Next over I would bowl the doosra and he would get caught at slip

We already know the superstars going to San Francisco in two weeks time to compete at the 2016 World Championships: Lee Faker Sang-hyeok, Song Smeb Kyung-ho and S?ren Bjergsen Bjerg. But which top talents arent going to Worlds? Lets take a look at 15 players who -- in an alternate reality -- could be making noise at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium during the group stages on Sept. 29.Top Lane:Kim Ssumday Chan-hoWe start with one of the best of those missing from the stage. Ssumday made the World Championships last year with KT Rolster before dropping in the quarterfinals to top lane rival Smeb and ROX Tigers. This year, everything appeared to be lined up for a return trip back to Worlds with KT upsetting archnemesis SK Telecom T1 to make the domestic summer finals. Following a close 3-2 loss against the Tigers, KT was upset by Samsung Galaxy (historically, KT had had a 19-game win streak against it). Ssumday had been one of the best players in Korea the entire year, yet, in the final weeks of the season, his form slipped at the worst time possible.Heo Huni Seung-hoonImmortals didnt make Worlds, losing to Cloud9 in the finals of the North American Regional Qualifier, but that was to no fault of Hunis. After getting dissected by C9s Jung Impact Eon-yeong in the domestic semifinals, he rebounded with a rejuvenated performance in the rematch by keeping up with the C9 top laner. Hunis overall year wasnt nearly as successful as his rookie campaign on Fnatic, but that falloff is still not enough to keep him off this list, since a majority of the other best top laners made it into the World Championships.Lucas Cabochard Simon-MesletUnlike our other two top laners, Cabochard wasnt close to making the World Championships. Team Vitality followed up an optimistic inaugural season by fielding a weakened lineup in the summer and barely finishing in seventh place to avoid relegations. Regardless, Cabochard is one of the best individual talents Europe has to offer in the top lane, and its another year hell miss Worlds stuck on a team that imploded in the summer split. Next year will be his third year as a professional, and the third time may just be the charm for the French top laner.JungleGo Score Dong-binScore should be at the World Championships. Hes arguably the best jungler in the world and a top five player pound-for-pound. Ssumday stumbled at the finish line; Score, on the other hand, did everything in his power to drag the KT Rolster organization to Worlds. Hes a general on the field and his years of experience has made him one of the smartest players on Summoners Rift as well. You can talk about the two-hitpoint Baron he failed to secure against ROX Tigers (that could have guaranteed KT a spot at Worlds), but thatd be a disservice to how well hes played throughout the entire year. While KT fluctuated in form across the two splits, Score was solid as could be.Kim Reignover Yeu-jinThe former MVP of the North American LCS comes next. Similar to Ssumdays situation on KT, Reignover had a dry spell to end the season, but its hard to keep him off the list of top international players not making the World Championships. As the man who kept Immortals running on track for 98 percent of the season, there are few junglers in the world currently who can confidently say theyre all-around stronger than the South Korean import. After making the semifinals of Worlds last season, not even touching ground this year will be a disappointment for Reignover.Choi Dandy In-kyuAll right, Team WEs Xiang Condi Ren-Jie should probably be here, yet, seeing Dandy makes me reminisce of the 2014 World Championships when no one in the jungle could even get close to his Rengar play. All five members of the Summoners Cup-winning Samsung White team went to China after the 2014 win, but only Dandy has yet to win a domestic title since transferring to Vici Gaming. He had a brief stint in the top lane before thankfully being switched back to his comfort position of jungle, and VG failed to make it through the Chinese Regional for a second year in a row to miss Worlds. All the other members of Samsung White, counting this year, have made it back to Worlds except for Dandy.Can we please get this man back to the World Championships next year, Vici Gaming?Mid Lane:Chu FoFo Chun-LanOut of all the rookies possibly making their debut at Worlds this year, I was most excited to see FoFo. He was the newfound ace of the rebranded J Team -- formerly Taipei Assassins -- and was going toe-to-toe with Flash Wolves Huang Maple Yi-Tang. When J Team were leading the pack in the summer season of the LMS, it seemed like wed get to see FoFo play against the best mid laners the world has to offer. Those dreams went down the drain when J Team faltered at the end of the season, completely crumbling when it was time to decide which teams from Taiwan would go to Worlds. FoFo and J Team didnt even get to the finals of the Taiwan Regional, losing to Machi 17 in a massive upset in the semifinals.Song Fly Yong-junOh look, another KT Rolster player. Its almost like this team really should be at