Published: Jun 16, 2011, 11:48 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 20, 2014, 11:54 PM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
It is said that there is always a lull before the storm. But in Yusuf Pathan‘s case, the storm has been followed by an uneasy calm! The man who inflicted fear in the minds of the bowlers by some destructive batting has slipped big time in the last few months – be it the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup, the Indian Premier League (IPL) or the West Indies-India One-Day International series in the Caribbean. With mounting failures, the pressure on Pathan is immense, as there are younger players eyeing the No 7 spot in the Indian ODI team.
At the start of the 2011, one got the feeling that Yusuf would be a crucial component if India were to succeed in the World Cup. In the ODI series in South Africa prior to the World Cup, he was a huge success. He guided India to a win in the third ODI at Cape Town, and in the series decider at Centurion, pulled a rabbit out of the hat as his amazing hundred took India on the brink of a thrilling victory. These two performances assured Indian fans that the No 7 spot was in safe hands as his performances in South Africa showed maturity coupled with aggression on overseas track conducive to fast bowling and against a quality attack.
However, since the start of the World Cup, Yusuf has shown mindless aggression and poor maturity. In the World Cup, he did well in only one game, where he came and played his shots and denied the Irish any hopes of an upset. But his shot selection in the other games was highly questionable. Against South Africa and the West Indies he was out playing rash shots in the batting powerplay when he was required to stay in the middle. This has been his undoing in the IPL and in the Caribbean as well.
Yusuf’s stats in IPL 2011:
| Matches |
Runs |
Average |
Fifties |
| 15 |
283 |
28.30 |
0 |
His record in this year’s IPL is not bad, but it doesn’t do justice to his ability. If he was a little more discreet in his shot selection, then the above stats would have been a lot better. The fact that he did not get a single half century is indicative of the fact that he had not spent much time in the middle – certainly not the kind of performance expected of a player who was bought at a fancy price.
In the third ODI of the current West-Indies India series, he was out sweeping. By the looks of that shot he was aiming for a single which he could have done even with a straight bat, but he chose to go cross-batted which led to his dismissal.
In the fourth ODI, he tried to clear long-off without settling down and ended up hitting the ball straight to the fielder. On both occasions India were in trouble and he was required to be sensible in his choice of strokes. Instead he played shots which were uncalled for and escalated the pressure on his team.
He has also not been very effective as a bowler. During the World Cup he failed after being brought on to bowl pretty early in quite a few matches. He is not a very big turner of the ball and thus relies on his faster deliveries to deceive the batsmen. However, the batsmen almost seem to expect the faster one every delivery which is why he is not able to get as many wickets as he would like.
Since the start of the World Cup, Pathan has picked up just three wickets in ODIs. He got up a wicket in India’s first World Cup game against Bangladesh and had to wait till the second ODI of the West Indies series to pick up his next! He thus went through six ODIs without a wicket.
At 28, Yusuf Pathan doesn’t have age on his side and will have to capitalize on every opportunity he gets in ODIs. He could be a part of India’s T20 squads at home or at future ICC World T20s, but T20 Internationals are played in far lesser number than the ODIs.
In the World Cup, Suresh Raina took his No 7 spot and in the future the Indian team management may be looking at younger players to replace Pathan in the squad.
Let us assume that Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni play in the ODI series in England. With these five coming back, Virat Kohli and Raina would fill the other spots. In the odd game, any of the top seven are rested, somebody like Rohit Sharma will come in.
Yusuf now has only the fifth ODI against the West Indies to make an impact and show the selectors that he is still worthy of a place in the India team to tour England. While he will need a big score to prolong his stay with in the team, he will need to do a lot more from thereafter to entrench himself in the side.
It’s a do-or-die situation for Yusuf now.
(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.”)
