The Pakistani cricket due the recent controversial match-fixing scandal might just lose key players for the near cricketing future. Four visiting Asian players were accused of spot-fixing during the test series against England, out of which 3 have been suspended namely test skipper Salman Butt, and pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. Losing Butt wouldn’t hurt the unpredictables as losing the newly-discovered talents of Amir and Asif would do.
As he might not be able to recover these allegations based on his past controversial experience with drugs, the small town boy Amir who is just 18 years of age just might have killed any chances of becoming an international superstar. Before the entire controversies had taken place, Amir’s bowling capabilities were being praised by senior and former captains such as Rameez Raja and Wasim Akram. The left-arm veteran Pakistani bowler Akram believed that young Amir had more developed cricketing sense than he had at 18 years of age.Nevertheless, the recent remarks by senior players, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials and billions of Pakistani cricket fans were to safeguard the talent of Amir, as he must have come under pair-pressure and gotten involved in this illegal fiasco pulled off by senior teammates. The fact that Amir’s talent couldn’t be replaced is undenialbe; the thought of it has had many voices going louder by the day.
The harsh reality is that the land of Pakistan is filled with outstanding, amazingly talented and untamed fast bowlers. And the fear that losing Amir would mean an unparalleled replacement to the likes of Akram and Waqar Younis, however, countering all odds you find someone like Mohammad Talha, who is yet another blooming talent discovered by domestic cricket.
Talha is a tall slim right-arm fast bowler, who was born on 15th of October, 1988, in Faisalabad, Pakistan. And just at the age of 21 he has gained an increasing repute of being a quicker bowler, who will eventually make it to the national squad of Pakistan.
However, Talha is relatively inexperienced at the moment, he was first noticed in the 2005 Afro-Asia Cup for Pakistani Under 19 team, but several injuries limited his continuity in the next domestic cricket season. His performance in the 2008-9 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy helped him regain his repute, as he was able to extract extra bounce and bowl at a sharp bursting speed. In his recent domestic season, he had taken 34 wickets in just 6 matches.
For some time now, Talha has been working with former Pakistani fast bowler Aaqib Javed at the National Cricket Academy in Karachi. Aaqib has re-modified the youngster bowling action, and believes that Talha can be a future prospect for the national team. After Shoaib Akhtar, he is definitely the fastest bowler present in the country. The youngster’s recent interview revealed his desire to become a world class bowler with genuine fast bowling capabilities.
Talha says, “I want to be a 145kp/h + bowler. I don’t want to get slower, I just want to get faster and faster.”
Based on his impressive first-class cricket record the young talent was selected in the home series against Sri Lanka in 2009, but was overlooked for pace men Sohail Khan and all-rounder Yasir Arafat in the first test, as the second test never happened because of the attacks that followed the Sri Lankan team.
His first-class record up till now is an outstanding of 115 wickets from 29 domestic matches. With an average of 28.13, he has 8 five wickets haul and one 10 wickets in match haul to his name. Not to forget his best of 6 for 59.
While looking at Talha’s performance, the fear of losing young Amir somehow lessens for Pakistani cricket, as the undiscovered talent is so much in Pakistan that every now and then a gem of a bowler is discovered. In likes of young promising talent of Talha, Pakistani cricket is the last international full member of ICC, which should fear lacking talent and should look forward to a promising future.
