Akram's advice to Zaheer

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Zaheer Khan [Images] was roundly booed by Indian supporters at the MCG for the flurry of no-balls but apparently there was a reason for his extra effort.

• Images:

  India vs Australia, 1st Test, Day 3

Zaheer was working on the bowling tips by the Pakistani legend Wasim Akram who had asked him to completely redo his bowling style for the present tour of Australia. Akram had advised Zaheer to understand that his method of swinging the delivery, as he did so brilliantly in England [Images] this summer, would not work in Australia. "It wouldn't help if he was to just come and release the delivery in Australia as he did in England. There is a different method to obtain swing in this part of the world", Akram said. Zaheer was asked to run in quicker than he normally does and instead of just releasing the ball, he should look to hit the deck on Australian pitches.

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Zaheer worked on the advice and turned in a brilliant performance at the MCG in both the innings, never mind there were a dozen no-balls in Australia's second innings. Even though he grabbed just a wicket in Australia's second innings, he troubled all Australian batsmen as he had done during his four-wicket haul in the first innings. The only trouble was that in order to run-in and hit the crease hard, Zaheer was overstepping time and again. One such transgression cost him the wicket of Andrew Symonds [Images]. The hefty all-rounder was bowled but much to Zaheer's disappointment, the right arm of umpire Billy Bowden was already stretched out in a signal for no-ball.

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"When you bowl with the old ball, trying to gain reverse swing, you tend to overstep; that's common," said Akram. "I like the way he has bowled in this Test though I would like him to keep switching on either side of the wicket, lest a batsman gets used to his style of bowling". Akram's pearls of wisdom did not stop here. He also gave tips to Zaheer on how to hide the ball away from the gaze of batsmen when trying to reverse swing it. Akram wanted Zaheer to hold the ball in his right hand and then switch it to his bowling left-arm in the final strides of his run-up. Earlier, Zaheer used to keep the ball in his left palm before delivering it at the batsmen. Akram also paid attention to the bowling style of Rudra Pratap Singh, another left-arm bowler like him and Zaheer, and asked him to try and bowl a lot from the edge of the crease. He told RP Singh it would help him make batsmen play the wrong line. "By bowling from the edge of the crease, it would fool a batsman into believing that the ball might angle away. But RP has an action which naturally brings the ball in. It can confuse a batsman," Akram said. Even though the pacers did not quite get bagful of wickets in Australia's two innings, it's fair to say that there were periods of play when they kept the batsmen on a leash.

[Don]

Why cant we have Akram as a coach, who is the master of left arm trade, he clearly knows a lot more then our distinguished leg cutting bowler coach Venky. We have Zak, RP, Irfan on this tour not to mention the promising PJ Sanghwan, Samad Fallah and once upon a time Ashish 6/23 Nehra. Akram would be invaluable to us.

[zubinpepsi]

Why cant we have Akram as a coach, who is the master of left arm trade, he clearly knows a lot more then our distinguished leg cutting bowler coach Venky. We have Zak, RP, Irfan on this tour not to mention the promising PJ Sanghwan, Samad Fallah and once upon a time Ashish 6/23 Nehra. Akram would be invaluable to us.

this is wat i tought.. infact i wanted to create a thread abt this.. but glad to see u have mentioned it here.. Akram will be very useful coach than this venky prasad.... but BCCI morons wont think in tht line..

[msb1991]

I think Venkatesh Prasad is doing fine as head bowling coach, but having Wasim Akram as a bowling consultant would help leaps and bounds. Wasim is infamous for playing well in every country, he knows what he is talking about. India need to spend more money on coaches and less on overseas talent for T20 competitions. However, Zaheer should have chosen to ignore his advice on this occasion. The pitch is definately not conducive to hitting the pitch as the bounce is largely random and seems to be mostly caused by hitting the seam rather than hitting the pitch.

[msb1991]

Akram will be very useful coach than this venky prasad...

You underestimate Venky. Who do you think taught the bowlers all those slower balls and oversaw the introduction of RP Singh and Sreesanth as fast bowlers rather than just medium pacers. It is no coincidence that the bowlers concentrated more on line and length than pace/spin in the World T20. Prasad has had a profound effect on the bowlers but one man is not enough. We need to hire bowling consultants to help provide vital information like the approaches in different countries and specific methods of (e.g.) reverse swing. It is a shame that both Prasad and Akram missed that Khan does not keep his front leg braced and that is the reason for a lack of bounce and frightening pace. Where are TA Sekhar and Dennis Lillee when you need them :((

[Dravid]

didnt akram end up fcking pathan? now after zaheer.. screw his advice

[msb1991]

didnt akram end up fcking pathan? now after zaheer.. screw his advice

Nah. After his advice, Pathan regained form for a short period of time.

[Don]

didnt akram end up fcking pathan? now after zaheer.. screw his advice

ur thinking of a ****stick called ian fraser mate

[living]

Akram won't leave star cricket ....

[fineleg]

Akram had advised Zaheer to understand that his method of swinging the delivery, as he did so brilliantly in England [Images] this summer, would not work in Australia. "It wouldn't help if he was to just come and release the delivery in Australia as he did in England. There is a different method to obtain swing in this part of the world", Akram said..

You need good bowling consultants to provide such tips. Akram has brilliant experience in different conditions. BCCI must get him as a consultant. Use the $$$ power. Last tour to Aus, we had Bruce Reid, also a left armer who knew Aus pitches and conditions.

[riya]

Haha Akram himself was master at bowling no balls .