'] His natural game did not work did it?

[Muloghonto]

No virats problem was opening the bat face too much.Its always recommended to play straight in this conditions .Akram says many things he thinks its easy for everybody as it was for him to master both swings many have lost it under akram trying to master both swings.

You do not get to be Akram without copying his action. Akram relied on massive shoulders (except for Kallis, i cannot think of a player with bigger and deeper shoulders than Akram) and a very very quick arm action to generate a lot of pace. He did not have a long galloping runup, he had a quick 15 steps and a massive shoulder & back rip to climb north of 90mph. He was a twister- he approached side on but planted his right foot and rotated his whole hip to the right while delivering. This arc gave his wrists all the range of motion and time to make last minute changes without altering the seam position of the ball or losing the 'initial line'. This is his genius- to master this particular motion - not forward body momentum but a massive twist to the right to create endless possibilities with the wrist. Trouble is, when you do something like this, it stresses the heck out of the anchor (ie, the right leg) and Akram suffered career-long through groin muscle strains. ( he was ultimately lucky that it was always the groin that was the weak point and not the knee). So yes, Akram can be the God of wrist positioning. He is the dream of wrist position. but without such an action (side on approach turning into a chest-on approach type release along with massive shoulder generated pace to compensate for body's acceleation going sideways not totally forward) i dont think its possible for people with normal wrists to have that much variety of correct wrist positions to enable various deliveries with identical actions and seam positions. yes, there are freaks like Muralitharan or Asif who have abnormally supple wrists but short of that, akram's atypical action is how you get to be the God of wrists.

[tweaker]

You do not get to be Akram without copying his action. Akram relied on massive shoulders (except for Kallis, i cannot think of a player with bigger and deeper shoulders than Akram) and a very very quick arm action to generate a lot of pace. He did not have a long galloping runup, he had a quick 15 steps and a massive shoulder & back rip to climb north of 90mph. He was a twister- he approached side on but planted his right foot and rotated his whole hip to the right while delivering. This arc gave his wrists all the range of motion and time to make last minute changes without altering the seam position of the ball or losing the 'initial line'. This is his genius- to master this particular motion - not forward body momentum but a massive twist to the right to create endless possibilities with the wrist. Trouble is, when you do something like this, it stresses the heck out of the anchor (ie, the right leg) and Akram suffered career-long through groin muscle strains. ( he was ultimately lucky that it was always the groin that was the weak point and not the knee). So yes, Akram can be the God of wrist positioning. He is the dream of wrist position. but without such an action (side on approach turning into a chest-on approach type release along with massive shoulder generated pace to compensate for body's acceleation going sideways not totally forward) i dont think its possible for people with normal wrists to have that much variety of correct wrist positions to enable various deliveries with identical actions and seam positions. yes, there are freaks like Muralitharan or Asif who have abnormally supple wrists but short of that, akram's atypical action is how you get to be the God of wrists.

:hatsoff::hatsoff:

[amiret]

“There is always a reason for someone not bowling well. There is always a cause and the effect,†Sekar reasoned. “The people who are sitting in the commentary box are seeing the effect, but they don’t know the cause. I know the cause, I know exactly what is making him bowl like this.â€

Did he reveal the cause in the article ? i read it and i could not find it .

[beetle]

I know the cause, I know exactly what is making him bowl like this.”

Did he reveal the cause in the article ? i read it and i could not find it .

That means...make me the coach and I will sort out the problem.

[King Tendulkar]

Bowled superb today. Key to us winning, when got those 2 crucial break troughs when England going well

[Marco Polo]

He is the best fast bowling talent we have. 1 bad series won't make him a bad bowler.

what did I say? He he...

[King Tendulkar]

Him, aaron and yadav should be our attack in most forms of cricket, back these lads

[adi B]

his pace was certainly up,bowled around 140-142.bowled some absolute jaffas and nohit dropped a catch off him.i guess most catches have been dropped off shami's bowling this year (all formats included)