Worlds. Fly was a liability for KT when he first debuted in the starting five at the start of 2016, and turned into a strength by the end of it. His awkward champion pool worked to KTs advantage against the likes of SK Telecom T1, and Flys individual play vastly improved from opening day. Unfortunately, like the rest of KT, hell have to watch from the sidelines as the World Championships begin, still hunting for his first trip to the grandest stage in League of Legends.Song Rookie Eui-jinRookie, mechanically, is one of the top players in the world. Hes a fantastic individual talent, and its a shame he is wasted on an Invictus Gaming squad that took the entire summer to finally find a semblance of a starting five that worked. It got so bad during the split that Rookie played at AD for a while before the team settled on a starter. On a good team, Rookie could contend for the title of best player in the world. On Invictus Gaming -- at least this iteration -- hes a piece of gold in a sea of copper.AD CarryGu Imp Seung-binIts crazy how much a year can change a view on a player. Last year before the World Championships, Imp was in the conversation alongside Cho Mata Se-hyeong for being the second-best player in the games history behind Faker. Imp, if he could win a second Summoners Cup with LGD Gaming, would have even possibly surpassed Faker in the eyes of some. None of that happened, however. LGD burned to the ground at 2015 Worlds, and Imp somewhat sleepwalked through a chaotic year on LGD where the lineup changed more than the expensive T-shirts he owns. Still, Imp, individually, is a great player like Dandy and Rookie, and Worlds will be missing his amazing play and even better trash talk.No Arrow Dong-hyeonOur fourth KT Rolster member, Arrow deserves his spot in this list of top players missing Worlds. As with Fly, Arrow improved leaps and bounds this year, and became more than merely the cleanup man of the Rolster team. His Jhin play in the final few weeks of the season was masterful, and his play on the long-ranged sniper almost got KT Rolster to the summer championship and a Pool 1 seed at Worlds.Jin Mystic Sung-junIts been a strange few years for Mystic. He started out in the Jin Air organization in Korea before moving to China with Team WE. He played alongside Lee Spirit Da-yun as the other Korean on the squad before the aforementioned jungler left in controversy. Since Spirits exit and the addition of fellow Korean support Yoon Zero Kyung-sup, Mystic has gotten more spotlight on a talented WE starting five.SupportYoon Zero Kyung-supSpeaking of Zero, here he is on the list. The former Summoners Cup finalist, its disappointing we wont see him on the worlds stage for a second straight year. Team WE were one game -- one teamfight -- from getting to the World Championships, holding a 7k gold lead over I May and breaking into their base; ultimately, they couldnt convert, getting flanked and wiped from the map.Adrian Adrian MaAdrian was the star in Immortals 3-2 win over Counter Logic Gaming in the third-place match in Toronto, Canada, a few weeks ago, but he couldnt nail down a first trip to Worlds with a loss to C9 in the NA Regional Final. Out of the five Immortals players, Adrian is the only one who still hasnt had the chance to prove himself at Worlds.Ha Hachani Seung-chanI never thought Id include Hachani in an article with top players, but here we are. The once heavily scrutinized support was a star for the team down the stretch, and he proved himself worthy as a player who could have held his own on the international stage if given the chance. All five KT Rolster players were featured in this piece. That should tell you something of the talent that is being left at home to watch.In 2012, the top team on the sidelines was Azubu Blaze. In 2013, it was the KT Bullets. In 2014, it was SK Telecom T1. This year, it was KT Rolster, a South Korean team. Had it qualified, it could have won it all depending on the circumstances and draw of the bracket. USA Soccer Pro Shop .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. USA Soccer Shirts . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/ . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Fake USA Soccer Jerseys . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. USA Soccer Gear . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. We heard that you were getting Andre Russell and Shane Watson out for fun in the nets. Reportedly, you dictated the sequence of events and the script worked to the dot. Is that true? Usually in training I bowl a lot to guys who go for big hits. The thing I learn from them is how far their reach is, how far they step out to go for those hits, how far they will step out to pick up the ball. In the process, I get hit for sixes in the nets, but those experiences help me in the match.So if he or a similar batsman faces me in a match, then how far is he picking up the ball from. Does he have a long handle? What I also learn is how to vary the pace in my variations, how to rip it more with the fingers or stretch my hand based on how quickly he brings down his bat.When Russell faced me in the Islamabad nets [during the ongoing Pakistan Super League], the first ball I bowled to him, he played a jerky shot. So I said he will play only two or three balls and I can get him out. Someone asked me how I would go about doing that. I said first I would bowl an offbreak on his legs, he would feel settled, and then on the same length I would bowl the doosra and he would go for a slog-sweep, so maybe I can get him out there. He did exactly that. I pitched it a little further out, it was actually a topspinner. He went for the shot, and the top edge went straight towards short third man.Have you done this in a match ever, telling somebody that you will get a batsman out? In the last qualifying round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Shahid Yousuf was standing at slip. I told him to stay focused as the batsman would give him a catch or he would get out bowled. I told him I would bowl the doosra on middle stump. If the batsman misses it he would get bowled, but if it hits the bat, the ball will come into your hands. He got out bowled. This was the last qualifying round in the Quaid-e-Azam, Grade II.Was the Russell delivery a doosra? It was a topspinner. Mishits happen when there is a little extra bounce. If the ball is flat, straight, then there is no mishit. When it comes onto the bat, he is beaten.Are you enjoying being back on the field? The other day [against Karachi Kings] you won the Man-of-the-Match award. By the grace of Allah, after a long time there is a feeling inside me that I am trying to bring back the set-up which was there earlier. The last T20 match I played was a county match last year. Here in the PSL, in the first match, there was a bit of pressure, but my bowling was good. In the last match, whatever I desired, whatever ball I bowled, it happened. I am getting my confidence back and the variations I am trying are happening now.How long did it take you to feel comfortable with your new action, which is little high and round arm? Even with the round-arm action I have learned some variations. In the round arm if I do this to my finger, it goes out that way [drifts out], if I do it this way, inside, it goes like this and spins in. That minor - half a foot in and out. The bat is half a foot wide, that is what you have to deceive. If he gets deceived, it will hit the pad - like when I bowled a little quicker to James Vince, he went on the back foot. That spun just a tiny bit and he was deceived.Can we say in the last one and a half years you have had to learn offspin totally afresh? I have relearned everything. Even with my body, I have had to start new exercises. Then I followed that up by bowling with a heavy ball. Everyone knows my right wrist is broken [in a bus accident]. The wrist bone protrudes out and my whole arm flexes. To get this under control, because it is already ten degrees, I have learnt to bowl with a heavy ball. To keep the wrist taut, my biomechanist, Dr Paul Hurrion, suggested I bowl with a heavy ball. I worked really hard. I bowled 12,000 deliveries during the rehab before coming back. I am developing those muscles. Initially I didnt have the pace, but thankfully my pace is up to 90kph.From the time my action was called and till it was cleared, I have bowled at least 100 balls a day. When I had to clear my action I did a lot of bowling in that time. My body weight would fall on one side, my left leg would come up during the delivery stride. To avoid doing that, I strapped weights to my ankles so that the foot doesnt rise and come down flat upon landing.Have you learnt new things about offspin that you didnt know before? Definitely. I learnt a lot of things. I learnt that you can bring everything from your fingers if you are willing to work hard. At 38 I have learnt something that I probably never did in my 15 years as a cricketer. I had to become a child - like the first time I went into the academy as a ten-year-old. So I had to look at it like that again over the last year.After you were banned, Saqlain Mushtaq was appointed by the PCB to work with you. Do you recollect the first delivery in the nets? Did you have to show Saqlain your action? He knew what my action was before. Working along with Saqlain bhai, I changed my action eight times. Initially he would like the action for a while, say for a month, but then he would change it. After ten days he would be impressed with a different action, but then say it is not proving to be effective. He would keep liking it but was not totally convinced. It reached a stage where one day, I just said I would leave it [bowling]. But Saqlain bhai said, Himmat na haar. [Dont lose hope.] One day it will come.I kept doing it. Then I started bowling well and gained confidence. I am not saying I have become zabardast [great] once again. But with the matches I am getting to play, the crowds are coming, I am enjoying bowling under pressure, and one day I will be available to play for Pakistan.How difficult is it to unlearn something you have known all your life? I was bowling with my earlier action for 22 years. Even now, when I see videos of my old matches, different things come to mind. Batsmens legs used to shake, every batsman used to think twice before stepping out to hit me, lest the ball bounces or turns. I cant forget those memories. Now when a batsman stares back at me I get angry. I think: till last year he used to cry, but why is he staring back now? To bring that back I have worked hard in the last six months to make my action effective and get back my pace. Now my pace is really good. Also my doosra, even though it is not as big as it used to be, is still there. There is topspin and it moves out a little bit. I am happy that Im bringing that back.Do you ever feel in a situation, physically, that your action might go back to the old one? You have played county cricket, bowled long spells. An old action is a habit. No way. I will leave cricket with this [new] action. If I am not effective, I will step aside and leave. What I have done, I am happy with. I have been bowling about 90% with the new action. The odd ball might have exceeded 20 degrees, but I work hard immediately to rectify that. I watch every video of my matches. Ninety-nine per cent of my deliveries are under control. Since I have not played international cricket I will need to continue to work on how I bowl under pressure. I also need to work on how I bowl when I am relaxed.I will be back, and that day is not far. I have spent a lot of time outside and it hurts me when Pakistan loses.What I have learnt is that to learn anything new you have to believe in yourself and believe your Allah. There is nothing in this world that man cant learn. I learnt the doosra by myself. All I did was watch videos of Saqlain Mushtaq and in one month I had learnt it. I wanted to try it out in the next domestic season and I did.To come back to international cricket, I need new variations, so I should be able to spin from the side, from down here, from the top, so I can deceive the batsman and let him know that I am now here. Your weapons have changed. Now you dont do big spin, for instance. In the last six months I have played 100-plus club matches [back in Pakistan] where I was also hit for many sixes. I was starting to understand at what pace the batsman was hitting me. I played club tournaments, local tournaments, a few outside. Slowly my confidence was coming back. In my mind I started thinking, Now I am deliveriing my hand in the correct fashion.dddddddddddd Earlier I had doubts, it was in my mind that I was chucking. It took me nearly a year after the ban to get rid of the fear and khauf [dread]. Now it is out and if you noticed my bowling in the last domestic T20 tournament in Pakistan and now in this, there is a big difference.Has there been a difference in your mental approach towards a batsman with the new action? My ability against the batsman has remained the same. I am mature enough to understand how to play the batsman. I understand where the ball will go if I press this finger and this finger [points to different fingers on his right hand]. I have taken a year just to master these fingers, only to get my confidence back so that one day when I return to the Pakistan team I dont want to feel that I am finished or that I have come on somebodys sifaarish [recommendation]. I dont want to feel like a liability. If I feel I am finished, I will retire.Are the variations the same as you used to have? There is a little bit of change. Earlier my deliveries used to have a lot of bounce. Now I have killed the bounce somewhat. Because of the high arm, my hand used to drop, so to stop the wrist from falling, I have now locked that wrist, so the spin is less. Earlier my right wrist used to fall away due to the bone injury. Now I have locked the wrist at the time of delivery. Consequently, the spin and bounce have reduced. But my variations remain the same. I have also learned to deliver with a low bounce against a tall batsman who stands and hits, or moves back to hit. In these matches, you will see a better version slowly.Do you still bowl the doosra? Definitely. I have cleared the doosra during the ICC testing process. Even against Karachi Kings I got Saifullah Bangash with a doosra. I bowled a few to Iftikhar Ahmed. Out of 18 deliveries I bowled six doosras. Once again, with the doosra, there has been no difference in pace. The only difference has been with the spin and bounce when I deliver the doosra and the topspinner. I still rely on the doosra. I know it is a weapon that unnerves a batsman. With time my hand speed will get faster, as it was before. Then the doosra will become more effective.Of the deliveries that were banned, which is the most difficult to change? The offspin. My wrist used to drop, and as soon as it used to drop - for the doosra it is fine - for offspin I had to lock the wrist and when I let it go, it did not break. Because the wrist remains locked now. So I found it really difficult to spin the ball. People think it is very easy, but for me it is really hard because my wrist bone is broken. I always need to ensure that the wrist does not fall. Now the ball has started breaking, and as an example I got James Vince lbw [against Karachi] with the offspinner.Did you ever think about your bowling as much as you have done in the last year? The biomechanist Paul Hurrion has really