Decoding Yusuf Pathan.

2.1 million dollars buy, hardly contributed anything with the bat so far to make the investment count for the Knight Riders. He doesn’t look to be the same force like he used to be while associated with Royals.

Is the poor run due to the absence of Warne’s magic?

For starters, consistency was never the feature of Pathan. That does not mean he is a flash in the pan. If you follow his career closely, you could notice a pattern associated to his success. He usually delivers when everyone else in the team fails. That was largely the reason for his higher success rate with Royals, a team that hardly had any batting stalwarts until 2010.

When Pathan first found a place in the Indian Team, he failed miserably because there was seldom a dependency on him. Also he was relatively new to understand the world of international cricket. That goes without saying he soon figured a way out of the team.

However his comeback to the Indian jerseys worked only because a second string Indian Team under Gambir played New Zealand during Dec 2010. He played a magnificent century in the 4^th ODI when the team was in dire straits only to seal the game for the nation.

When most expected him to fail miserably during the South Africa tour early this year, Pathan had the last laugh against the likes of Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe on bouncy wickets. Again you have to understand that key personalities like Sehwag, Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan pulled out of the ODI series. India was a fairly an inexperienced side that created the required dependency on him. And Pathan came out in flying colors!!!

Thus Pathan walked into the World Cup with huge expectation only to create a massive disappointment for his fans. He was not even a part of the playing XI during the final phase of the tournament. The stature of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina and Kohli in the lineup hardly created a reliance on him. That explains why Pathan faltered.

Now you must have figured out that the line up comprising Kallis, Gambir, Tiwary, Morgan are not going to create the same dependency as Royals.

Having said that I have no doubts in mind, Yusuf Pathan will be the show stealer when a second string Indian side is likely to play WI.


Unlike Laxman, Pathan is also a second innings player that explains the strong character of the personality.

It is my opinion that Yusuf Pathan should be given a standard slot say No.4 in the team to create psycological dependency. I'm sure that would yield far more success for him and his recruits.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover