if u are playing 3 fast bowlers, there is no sense playing pathan..on these pitches sehwag is a better allrounder than pathan.... if u wanna play pathan, then play 2 fast bowlers and play both bhaji and kumble...going with 4 fasty bowlers is not a good idea at all
RE:why play 4 fast bowlers on these pitches?
by Nelson Thomas on Mar 17, 2007 08:27 AM Permalink
the pitch is slow DOES NOT mean that we shouldnt select 4 pacers. actually it would be a plus cuz the ball would stop on the batsmen and there is a GREAT chance of them offering unintentional catches. we have the same problem with our pitch and it always has the batsmen fail against pacers. spinners should be selected over pacers on flat or turning surfaces. PACERS have had more success getting wickets and keeping things tight in this WC so far. just compare the pacers against the spinners in all of the matches so far and u'll see what im talking about. i hate to see even experts saying spinners have a huge role to play in this cup. franklin, bond, and oram kept things tight for NZ, vettori went for 50 without ANY wickets. also medium pacer styris had more success econ rate & wicket-wise than offbreaker jeetan patel in the same game. SO i say 4 pacers and 1 quality spinner is the way to go. if u look at india 5 pacers might not be a bad idea either, i mean we have sachin and yuvraj to handle some spin if needed. KUMBLE can be lethal in these conditions though. he can get the ball to bounce often and he could be very unpredictable on slow pitches. he is a rather pacey spinner, thats why he could be so effective here. Also sreesanth and munaf have that special ability to make batsmen play more so than even zaheer. but i think zaheer and munaf should open the bowling and sreesanth should come in third with the 4th pacer (agarkar or pathan) to join him in the attack. munaf should be preserved for the slog overs if wickets are hard to come by, he is a good closer though he is kinda susceptible to pressure at times. sreesanth has also done better at the end more so than agarkar. i dont know why people are so hyped about agarkar now. his deliveries look rather ordinary and he doesnt have enough penetration in his bowling. SO my team (listed by batting order) Ganguly Uthappa Dravid Sachin Yuvraj Dhoni Pathan/Agarkar Kumble/Bhajji Zaheer Sreesanth Munaf
