The rise and fall of Irfan Pathan
The BCCI has finally woken up to the harsh realities with Irfan Pathan and decided to do some thing about it. They called him back! The way we have treated Irfan Pathan in the last few years have been insensitive to say the least. I am not claiming that Irfan is a baby to be treated delicately. But he was an allrounder, a rare breed in Indian cricket, and hence, he needed to be treated carefully.
If you try to make a list of 50 greatest batsmen of all time in the history of world cricket, I think you can do it easily. If you are a follower of cricket, this is easily achievable. Same is true for the bowlers. If you make a list of 50 great spinners and 50 great fast bowlers, a cricket historian can still do this with ease. But ask any cricket historian to make a list of 50 greatest allrounders who have changed the face of the game, and that is a difficult task.Simply put, allrounders are hard to find.In the history of cricket, we as cricket fans remember very few allrounders. Gary Sobers, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, and who else? Did I miss any great allrounders from the previous era? I don't think so. Even in the current scenario, we have very few allrounders. Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, and Abdur Razaq are laboriously carrying the mantle of allrounders plagued with frequent injuries and unforgiving schedules. A few months ago, I would have included Indian bowler Irfan Pathan in this list.
But not now.
The rise and fall of Irfan Pathan in the Indian cricket reminds me the story of golden goose that was killed by its greedy owner. Replace greed with desperation of Indian cricket and you can see the story being repeated all over again. When Irfan Pathan appeared on the international circuits, he was hailed as a genuine allrounder. After Kapil Dev retired, there were many players in India who aspired for the title of allrounders but they failed miserably, at least in one department. When Pathan found success with both bat and ball, things started looking rosy and the next thing we knew, Pathan was batting at number three and opening the bowling. It was both shocking and saddening to see him come ahead of the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar and trying to win the game for India with the bat. Somewhere down the line, the pressure started showing on Pathan. The pace dropped, the accuracy disappeared, and the once lethal medium pacer has now been turned into an unwilling victim who runs in and just performs his duty.
And we still refuse to learn.
If you study the past, you will notice that most allrounders had their strength in their bowling and they batted lower down the order. Even the greats like Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev rarely attempted to do all things at once. By sending Irfan Pathan at no. 3, Rahul Dravid and co. are putting too much pressure on him. It's a shame if the over hyped Indian batting line-up has to depend on Irfan Pathan's batting to win matches.
The Indian cricket team needs to act before it's too late. Let Pathan do what he does best. Let him concentrate on his bowling and send him down the order. Don't expect him to win matches for you with the bat and treat him like a bowler who can bat. Someday, he will have mental toughness to handle the pressure and enjoy the role of an allrounder.
Until then, leave him alone!
If you try to make a list of 50 greatest batsmen of all time in the history of world cricket, I think you can do it easily. If you are a follower of cricket, this is easily achievable. Same is true for the bowlers. If you make a list of 50 great spinners and 50 great fast bowlers, a cricket historian can still do this with ease. But ask any cricket historian to make a list of 50 greatest allrounders who have changed the face of the game, and that is a difficult task.Simply put, allrounders are hard to find.In the history of cricket, we as cricket fans remember very few allrounders. Gary Sobers, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, and who else? Did I miss any great allrounders from the previous era? I don't think so. Even in the current scenario, we have very few allrounders. Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, and Abdur Razaq are laboriously carrying the mantle of allrounders plagued with frequent injuries and unforgiving schedules. A few months ago, I would have included Indian bowler Irfan Pathan in this list.
But not now.
The rise and fall of Irfan Pathan in the Indian cricket reminds me the story of golden goose that was killed by its greedy owner. Replace greed with desperation of Indian cricket and you can see the story being repeated all over again. When Irfan Pathan appeared on the international circuits, he was hailed as a genuine allrounder. After Kapil Dev retired, there were many players in India who aspired for the title of allrounders but they failed miserably, at least in one department. When Pathan found success with both bat and ball, things started looking rosy and the next thing we knew, Pathan was batting at number three and opening the bowling. It was both shocking and saddening to see him come ahead of the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar and trying to win the game for India with the bat. Somewhere down the line, the pressure started showing on Pathan. The pace dropped, the accuracy disappeared, and the once lethal medium pacer has now been turned into an unwilling victim who runs in and just performs his duty.
And we still refuse to learn.
If you study the past, you will notice that most allrounders had their strength in their bowling and they batted lower down the order. Even the greats like Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev rarely attempted to do all things at once. By sending Irfan Pathan at no. 3, Rahul Dravid and co. are putting too much pressure on him. It's a shame if the over hyped Indian batting line-up has to depend on Irfan Pathan's batting to win matches.
The Indian cricket team needs to act before it's too late. Let Pathan do what he does best. Let him concentrate on his bowling and send him down the order. Don't expect him to win matches for you with the bat and treat him like a bowler who can bat. Someday, he will have mental toughness to handle the pressure and enjoy the role of an allrounder.
Until then, leave him alone!
posted by Raju @ 7:53 PM
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