Why is Munaf in the team?

[max_dillon2007]

I know India is not a place known for pure fast bowlers but we can certainly do better than Munaf. There are a lot of guys more talented and better than Munaf, for example: Srisanth, Agarkar. Does anyone else noticed the presence of that Eagle Niranjan Shah in this tour. Look how benchwarming players allways sit near him during matches. One more thing is that Niranjan Shah is from Gujrat and so is Munaf, so i bet there is some push from him during selection for a player of his state otherwise i dont see how Munaf deserve a place in this Indian Team.:

 

[Highlander999]

Well he just picked up three wickets in the first innings of New Zealand, so he has not exactly made a bad start

 

[Leggie]

Sreesanth is better than Munaf IMO, but no Agarkar. Agarkar is utter crap at the International scene now. He's lost his pace, deadly swing and intent.

Cheteshwar Pujara is also from Gujarat, so why is he not in the Team? I'd probably take Pujara over UV King of Sixers! King of T20! for Tests.

Munaf was deadly when he came onto the scene. I remember when he destroyed England in 2006. Munaf is ideal for these conditions and if he gets wickets in NZ, then it will do a world of good his confidence. This NZ Tour may well be the perfect platform for Munaf, hr has a steady action and gets the ball to seam after pitching. That is talent. All he needs is some motivation.

 

[max_dillon2007]

Sreesanth is better than Munaf IMO, but no Agarkar. Agarkar is utter crap at the International scene now. He's lost his pace, deadly swing and intent.

Cheteshwar Pujara is also from Gujarat, so why is he not in the Team? I'd probably take Pujara over UV King of Sixers! King of T20! for Tests.

Munaf was deadly when he came onto the scene. I remember when he destroyed England in 2006. Munaf is ideal for these conditions and if he gets wickets in NZ, then it will do a world of good his confidence. This NZ Tour may well be the perfect platform for Munaf, hr has a steady action and gets the ball to seam after pitching. That is talent. All he needs is some motivation.

I agree with you there, but he is not the same bowler now. Just Take a video of him and compare it with now. He has lost the pace and that is simply due to the stupid change he has made in his action. He tried to copy Macgrath's delivery stride wher he comes to the wicket. He runs in about a feet and half wide of the stumpas and takes a dramatic stride towards the stumps at the last moment which destroys the momentum. I had tried this myslef and found my pace decreasing dramatically as i was not able to complete my action and falling over in delivery stride. Thats what is happeneing with munaf. MacGrath doesnt do that at the last moment, he runs in very close to the stumps.

I'll take Munaf of 2006 over Srisanth and any other bowler in india as he was very good with old ball back then. He used to nip the ball back in to right handers sharply and bowls at 145 Kmph regularly.

 

[deerkick]

Too bad Munaf is better than Sreesanth, RP, Agarkar, Gony, Balaji, etc. Praveen however is better than Munaf and should have gotten the nod.

 

[SaiSrini]

Is the above post a joke? Except Agarkar, all others are better than Munaf

 

[Dare]

RP would have been a much better option then Munaf in New Zealand. Same goes for Sreesanth.

 

[TruSachFan]

Cricinfo - Stress fracture rules Sreesanth out of IPL

Sreesanth is out for some time. RP singh is still injured. Agarkar is crap. And praveen kumar is raw.

 

[deerkick]

Is the above post a joke? Except Agarkar, all others are better than Munaf

How so? Their stats are very similar. RP Singh can only prosper on a swinging paradise. Have you seen him on flat pitches? he's atrocious. Sree on the other hand is a good balance but he's still not nippy enough for tests and he's way too expensive in ODIs. As for Gony and Balaji being better than Munaf? Um no. And don't pull the domestic performance card on me, because in that case Ranadeep Bose would be a super star in the international circuit. I hate to break it to you but averaging 120 speeds is not enough for international level.

Munaf is not too bad when bowling with Zaheer and Ishant as he keeps things tight. He is quite talented and he can bowl at Sreesanth's pace when needed. His only problem is his attitude. He doesn't seem like he fits in well with the balance of the team and his fielding is still pretty bad.

 

[Slowcoach]

Munaf is the best option as 3rd seamer while Sreesanth and RP Singh are recovering from injury.

I don't think much of Praveen, too slow and not accurate enough, and with the old ball he is useless. Seamers need to do more than swing the new ball to be successful at Test level.

 

[SaiSrini]

Whatever I have seen of Gony, I have been very impressed of him. Right now, I would take him over Munaf, even though he does not have the figures in intl cricket (because he hasnt played so far). Balaji never lost form. He just went out because of injury and is now back. When he played, Balaji was a far far far far better bowler than Munaf (when he played, Balaji was in the league of Zaheer Khan that we see today).

I will take RP Singh too over Munaf because he is more energetic and attacks more often. Sreesanth is a very attacking bowler who can also be economical in the test matches (a better package). I dont like only Agarkar and would say Munaf is better than Agarkar.

I would never pick Munaf in any of the Indian squads. He started off promising to be the big thing with very good speeds. But he has wasted his talent so far pretty badly.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Munaf does what the team needs him too. He can control his attacking instinct and focus on backing up the main bowlers with tight, accurate bowling. And he's doing his job well, so he is in the team.

 

[King Cricket]

Whatever I have seen of Gony, I have been very impressed of him. Right now, I would take him over Munaf, even though he does not have the figures in intl cricket (because he hasnt played so far). Balaji never lost form. He just went out because of injury and is now back. When he played, Balaji was a far far far far better bowler than Munaf (when he played, Balaji was in the league of Zaheer Khan that we see today).

I will take RP Singh too over Munaf because he is more energetic and attacks more often. Sreesanth is a very attacking bowler who can also be economical in the test matches (a better package). I dont like only Agarkar and would say Munaf is better than Agarkar.

I would never pick Munaf in any of the Indian squads. He started off promising to be the big thing with very good speeds. But he has wasted his talent so far pretty badly.

Yeah right, a superstitious prat who wants to murder his mother because he thinks his mother is a witch and is doing voodos to kill him. Great choice. :

Anyway, I agree with your other choices. I think Munaf is in the squad because of his pace, nothing else. And another thing, right now most of our pacers are either injured or out of form or has just recovered from injury. Take RP Singh for example, highest wicket taker of T-20 WC, now I'll rate even a crap like Ajit Agarkar above him- completely out of form. That's why Munaf is gettig picked in the first XI. But when Sree will fully recover, he'll not stand a chance.

 

[shravi]

Munaf bowled well in the first innings. Very well. He complimented Zaheer and Ishant superbly.

 

[surendar]

I never wanted Aashish Nehra, RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Balaji in the side anymore I know this will trigger Sai now

Anyways, after the first test I was never impressed by Munaf. People say that he got improved after that IPL. But after IPL he did play some ODIs where he showed nothing or I dunno why he appeared like ZERO factor of the team to me alone! : I hated him the most when Bermuda batsmen smashed this bloke

And Zorax, how come you are so big fans of these Kaifs and these Munafs.. I don't understand!