Ability to produce wicket-taking bowlers set Pakistan apart, feels Mike Atherton
Mike Atherton is of the opinion that the ability to produce wicket-taking bowlers has set Pakistan apart in recent times as a cricketing power. Atherton also added that the relative lack of infrastructure needed to produce batsmen might have resulted in Pakistan becoming a rich bowling country.
It is no secret that Pakistan’s rise as a cricketing nation since their first Test in 1952 had to do with their bowling resources and the ability to produce great bowlers almost like regulation. From the likes of Imran Khan to Shoaib Akhtar, from Wasim Akram to Shaheen Shah Afridi, from Waqar Younis to Naseem Shah, they have been a factory house in the truest sense and Atherton is awed by it.
"When I played against them, they had some great bowlers in particular. The last attack that I played against on my tour here of 2000, they had Wasim and Waqar Younis then Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq. Now you have got four great match-winning bowlers there," Atherton was quoted as saying by TOI.
"Pakistan, of course, have produced great batsmen, but I think in recent times, the strength and depth of their bowling and particularly the kind of wicket-taking bowlers - pace bowlers and mystery spinners - have set them apart," he added.
While many have reasoned the tape-ball cricket on the streets of Pakistan as the major reason behind the same, Atherton has a rather different view on the same. The former English batsman is of the opinion that the lack of infrastructure added to the charm.
"I don't know why Pakistan particularly produces great bowlers. I suspect it has something to do with the relative lack of infrastructure. In order to produce lots and lots of great batsmen, you've got to have facilities and infrastructure and coaches and a very formal system, but I think bowlers can spring and emerge from anywhere and that's probably why Pakistan produces so many," he added.