Junaid Khan – Pakistani pacer - A star in the making – Part one
Pakistan has always been a fertile land when it comes to producing fast bowlers of the highest quality. Since its arrival in International cricket after independence, Pakistan has given a number of gems to the game in this department.
The likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Akhtar-c90080 are a few examples of tear-away fast bowlers who rocked the ‘gentleman’s game’.
Recently, Pakistan produced some of the most outstanding talents in the shape of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Asif-c1993, but unfortunately, the duo is facing a ban from all sorts of competitive cricket because of their alleged involvement in
a spot-fixing controversy, which occurred during Pakistan’s tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 in 2010.
Any other country would have struggled after a ban on its two premier fast bowlers, but Pakistan, which is known for producing the most naturally gifted players even though the structure of domestic cricket in the country is way behind
other leading cricketing nations, recovered very well, breeding a new generation of pacers.
Left-arm fast bowler, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 Cricket World Cup 2011 as a replacement
for the out of form http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-Tanvir-c90665. The Young fast bowler failed to get a game in the mega event but he grabbed the opportunity with both hands when he made his limited overs debut in the Caribbean.
So far, he has not taken a lot of wickets, but the young bowler has proved that he belongs to the highest level of the game and the cricket analysts are touting him to be the ideal replacement for Mohammad Amir.
Just like any other young cricketer of his generation, Junaid started playing cricket after getting the inspiration from watching Imran Khan and Wasim Akram conquer the world of cricket on television. According to Junaid, Pakistan’s triumph
in the 1992 World Cup gave a boost to his passion for cricket.
Junaid said in an interview, “I was very young when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 won the World Cup in 1992 and only realised what a great achievement it was when I was older. However my first cricketing memories are of watching replays of the 1992 World Cup
and watching http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Khan-c64237 lift the trophy at Melbourne.”
Like all the left-arm fast bowlers in the world of cricket these days, Junaid’s idol is Wasim Akram and he tries to emulate the bowling action of the legendary fast bowler.
“Gradually http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292 became the bowler that I tried to copy and watch very closely. The way he swung the old ball fascinated me, the way he bowled with the new ball, the way he bowled in different conditions, the way he bowled his Yorker,”
he added.
To be continued in part two . . .
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