Irfan can swing it for India: Emburey

One of India’s chief problems in one-day cricket over the past 10 years has been the lack of a genuine all-rounder. There may be a solu...

One of India’s chief problems in one-day cricket over the past 10 years has been the lack of a genuine all-rounder. There may be a solution in sight: Middlesex coach John Emburey believes Irfan Pathan, currently playing for the county, is the answer.

‘‘Irfan has surprised all with his batting. We all knew that he was a very fine bowler who could swing the ball well but his batting has been a revelation,’’ Emburey told The Indian Express. This news should come as a blessing for newly-appointed coach Greg Chappell when India travel to Sri Lanka in August for the tri-series and aim to improve on their one-day rankings.

Pathan started the season well against Sussex with both bat and ball. In crucial lower order partnerships, Pathan scored 41 and an unbeaten 13 and was also their top wicket-taker in the first innings to help bowl Sussex out 69 runs short.

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‘‘He is a natural all-rounder and could easily bat at number six or seven in international cricket. If he tightens up his defence a bit he could be a very good batsman. He sees the ball early, has good shots and can play the big shots well. He also works the ball around when the situation demands,’’ he said. But Pathan has no aim of becoming an all-rounder and wants to concentrate on his bowling.

‘‘I want to get runs and like every fast bowler I love my batting and I spend a lot of time on my batting but I want my bowling to settle down nicely over the next 3-4 years and then with time I might want to become an all-rounder,” he told this paper. Pathan credits John Wright for his batting prowess.

‘‘He worked a lot on my batting. My head position used to fall off and my feet used to come across too much; he worked hard on my technique,’’ he says. Coming off a poor season, Pathan spoke to Emburey about his bowling and they got down to analysing his bowling action.

According to Emburey, Pathan gets into sideways position too early and that takes the pace away from his bowling. ‘‘He is not always running straight through and that affects his bowling. At the first net we spoke about the importance of rhythm in his bowling. When we asked him to bowl fast he couldn’t but when he found his rhythm he bowled faster,’’ Emburey said.

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The former England off-spinner pointed out that having followed the India-Pakistan series recently he felt Pathan struggled because of the flat pitches which didn’t have anything for fast bowlers.But Pathan is of the opinion that his basic action is side on.

‘‘I can’t change my action now because it is the side on action that helps me swing the ball.’’ Emburey considers Pathan as a very English type of bowler who swings the ball, gets sideways movement besides generating pace and getting nip off the wicket.