5 times a high-profile cricketer played domestic matches to regain form
Jim Laker, while recalling his spell to Sir Don Bradman in the Lords test of the 1948 Ashes series, said Bradman seemed to know where the ball was going to pitch, what stroke he was going to play and how many runs he was going to score.Talk to any batsman and hed probably tell you that hed give anything to have that Bradman like feeling each time he went out to bat. When in prime form, the ball hits the middle of the bat more often than not and even the edges fetch runs. And when the fabled form deserts you, everything from the simplistic back-lift to the routine getting in line of the ball goes terribly awry.Thats when the coaches and pundits talk of doing the proverbial basics. And for top-flight international cricketers, this entails to getting back to their good old scoring days. Heres a look at five cricketers that suffered a slump and returned to domestic cricket with the intent of regaining their touch.
#5 Irfan Pathan
When Irfan Pathan burst onto the international scene in the 2003-2004 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he was hailed as the “blue-eyed boy” of Indian cricket. And when the ICC labeled him as the 2004 Emerging Player of the Year, he seemed destined for greatness and a long international career.
But in 2005, his bowling form began to dip. However, when Greg Chappell took over the reins of the Indian team, Pathan’s metamorphosis began as a bowling all-rounder. Despite his new-found addition, the Baroda lad’s bowling began witnessing a steady decline.
By the start of 2006, he wasn’t a potent bowling force anymore - having lost pace and swing. This resulted in him being sent back from a South Africa tour and earning the dubious distinction of becoming the first Indian player to be sent home for poor performance.
The message to Pathan however, was to return to domestic cricket and get his groove back. While the left-hander scored an 82* against U.P upon return to Ranji Trophy, his match bowling figures of 3/167 didn’t impress.
He, however, fared better in subsequent games against Tamil Nadu and Mumbai with figures of 5/92 and 7/96. On the back of this performance, Pathan returned to the Indian ODI squad but failed to land a game in the Caribbean World Cup.
His moment, however, came in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa. After bowling a constricting spell of 3/16, Pathan earned the Man-of-the-Match award in the Final to seal his comeback.