Pankaj Sing: The Perpetual Outsider?

He is tall, has got the built for being a fast bowler, packs-in sufficient experience having toiled on the dusty pitches of India and is consistent beyond doubt: the man I am talking about is Pankaj Singh. For some strange reason that is beyond any realm of reasoning, one of the best-performing fast bowlers from the Indian domestic circuit has never been given his due. To his credit, Pankaj Singh has always bowled consistently and that is his prime forte. He is not as fast as Mornie Morkel and cannot hurry the batsmen like Dale Steyn. However, he has the gumption and the discipline that is needed to trouble batsmen in one-dayers and Test matches. Inexplicably, the Indian selection committee have exhibited a shocking case of myopia when considering Pankaj Singh despite
the fact that the likes of Zaheer and Irfan have not been performing up-to-the-mark and Umesh Yadav is still learning the ropes. What India missed during their drubbing in England and Australia was the presence of one, medium-fast consistent bowler who could keep the batsmen on the backfoot without  doing something too heroic. With the English and Aussies arriving, I hope the selectors will wake-up and realize that Pankaj Singh is perhaps the answer to the bowler's conundrum that continues to haunt the national cricket team.

Ajmal Versus Swann: the Best ODI Bowler Debate

Call it the old Pakistani habit of biting more than what one can eat, Saeed Ajmal, the supposed best Pakistani bowler in the ODI format at the moment has gone on to verbally challenge the ace English off spin bowler, saying that he is on the verge of replacing the English spinning revelation in the forthcoming season. While some purists might say that a bit of tussle for the top spinner's slot, particularly in the ODI format, might be good since the spinners have been reduced to fill-up bowlers in a game that has become unreasonably inclined towards the batsmen. However, it should also be seen as an act of desperation by Saeed Ajmal since he has simply failed to get the attention of the global cricketing fraternity though it should be said that Ajmal is quite a good bowler in his own respect but fails to impress as much as the guile induced by Swann. Some experts would say that saying such things were a bit uncalled for by Ajmal but then again, apart from engaging the attention of the cricketing media through such measures, Ajmal stands little chance of adding to his reputation in world cricket which is also partially because of increasing depreciation with which performances of the Pakistani cricket team is looked upon. 

MY VERDICT? I seriously doubt that Ajmal has what it will take to displace Swann from his pedestal. He just isn't as tricky and cannot float the ball in the air like Swann does.