5 bowlers who are carbon copies of legendary bowlers
When one reminds himself of the street cricket he played, there will flood in memories of a few moments where he tried imitating great bowlers. Every game has its own set of legendary players and the game of cricket is no exception. Sadly, every legend’s career has to come to an end at some stage and who would not want to see them back in one way or the other?
With their memories etched in the heart of every fan, it looks as if some modern day cricketers have been born to bring those memories to reality again. While marquee batsmen like Sanath Jayasuriya and Shivnarine Chanderpaul seem to exist in players like Kusal Perera and Fawad Alam, the bowling department has also come up with new products that tend to dig out memories of the legendary ones.
Here are 5 modern-day bowlers who are carbon copies of certain legendary ones:
1. Matt Henry-Shane Bond
It should come as no surprise that Matt Henry’s bowling action bears a canny resemblance to former Kiwi great Shane Bond, with the former most likely having spent his formative years idolising Bond.
Bond’s great strength was that he combined sheer pace with control and Henry seems to have those attributes too. While the 23-year-old is not blessed with as much speed as Bond, he certainly has the ability to rattle batsmen. Their quick run-up, slanting left arm and the release of the ball share no traces of differences, except for the fact that Bond bends his run up and his head a bit more.
Bond had a fairly short career due to being constantly plagued by injuries, but that didn’t prevent him from having success as he took 87 wickets from 18 Tests at a phenomenal strike rate of 38.7. While Henry is still very new in his international career, he looks like he will follow in Bond’s footsteps as he has taken three 4-wicket hauls in the 12 international games he has played so far.
2. Yasir Shah-Abdul Qadir
While there have been a lot of suggestions on social media recently that leg-spinner Yasir Shah resembles footballing great Lionel Messi in terms of looks, it is former Pakistan great Abdul Qadir that one is reminded of when it comes to his bowling.
Yasir does not only have a very similar approach to the crease as Qadir but also an identical follow-through post his delivery stride.
The one perceptible area of difference between the two bowlers is in regards to the googly, which is released from the back of the hand and turns into the right-hander. While Qadir was a masterful exponent of the delivery and used it with deadly effect to befuddle batsmen, Yasir does not have the same expertise and is quite a reluctant bowler of the googly.
However, Yasir already has three 4-wicket hauls in 7 Test matches under his belt, hinting that something special is just around the corner.