Thursday, February 02, 2012

Saeed Ajmal: Pakistan’s spin wizard

The game of cricket hasn’t been cruel. Just when we thought that the off-spinners breed was on the verge of extinction and the art of off spin bowling was completely in oblivion with the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan and the ouster of the non-performing Harbhajan Singh from the Indian side, the beautiful game gave us two exciting talents, Graeme Swann and Saeed Ajmal. 

Buoyed by the 4-0 mauling of India at home, England was brimming with confidence and raring to take on Pakistan in the subcontinent. But one man stood up and took the wind out of their sails as he single-handedly chastened the entire English batting line-up, picking up career best figures of 7/55 and amassing 10 wickets in the first Test in Dubai. As Saeed Ajmal ripped through the English defenses and powered Pakistan to a thumping 10-wicket victory, the cricketing fraternity saw something special. Something special that the Pakistan fraternity hadn’t seen since the departure of Saqlain Mushtaq.

The land of Imran’s and Akram’s had seen spin bowling talents like Abdul Qadir, Iqbal Qasim, Mushtaq Ahmed and Danish Kaneria but they only had one talented off-spinner in their ranks, Saqlain Mushtaq. Already termed as the “Doosra Saqlain Mushtaq”, Ajmal has breathed new life into the Pakistan attack.

After waiting in the wings for more than a decade since making his first-class debut in 1996, Ajmal finally got a chance to shine on the big stage when he was selected for the Asia Cup in 2008. He performed decently on his debut with figures of 1/47 against India. But his major breakthrough came after his performances in his debut Test series in Sri Lanka in 2009 where he took 14 wickets from three matches. His first five-wicket haul in Tests ended up in a losing cause as Pakistan lost the match by 9 wickets against England at Edgbaston in August 2010. Since then he has performed consistently in both forms of the game.

The year 2011 was phenomenal for the star spinner who ended up as the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 50 wickets from just eight matches at a mind boggling average of 23.86. He bowled more overs as compared to 2010 and produced three 5-wicket hauls, including one 10-wicket haul. Amazingly, Pakistan won in five of them, drew two and lost just one. 

Exceptional variations in his arsenal set him apart from the other spinners. He has played just 19 Tests and already scalped 100 wickets. Currently, Graeme Swann is his closest competitor with double the number of matches under his belt. What propels Ajmal ahead of Swann is the fact that the former has much more variety in comparison. Swann has the traditional off-spinner and the straighter one, while Ajmal has the traditional off-spinner, the arm ball which goes straight on, a killer ‘Doosra’ which goes the other way and the newly developed ‘Teesra’.

Ajmal’s progress as a bowler has been much better than Swann as he took 11 matches to reach his first 50 wickets in comparison to Swann’s 13. It took him just eight matches to pick up his next 50 wickets; and when he grabbed seven wickets in the second Test against England in Abu Dhabi, he overtook Mohammad Asif as Pakistan’s fastest 100-wicket taker and raced to the second spot in the ICC Test rankings. Even his mentor, Saqlain Mushtaq, took 23 matches to get to 100 wickets. Swann took 10 more matches to complete his next 50 wickets.

Ajmal vs Swann last 12 months comparison in Tests

Player	Matches	Innings	Overs	Wickets	Best Bowling /Inns	Average	Strike Rate	5 Wickets /Inns	10 Wickets /Match
S.Ajmal	10	20	584	67	7/55	21.19	52.2	4	2
G.Swann	9	17	320.1	34	6/106	30.50	56.5	1	0

In the last 12 months since January 2011, Ajmal is way ahead of Swann as he has bagged 67 wickets from 10 matches at a staggering average of 21.19; while Swann has picked up 34 wickets from 9 matches at an average of 30.50.

