Umar Gul, Pakistan’s indispensable T20 bowler; Australia Threatened in Two-Test Series at Lord’s
In the second semifinal of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, Australia needed 18 runs in the last over to make it to the final, and the bowling let Pakistan down on that day as there was no Umar Gul to stop the blitz of Michael Hussey. The Pakistan team, as well as the cricket fans, dearly missed the T20 specialist Umar Gul in the Caribbean who was home resting because of a shoulder injury. No bowler in the world is as indispensable for his team as is Umar Gul for Pakistan in the shortest version of cricket.
Gul’s return to the Pakistan team has made it emerge as a squad that can grab the match in the death overs. If the talismanic captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 trusts the sensational teenager Mohammad Aamer for the new ball, then at the same time he turns to none other than Umar Gul when it comes to the old ball. The only choice for the death overs of T20 is usually tried by the captain after the 13th over in a match. He can restrict the aggressiveness of any batsman with his vicious yorkers straight in at his toes.
Umar Gul has once again played an eminent role in Pakistan's 2-0 whitewash against the World Champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. The whole team was outstanding in its respective areas, especially Mohammad Aamer and Umar Akmal, but Gul must be lauded for his successful comeback after an extensive injury that kept him away from the cricketing arena for months. Gul returned with his superb yorkers in a manner which made it seem as though he'd never left.
Australian T20 skipper Michael Clarke also lauded Gul’s performance in the T20 series. "Pakistan's bowling was outstanding again today. I think we can learn a lot from the way they bowl at the death. Umar Gul is outstanding and they are going to be tough opposition in the Tests," said http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120.
Born on April 14, 1984 in the provincial capital of NWFP, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Peshawar-c832, Umar Gul is a right arm medium fast bowler who plays for Pakistan Cricket team in all three formats of world cricket - Test matches, One Day Internationals and T20 Internationals. Umar Gul gained fame in international cricket for his marvellous showings in T20 cricket. He finished the first two editions of the T20 World Championship tournament – 2007 and 2009 - as the leading wicket taker.
Gul made his One Day International debut on 3 April 2003 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, taking 103 wickets. His best bowling in any One-Day International is 5 for 17.
His test debut came against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 on August 20, 2003. He hauled 15 wickets in his debut series. With Shabbir Ahmed leading with 17 wickets, his 15 wickets in the series became the second-most wickets in a series by any Pakistani bowler. His test bowling stats are tremendous. He has hauled 96 test wickets in just 26 matches, at an average of 34.62.
Though injuries limited his test participation, but at the same time, Gul, changing his bowling line and length, became a leading T20 bowler. He made his T20 debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757. The absence of speedster Shoaib Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq earned him a place in the tournament where he finished as the leading wicket taker of the tournament, taking 13 wickets. His performance in the second edition of T20 World Championship was tremendous; his historical 5 for 6 haul against the Blackcaps, especially, earned him exceptional acclaim. His five-wickets against the Kiwis made him the ever first bowler to take five wickets in a T20 international.
Mutterings came out for his ‘ridiculous’ reverse swings but he denied any allegations, saying, "Whenever an Asian bowler performs and uses the reverse-swing, the Western cricketing countries raise the issue of ball-tampering against them.”
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