Fast Bowler Comparison: Taskin Ahmed and Nathan Coulter-Nile

[Roey Haque]

Something caught my ear when Nathan was bowling last night, one of the commentators said something like: " he comes in and hits the deck hard, you cannot hope to open the bowling for Aussie, unless you bowl consistently around the 145 kph mark or so". Implying that Nathan does so, or gets close to it. This reminded me of Taskin, who when in full groove can also string together deliveries around that 145 kph mark. Also it took me back to a comment made by one of the members here in BC which I always cherish fondly. Something like:" watching Taskin bowl makes your blood boil, reminds me of an Aussie fast bowler bowling". I love it when we hype our favorite players up, gives us a reason to monitor them closely, not that we we require any extra motivation to follow our favorite team. But it definitely helps.

And so watching Nathan closely, I saw that he also had an action that was eerily similar to Taskin's! Both very mechanical run ups, both land on the pitch very hard, before releasing the ball with their right hands from about the same height. What else do the two have in common?

Well, they are both 6'3.

Taskin played 14 ODIs, took 21 wickets. Nathan Played 13 ODIs, took 22 wickets.

Both have a similar economy, though Nathan's a bit better at 5.36 vs Taskin's 5.52.

Both pick up a wicket every 29 deliveries.