The Surfer

It's time for Shah to sparkle

That a batsman of Owais Shah's inherent talent could play only two Test matches in 13 years is lamentable, and indicative of some fundamental failings on the part of both the player and the England management, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian .

Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
That a batsman of Owais Shah's inherent talent could play only two Test matches in 13 years is lamentable, and indicative of some fundamental failings on the part of both the player and the England management, writes Andy Bull in the Guardian.
"For Owais the turning point was in early 2004, when he took himself off to work with Mohammad Azharuddin in Hyderabad," Gatting suggests. "He worked on his technique and now he is very settled and very happy with it. That hasn't just made him a better player, it's helped him mature as a person. He knows himself a lot better." Shah attributes his transition from a "1,000-runs-a-season to a 15, 16, 1,700-runs-a-season batsman" to his work with Azharuddin. "I decided that if I had to sacrifice flair and become unorthodox, then I would do it."

Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo