sohum
Executive member
Hello. The only point I have to make on the Pakistan tour (and I agree that the Pakistan tour cannot be held as a benchmark) is that when countries have special rivalries, the quality of competition goes up. You claimed that beating Pakistan in Pakistan cannot be rated at the top of anyone's list (your exact words) but the very fact that the rivarly is so special makes it to the top of any Indian's list. And any knowledgable cricket follower will also respect the speciality of that series victory. Such performances do not come just from statistics or talent, but from the heart. When you are an Indian playing against Pakistan or vica versa, something in you brings out an extra.
Now, the Australian bowling. I do not know why you have got so defensive of the Australian bowling (well not defensive but obsessed with convincing everyone that they are the best) when everyone on this forum knows that they are the best pace bowlers in the world, currently. McGrath, Gillespie and Kasparowicz are nearing the end of their careers and one could even claim that they are now descending from the peak of their perfomance (very respectably, too). They have had 9-12 years to prove their ability in the highest form of the game.
And they have performed consistently--no one can take that away from them. The bowlers from the Indian sub-continent are what we call emerging bowlers. They have just about 1-3 years of experience behind them and they are developing their talents. They are discovering new things they can do with the ball and they are starting to become dangerous. When Irfan Pathan first came on the scene, no one knew what he was doing (and hence were becoming out). He was erratic, though, and he took some time to develop his talent. In the Pakistan tour he was devastating. He is nowhere near the quality of the Australian bowlers at the moment, but you got to weigh their stats looking at their experience.
An example of this is a new batsman. Many batsmen find it difficult to really break into the international scene successfully and start with a string of low scores. I know many top current-day batsmen who have followed this pattern. If you compare such a batsmen to the Don, you are not going to find them comparable. However, the question is do YOU really KNOW the future value of these cricketers? The answer is no. When judging the current fast-bowlers of Asia, you find that many of them have a lot of potential. If we are successful in eventually converting this potential into performance, you will find that many of our bowlers WILL become comparable to McGrath and Gillespie. However, McG and Gilly won't be around to make a comparison at that future point, and thus we will compare them to their contemporaries.
Let's not debate about the Mumbai dust-bowl now because I think either side can be debated well. The pitch was not expected to last past 3-4 days, but one could have expected better application on the part of both teams. That's all I will say about that. As for spinners in the world, the current concentration of the top spinners in the world lies in Asia. The ONLY contradiction to this theory is Shane Warne, who is Australian. Apart from that, the rest of the world is filled with Giles' and Bojes and whatnot who will never really make a significant impact on quality opposition.
Now, the Australian bowling. I do not know why you have got so defensive of the Australian bowling (well not defensive but obsessed with convincing everyone that they are the best) when everyone on this forum knows that they are the best pace bowlers in the world, currently. McGrath, Gillespie and Kasparowicz are nearing the end of their careers and one could even claim that they are now descending from the peak of their perfomance (very respectably, too). They have had 9-12 years to prove their ability in the highest form of the game.
And they have performed consistently--no one can take that away from them. The bowlers from the Indian sub-continent are what we call emerging bowlers. They have just about 1-3 years of experience behind them and they are developing their talents. They are discovering new things they can do with the ball and they are starting to become dangerous. When Irfan Pathan first came on the scene, no one knew what he was doing (and hence were becoming out). He was erratic, though, and he took some time to develop his talent. In the Pakistan tour he was devastating. He is nowhere near the quality of the Australian bowlers at the moment, but you got to weigh their stats looking at their experience.
An example of this is a new batsman. Many batsmen find it difficult to really break into the international scene successfully and start with a string of low scores. I know many top current-day batsmen who have followed this pattern. If you compare such a batsmen to the Don, you are not going to find them comparable. However, the question is do YOU really KNOW the future value of these cricketers? The answer is no. When judging the current fast-bowlers of Asia, you find that many of them have a lot of potential. If we are successful in eventually converting this potential into performance, you will find that many of our bowlers WILL become comparable to McGrath and Gillespie. However, McG and Gilly won't be around to make a comparison at that future point, and thus we will compare them to their contemporaries.
Let's not debate about the Mumbai dust-bowl now because I think either side can be debated well. The pitch was not expected to last past 3-4 days, but one could have expected better application on the part of both teams. That's all I will say about that. As for spinners in the world, the current concentration of the top spinners in the world lies in Asia. The ONLY contradiction to this theory is Shane Warne, who is Australian. Apart from that, the rest of the world is filled with Giles' and Bojes and whatnot who will never really make a significant impact on quality opposition.
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