Ajmal vs Swann Test Career comparison so far

Player	Matches	Innings	Overs	Wickets	Best Bowling /Inns	Average	Strike Rate	5 Wickets /Inns	10 Wickets /Match
S.Ajmal	19	37	1041.5	100	7/55	27.31	62.5	5	2
G.Swann	38	69	1558.4	162	6/65	28.61	57.7	11	1

Overall, Saeed Ajmal has a slightly better bowling average of 27.31 as compared to Swann’s 28.61, while Swann has a much better strike rate of 57.7 to Ajmal’s 62.5. But the rate at which the little spin wizard has been taking wickets, we won’t be surprised if he betters Swann’s strike rate over the next 12 months. 

When Ajmal bowled that magical spell to Sachin Tendulkar in the 2011 World Cup semi-final at Mohali, the fans were momentarily taken to cricket’s zenith. With an astute brain, infinite variations and a cool head on his shoulders, he can be a nightmare for any batsman. With Pakistan recovering from the repercussions of match fixing, they have found a much needed gem in their armoury. A gem called Saeed Ajmal.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

India’s summer struggles

Summer only comes around once a year, but the Indian cricket team had a taste of two within six months and both proved to be unhappy ones.

After four Test defeats in England between July and August last year, they then lost another four in Australia just recently. On both occasions two were by an innings and none of them were really very close contests. It has been a painful experience for the fans to see what was the number one Test team fall and questions, demands and pleas have all been doing the rounds. Should MS Dhoni be stripped of the captaincy? Or booted out of the Test team altogether? What about Virender Sehwag? The famed trio of VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have also come in for some stick. And do not forget Gautam Gambhir or Ishant Sharma.

Who should stay or go is not within our remit, but what we can do is have a look at the performances of the players during these two big tours that India went on.

Whatever criticisms have been levelled against Dravid during the Australia tour - scoring less than 200 runs, averaging less than 25, having a poor strike rate and being bowled six out of eight times - one cannot forget his single-handed attempt at putting much-needed runs on the board in England. He hit three centuries there, the only Indian to reach triple figures, and was by far and away the best Indian batsman on the Castrol Index.

Tendulkar, too, did not have the worst of times on either tour; he hit two half-centuries each in England and Australia, but could never push on despite getting within sniffing distance of a century. Was it the pressure of that looming 100th international century? It could well have been, and it will be a big concern for India if it persists.

What might really worry India is the lack of form demonstrated by Gambhir and Laxman. The former managed just 102 runs in three Tests in England (an average of 17.00) and did little better in Australia, although he did notch up a fine half-century in Sydney. At least he made it to the top five against the Aussies; in England he was outperformed by both Amit Mishra and Praveen Kumar.

However, what is more of a surprise is the depth of the slump Laxman is in. When he scored just 182 runs in England, his fans could waive that off knowing that he would surely perform Down Under, his favourite place to bat in (he struck four centuries in 11 Tests there prior to this tour, his best ratio in any country). He had hit a century in each of his three previous tours, but could only manage one half-century on this one, garnering a series average of less than 20.

The bowling did not bring any joy for India, either. Zaheer Khan emerged as a tireless bowler and he had a pretty good series. His absence in England, due to injury, was a big blow, and who knows what problems Kumar could have posed the Aussies if he had been fit enough for the recent series. He was excellent in England, the only bowler to have an average of under 30.

Ishant Sharma bowled in both tours and did not get much reward. He could be considered unlucky, beating the edge on many occasions, but that might be the difference between good and great bowlers; the great ones get the edges.

Another disappointment for the Indians was how ineffectual Ravichandran Ashwin was versus Australia. He had a dream Test debut in India against the West Indies, firming up his claim to be India’s top spinner, but he made little headway against the Aussies. He was even outdone by Australia’s Nathan Lyon, a fellow off-spinner, who had a better average, economy rate and strike rate.

Still, he is a young man, just making his way into Test cricket. So is Umesh Yadav and Virat Kohli, and positives were to be found in all three. That is something, perhaps, for Indian fans to take away as they look to the future.