Profile "Umar Gul"

Umar Gul

Pakistan

Full name Umar Gul

Born April 14, 1984, Peshawar, North-Western Frontier Province

Current age 27 years

Major teams Pakistan, Gloucestershire, Habib Bank Limited, Kolkata Knight Riders, North West Frontier Province, North West Frontier Province Panthers, Pakistan A, Pakistan International Airlines, Peshawar, Peshawar Panthers, Sussex, Western Australia

Playing role Bowler

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium

Umar Gul

Statistics before July 03-2011

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	35	50	7	496	65*	11.53	52.87	0	1	57	18	7	0
ODIs	90	42	12	284	34*	9.46	64.84	0	0	24	6	11	0
T20Is	34	15	6	86	30	9.55	104.87	0	0	5	5	10	0
First-class	66	84	13	939	65*	13.22		0	1			15	0
List A	135	62	21	401	34*	9.78		0	0			17	0
Twenty20	65	36	11	243	30	9.72	111.46	0	0	13	16	21	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	35	66	7328	4302	125	6/135	9/164	34.41	3.52	58.6	9	4	0
ODIs	90	89	4268	3618	134	6/42	6/42	27.00	5.08	31.8	3	2	0
T20Is	34	34	697	752	47	5/6	5/6	16.00	6.47	14.8	3	1	0
First-class	66		12967	7507	266	8/78		28.22	3.47	48.7	16	14	1
List A	135		6486	5386	197	6/42	6/42	27.34	4.98	32.9	4	2	0
Twenty20	65	65	1388	1617	96	5/6	5/6	16.84	6.98	14.4	6	1	0

Career statistics

Test debut	Pakistan v Bangladesh at Karachi, Aug 20-24, 2003
Last Test	West Indies v Pakistan at Providence, May 12-15, 2011
ODI debut	Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Sharjah, Apr 3, 2003
Last ODI	Ireland v Pakistan at Belfast, May 30, 2011
T20I debut	Kenya v Pakistan at Nairobi (Gym), Sep 4, 2007
Last T20I	New Zealand v Pakistan at Hamilton, Dec 28, 2010
First-class debut	2001/02
Last First-class	West Indies v Pakistan at Providence, May 12-15, 2011
List A debut	2002/03
Last List A	Ireland v Pakistan at Belfast, May 30, 2011
Twenty20 debut	Hyderabad Hawks v Peshawar Panthers at Lahore, Apr 25, 2005
Last Twenty20	Hampshire v Sussex at Southampton, Jun 27, 2011

Recent matches

Bat & Bowl	Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date
2/24, 0	Sussex	v Hampshire	Southampton	27 Jun 2011
0/57	Sussex	v Somerset	Taunton	24 Jun 2011
2/15	Sussex	v Glamorgan	Cardiff	23 Jun 2011
0/58	Pakistan	v Ireland	Belfast	30 May 2011
1/29	Pakistan	v Ireland	Belfast	28 May 2011
0/40, 5, 0/21, 1	Pakistan	v West Indies	Providence	12 May 2011
40*, 0/33	Pakistanis	v Guyana BP XI	Georgetown	8 May 2011
0/69, 2	Pakistan	v India	Mohali	30 Mar 2011
1/13	Pakistan	v West Indies	Dhaka	23 Mar 2011
3/30	Pakistan	v Australia	Colombo (RPS)	19 Mar 2011

Profile

The least-hyped but most successful and assured Pakistan pace product of the last few years, Umar Gul is the latest in Pakistan's assembly-line of pace-bowling talent. He had played just nine first-class matches when called up for national duty in the wake of Pakistan's poor 2003 World Cup. On the flat tracks of Sharjah, Gul performed admirably, maintaining excellent discipline and getting appreciable outswing with the new ball.

He isn't express but bowls a very quick heavy ball and his exceptional control and ability to extract seam movement marks him out. Further, his height enables him to extract bounce on most surfaces and from his natural back of a length, it is a useful trait. His first big moment in his career came in the Lahore Test against India in 2003-04. Unfazed by a daunting batting line-up, Gul tore through the Indian top order, moving the ball both ways off the seam at a sharp pace. His 5 for 31 in the first innings gave Pakistan the early initiative which they drove home to win the Test.

Unfortunately, that was his last cricket of any kind for over a year as he discovered three stress fractures in his back immediately after the Test. The injury would have ended many an international career, but Gul returned, fitter and sharper than before in late 2005. He returned in a Pakistan shirt against India in the ODI series at home in February 2006 and in Sri Lanka showed further signs of rehabilitation by lasting both Tests but it was really the second half of 2006, where he fully came of age. Leading the attack against England and then the West Indies as Pakistan's main bowlers suffered injuries, Gul stood tall, finishing Pakistan's best bowler.

Since then, as Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar have floundered, Gul has become Pakistan's spearhead and one of the best fast bowlers in the world. He is smart enough and good enough to succeed in all three formats and 2009 proved it: he put together a patch of wicket-taking in ODIs, on dead pitches in Tests (including a career-best six-wicket haul against Sri Lanka) and established himself as the world's best Twenty20 bowler, coming on after the initial overs and firing in yorkers on demand.

He had hinted at that by being leading wicket-taker in the 2007 World Twenty20; over the next two years he impressed wherever he went, in the IPL for the Kolkatta Knight Riders and in Australia's domestic Twenty20 tournament. Confirmation came on the grandest stage: having poleaxed Australia in a T20I in Dubai with 4-8, he was the best bowler and leading wicket-taker as Pakistan won the second World Twenty20 in England. The highlight was 5-6 against New Zealand, the highest quality exhibition of yorker bowling. He is not a one-format pony, however, and will remain a crucial cog in Pakistan's attack across all formats.