The debate over the 'needless' promotion of Yusuf Pathan in India's World Cup game against South Africa at Nagpur over the weekend just doesn't seem to end. Sent in to bat at No. 4, with India cruising at 267 for 2 in 40 overs, and 26 balls of batting Power play still left, Yusuf drove Dale Steyn straight in the hands of Graeme Smith at cover to start what has now become India's most infamous collapse.
What could have prompted the team management and Indian captain MS Dhoni to promote Pathan at No. 4 especially when he had more established and proven batsmen like Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and himself waiting in the shed? It surely couldn't have been the dasher's record when he bats higher.
Both his power-packed centuries, the unbeaten 123 against New Zealand in Bangalore and his 105 against South Africa at Centurion have come while he batted at No. 6 and No. 7 respectively.
What could have prompted the team management and Indian captain MS Dhoni to promote Pathan at No. 4 especially when he had more established and proven batsmen like Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and himself waiting in the shed? It surely couldn't have been the dasher's record when he bats higher.
Both his power-packed centuries, the unbeaten 123 against New Zealand in Bangalore and his 105 against South Africa at Centurion have come while he batted at No. 6 and No. 7 respectively.
| Pathan in One-Day Internationals | ||||||||
| Position | Inns | N.O | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 100 | 50 |
| Third | 1 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 11.00 | 110.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Fourth | 5 | 0 | 108 | 44 | 21.60 | 104.85 | 0 | 0 |
| Fifth | 4 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 2.00 | 57.14 | 0 | 0 |
| Sixth | 7 | 4 | 193 | 123* | 64.33 | 133.10 | 1 | 0 |
| Seventh | 19 | 7 | 437 | 108 | 36.41 | 113.50 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 36 | 11 | 757 | 123* | 30.28 | 115.22 | 2 | 3 |
0 comments:
Post a Comment