Vaas vs Asif

Written by HW Squadstats

Monday, 17 September 2007

Bowling in Twenty20 cricket is a tricky job. It is not the easiest thing in the world- possibly the thing bowlers love most about the twenty over format is that they cannot be asked to bowl more than twenty overs. But clearly, it is not as tough as made out to be by several members of the creed. There are enough rewards on offer for bowlers with genuine skill and the heart to compete in an elevated zone of difficulty and competition.

There are some players who make the statement ‘Twenty20 is like a graveyard for bowlers’ sound like nothing more than a sour grapes excuse. Two of most prominent of these are Mohammad Asif and Chaminda Vaas.

Wickets vs. Economy

A hint of a trend that has been emerging in Twenty20 is that established Test & ODI batsmen have found the going in Twenty20 a shade dodgy, but the bowlers have adopted far more easily, and far more effectively, with Vaas and Asif being just two instances.

In a Twenty20 game it is a difficult to make the choice between being economical and taking wickets. Wickets help reduce the run rate, no doubt, but with only Twenty overs to go and every batsmen looking to hammer the bowling, working the other way round might help better.
One of the most vulnerable of a batsman’s several Achilles heels in Twenty20 cricket is the pressure to score. Using tight, accurate, controlled bowling to curtail runs would mean preying on this soft underbelly, and would work towards getting wickets. It is tough to decide which of the two routes work better, which is why it is tough to decide who is the more valuable of the two between Asif and Vaas.

Vaas is accurate and economical. A run rate of under 6 in Twenty20 cricket is precious commodity, and Vaas plies his trade at 5.83 per over. While wickets may not be in regular supply with an average of 23 (indifferent, by Twenty20 standards), you can be reasonably assured of 4 quite, workmanlike overs.

Asif, on the other hand, is liable to concede more runs. An economy rate of 6.51 is better than most, but not better than the best. An average of 14.71, however, is right up there. Asif emerges as the wicket taker, the man who may concede a few boundaries but will ensure that the team gets a top-order snare or two.

Bottomline

The question now is which of the two is more valuable? What’s better….a 5 for 0 over, or a 15 for 1 over. The answer, possibly, is a 12 for 2 over, especially so if the 2 victims are mainstream batsmen.

The reasoning is simple. An economical spell of four overs is good stuff, but if those four overs don’t result in wickets, it leaves the rest of the bowlers vulnerable to being smashed around and taken to the cleaners. A bit like what happened to the Indians in the game against New Zealand, where despite having the Kiwis under a tight leash they broke through in the final overs, propelled by the cushion of wickets to follow behind them.

A wicket taking spell leaves the opposition crippled, and makes the changing of gears that much more difficult. While the wickets will count for nothing if they come at a run rate that is impossible to repair, they count for a lot more than an economical spell if done without conceding too much.

While there is no questioning Vaas’ value, Asif comes closer to achieving the above objective. To simplify the evaluation, by Vaas’ records of an average of 23 and an economy rate of 5.83, you will get a spell of four overs, 23 runs and a wicket. Asif’s record of an average of an average of 14.71 at an economy rate of 6.51 will give you figures of four overs, 26 runs and two wickets.

Now, if only we could have both these spells in the same innings in the same match…

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