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3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Pakistan Pace stands between India & victory

Filed under Ind vs Pak

17th feb, 1999. Shoaib Akhtar plane took off over hundered thousand Indians at Eden Gardens, Asia Cup. reason - Sachin Tendulkar was clean bowled off the first delivery he faced. Rahul Dravid was bowled the ball before!

Shoaib streched his arms as wings and ran around the field. whole stadium was stunned!

 Shoaib-Akhtar-Eden-Gardens.jpg This, dear Itsonlycricket readers, can happen once again. Given Sachin's tendency to flick the ball onto leg side rather than play in the V (like he used to). And Pakistani cricket has pace, no denying that fact either. I wrote 'A story of Pak speed' a while ago, so read in case you doubt.

Following is a list of fast bowlers Pakistani national cricket team is playing these days, and a little more about each. Geoff Lawson (Pak coach), in his first interview after the appointment, had urged Pakistani quickies to come alive and take Pak cricket further.. by no means, in India vs Pakistan 2007 series, he won't plan to hit Indians with bouncers and yorkers..

Mohammad Asif
Says he doesn't bowl inswingers or outswingers. He just bowls the ball in right area and gods gift does the rest. In fact, seam on the ball don't even land perfectly on the pitch when Asif bowls. 6 feet 4 inches tall bowler delivers at 130kmph average speed, at an uncomfortable driving length to the batsman, and ball goes in or out depending on which position the seam was.

Lean & thin is Mohammad Asif, but a real threat to Indian batters.

Sohail Tanvir
made his debut in T20 world cup. although India went on to win the tournament beating Pakistan twice, Tanvir was one left-arm pacer all of India remembers well. Little for the sixes the left hander hit, and more for unusual bowling action Sohail has.

Not sure this Pakistani pacer can swing the ball into right handers, but he can angle them across alright. and a nick/edge to slips follow.

Shoaib Akhtar
if selected, will be hungry. Fastest bowler (161kmph arguebly) on Earth has a point to prove, and arch-rival Indians are the opposition. & guess what, India vs Pakistan 2nd test match in this series will be played at Eden Gardens Kolkata, starts on 30th November!!

Fitness, accuracy and decipline of Shoaib will be a huge key in the series.

Umar Gul
has very high arm action, and ball comes down hard on the pitch. Result - awkward bounce for the batsman to negotiate. Recently, Umar Gul has started to bowl at the slog overs for Pakistan, which means he's more confident of his line-n-length. Umar Gul has also changed his hair style, which seems to be lucky for him.

90miles per hour bowling speed is also coming from Gul these days and he's a much better fielder now.

Rao Ifthikhar Anjum
bowls with a very quick action. Given the match is played under tough bowling conditions - Anjum is a piece of cake for batsman. but just in case you play underlights or weather helping the quicks - expect Rao Ifthikhar to get unplayable. He'll move the ball both ways, and zip the ball through.

Tricky choice for Pakistan this one.

Mohammad Sami
can only be on this Pakistan's tour of India, if Pakistan opt for all out pace attack & want extra speed. Mohammad Sami has been guilty to bowling too many wides and fall apart while striving for pace, but more the speed on the ball - more is your chance to defeat Indian batting.

Cooling his heals is Mohammad Sami, but might get the surprize recall once the series gets underway!




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