Pakistan Cricket: Umar Gul needs Rest

-DR. ABDUL RUFF

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Of late, when bowlers are becoming bit more serious than any time before, the importance of bowling and fielding is being felt very fiercely and a faulty bowling unit can earn the defeat. 

Reduction and restriction of runs and run rate acquire more important than mere wickets. Once run rate falls drastically, wickets fall automatically. And there is no need to offer big 6s and 4s to somehow get a wicket, if available. 

One fails to understand why some teams maintain a few faulty bowlers irrespective of their performances.  Some bowlers keep failing, like Umar Gul, but they still find place in the squad for reasons not connected to good performance of the team.

In fact over all performance of these bowlers has been pathetic, to use a very simple criticism. Occasionally they do fell a couple of wickets, but t is that enough for the team to perform better continuously?

Pakistani team deliberately keeps such bowlers like Umal Gul for offering too many runs for the opponent batboys so as to make the total to something big.  Some time, they offer many runs in the beginning itself, but mostly they prefer to open the flood gate of runs in the second half of the match.

Umal; Gul not only refuses to target the stumps but also leak too many runs with a smile, possibly to inform the mafia that he id doing their job.

In fact, not even one bowler in the team to do his job on a regular basis and most they play mischief. . Another bowler Shahid Afridi whom the team expect to be patient and make runs, all of a sudden fails and while bowling, these days, he plays not the usual bowling he is known for.

It is time to rest Gul, if not permanently, and recruit some better bowler who would not waste balls or leak runs.

Irrespective of what happen in the Asia cup finals, Gul needs replacement.

Of course, not just Gul and there are more bowlers who should either perform and be replaced. Even when the team wins a match, poor performers must go!.

There should review committee to assess the performance of each player  in every match and series so that corrective measures could be initiated for the  better equipment of the team. . The practice of keeping a"winning side" in tact should undergo basic reform ad now each player should stay only on his own performance. Anew practice of replacement would go a long  way in forming a real  team with efficient bowlers and fielders.