Irfan made to sweat at home turf

By the time the first session ended, his figures read 10-1-41-1 and the handful of spectators — who until Monday had been disgruntled over the way their favourite son-of-the-soil had been sent back — were slowly beginning to understand the reasons behind team management’s move.

“They have killed him, destroyed his bowling,” was Vinit Vatkar’s call, Pathan’s Ranji coach when the bowler had made his debut for Baroda.

Vatkar had seen Pathan as a 17-year-old skinny bowler who could do nothing else but bowl fast.

“He was nothing like this ever before. I think today he is bowling worse than what he had bowled when he started for Baroda,’’ the concerned former coach said.

Like Vatkar, there were others who had lined-up at the IPCL Stadium to watch Pathan. To their utter surprise, the left-arm bowler registered an average speed of 118 kmph, bowled 14 no-balls, five beamers, and had given away 108 runs from 22 overs at an economy rate of 4.95.

“They shouldn’t have sent him to play Ranji. At least, they should have sent him to somebody who could explain to this boy what he needs to do about this,’’ Vatkar kept saying.

“It is okay if a batsman is dropped because of lack of form and sent back to domestic cricket to find runs. But in a bowler’s case, there’s a lot of analysis required. It is definitely not okay if you just ask the bowler to leave, find his form and come back. He should have been at least sent to the MRF Academy,’’ was Vatkar and some of Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) officials’ call.

MRF Academy coach T.A. Sekar also spoke about what he thought of the medium pacer. “If he’s not playing for India, then he’s playing Ranji Trophy. But that’s not what he needs at the moment. He needs to spend time with himself, and with somebody who can help him in finding what is going wrong. Otherwise, he’ll keep bowling like that on and on,’’ Sekar told The Indian Express from Chennai.

In Sekar’s opinion, it is all about the grip. “From what I saw in South Africa , his grip is not correct and even when the ball is pitched, it is not on the seam. If these things are not corrected first, how can he think about finding his lost swing,’’ Sekar said.

• Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 269 (Tanmay Srivastava 84, Suresh Raina 72; Rajesh Pawar 5/51, Rakesh Patel 2/45) vs Baroda 24/0.