AT 2.16m, Mohammad Irfan is the tallest player in the world cricket. But that will hinder rather than help his case for selection in the Pakistan Test squad to play South Africa in the United Arab Emirates, the next month.
Irfan’s towering height makes facing him feel like trying to hit a ball launched from the top of a minaret.
It does not hurt that he is a left-armer, and after spending the two weeks with Wasim Akram in April and May he is able to move the ball both ways off the seam.
“He’s intimidating when you see him for the first time, and it’s difficult to prepare in training to face him,” South Africa’s Dean Elgar said. “He hits the deck hard and the ball reacts differently off the pitch compared to shorter bowlers.”
Unleashing all that against the South Africa in the Tests in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the next month would seem to be a no-brainer. Not, however, for Misbah-ul-Haq.
“There’s a big question mark over playing Irfan in a Test match,” the Pakistan captain said. “He’s okay for one-day and Twenty20s, but because of his physique we have to be very careful with him in the longer format.”
Bowling coach Mohammad Akram concurred: “Mohammad Irfan is a completely different kind of bowler compared to anyone else, but he’s had a few issues and he has to be fully fit before he comes back to Test cricket.”
The Pakistanis put their money where their mouths are on their recent tour of the Zimbabwe.
Irfan played in one of the two Twenty20s and all three of the one-day internationals, but returned home before the Test series.
He made his Test debut in the South Africa last season, and took all three of his wickets — those of AB de Villiers, Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn — in the first innings of the second Test at Newlands.
Irfan went wicketless for 35 runs in his 10 overs in the second innings and was again unsuccessful in South Africa’s only innings in the third Test at Centurion.
Elgar, who at 1.73m is 43cm shorter than Irfan, scored three runs from the 11 balls the left-arm lighthouse bowled to him in those two matches.
“Shorter batsmen tend to play off the back foot more anyway, so he could bowl into our strengths unless he bowls a fuller length,” Elgar said.
In the one-day series against South Africa, Irfan was the leading wicket-taker on both sides with 11 scalps and his average of 13.72 was the lowest.
So Misbah wants him to play in meaningless T20`s and ODI`S but in the meaningful test matches. Misbah is rubbish negative captain who should have been sacked along time ago.
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