helped me. To control the wrist it took a lot of time. I never thought about it. Earlier I would think, This is Chris Gayle, or Pietersen, no problem. Now I have to think about where to pitch it, how to get the batsman out. Earlier the batsmen would be scared to face me. Now there is a muqabla [contest].Muscle memory is an important constituent of any learning process. It cant be built in a year. How do you deal with that challenge? I agree. But muscle memory is built when you start as a youngster. I am a mature spinner. It didnt take me that much time again because I know how to put the ball in. I already had the memory of where to bowl to what batsman and from where to deliver. My focus was just to clear my action. I cleared it very soon. I am very happy that I have developed the memory so quickly. I had almost lost hope. But I have this belief inside. I believe that everything I can put my head to, I can achieve.You said you put some weights on your ankles. Can you talk about that? And also bowling with a heavy ball? Saqlain bhai would strap my wrists with 1kg bands on both wrists. He did not want my front arm staying to the side and the bowling wrist high and locked. I also strapped 2.5kg weights on my [left] leg to make sure it did not go high and the head did not fall down sideways. The head needed to be straight and relaxed. I would then deliver with a heavy ball. It took me three months just to get used to it, to develop muscle.Do you reckon it is difficult for bowlers to innovate within the numerous stringent restrictions imposed by the ICC, as opposed to batsmen, who have the freedom to keep innovating and improvising? Perhaps it is easier for the fast bowlers, considering they have two new balls in ODIs. It has become very difficult for spinners. Why did the spinners start chucking, bowling faster? Heavy, broad, big bats, a mishit would go for a six; Powerplays, four fielders outside the circle, five inside in the ODIs. Pitches have changed. What can spinners do in such a setting? Spinners had to learn something new, and so started bowling faster. Earlier if you flighted the ball, you would get respect. Abhi agar hawa mein do toh hawa mein jaata hai. [Now if you toss it up in the air, it disappears into the air.] With the playing conditions changing, spinners started to learn to bowl fast and the chucking issue became prominent.Fingerspinners cant survive in international cricket, especially in ODIs and T20 cricket. The guy who does not have variety will be hit. You have to have variations, and for that you have to work hard, otherwise you are out. Can you succeed as a spinner without throwing? I have already given reasons as to why chucking started. There is nothing for the spinners. The ICC should allow spinners some relaxation. I said it to the ICC but it didnt make a difference.Can you talk about examples where you enjoyed bowling after your action was cleared? Last county season, I was playing for Worcestershire in a home one-day match against Leicestershire. Former England left-arm spinner Richard Illingworth, who played for Worcestershire, was the umpire. He asked me how I was going to get the batsman out. I told him I would bowl a whole over of offspin. He would push me to the leg side. Next over I would bowl the doosra and he would get caught at slip. So I bowled only offspin in the first over and the batsman played me to short midwicket. Next over, first ball, I bowled the doosra and he played it to the slips. Illingworth was astounded. I told him, this is cricket. I looked at what he was trying to do, and if he wins, its fine. But what I was doing to him, that is in my control. I was making him play on my terms, not his.So one thing that has not changed is how you out-think the batsman? That cannot change. Against Karachi, bowling to Iftikhar Ahmed, I knew he plays to midwicket. So I was playing with him. First up, I bowled him a doosra. It was a little outside off stump. I know he does not step out, and he was beaten. I bowled him another doosra which pitched on the same spot. He went for a big hit and was beaten. I then bowled offspin from the very same spot. He was beaten again and he stared back at me.I look for cues in a batsman. Kamran Akmal straightens his left leg to hit over midwicket. Sarfraz [Ahmed], if his shoulders are bending low, he is going to play the sweep. If he is standing normal and straight, he will not sweep. I have to pick this. Kevin Pietersen can hit a six by stepping out or by standing inside the crease. So I know to bowl it wide, so even if he hits, it might go high up in the air. I have learnt all this by playing for long, by playing with the batsmans mind, by learning to watch what the batsman is doing. You need to do your homework. You need to read the pitch, to understand how much bounce there is on the pitch. So you will need to figure out whether to flight it or not and such stuff.How far away are you from playing international cricket? I am ready. There is a big difference from the time when I played in the Bangladesh series last year after I was cleared. At that point I had the fear on the inside. Now I have removed that fear by working hard. ' ' '