Junaid Khan was one of the stars of Pakistan's ODI series win over India. In this week's 'Beyond The Boundary' piece, we look back at how Junaid dismantled the Indian batting lineup, and how he could be one to watch out for in the future.

By Bashir Ahmad (7th January 2012)

Once upon a time, in an afternoon in Melbourne in 1979, Australia were well on their way to crush Pakistan, cruising at 305/3. With no hopes left, Pakistan turned to Sarfraz Nawaz, the father of reverse swing. He displayed a new bowling art which had never been seen before, and something special and out of the ordinary happened. Australia were skittled and destroyed by this man. He took seven wickets for only one run in 33 deliveries, an amazing display of fast bowling which shot Australia out for 310, with Sarfraz ending with figures of 9/86. 

In another afternoon, England were also cruising at 182/3 at the Oval in 1992. They looked in a comfortable position and had bossed the game till then. In came to the bowling crease, Wasim Akram. Wasim was a magician, arguably the best left handed bowler in the world. England went from 182/3 to 207 all out. Wasim destroyed the batting lineup in that spell - his figures 6/67. He made the ball talk that evening, literally talk. It was a memorable spell of fast bowling.

Legend has it that Sarfraz Nawaz revealed the secrets of reverse swing to Imran Khan, it was then the mighty Khan who schooled two of his pupils - Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis - both of them perfected the art and bowled some memorable spells throughout their career.

A fast bowler from Pakistan is and has always been exciting news for cricket fans, and Pakistan has a history of producing world class fast bowlers. A huge number of Pakistani fast bowlers have left their mark on world cricket. From the likes of Sarfraz Nawaz inventing reverse swing to the likes of Wasim Akram bowling around the wicket and swinging it late. 

In an era where the batsmen have completely dominated the game with all the protections and conditions favoring them, genuine fast bowlers have been rare. However, against India during the ODI series, we witnessed one of the most exciting spells of fast swing bowling in recent times. Junaid Khan put on a show of pace/swing bowling against the world champions in their own backyard. The star studded batting lineup had no idea what was about to hit them. We were about to witness something special.

As the match started, not even a single Indian batsman could cope with Junaid Khan's opening spell. He started swinging the ball from ball one. Usually when a player of Sehwag's calibre is batting, it's not easy for a bowler to maintain his line and length as he is under continuous pressure of not bowling a bad ball. On a flat subcontinental pitch, you don't want to bowl to Sehwag. However, Junaid had other plans. 

In the third over of India's innings, Junaid started swinging the ball away from him, moving the ball at high pace and beating him outside off stump. His third ball was an inswinger. He brought the ball back into the batsman which nearly had Sehwag. We were witnessing a rare sight as Sehwag had no idea what was going on. The batsman then opted to get aggressive and hit Junaid through the covers and backward point. His plan failed as Junaid for the second time brought the ball back sharply and hit the top of middle stump. The line and length were perfect, the set-up; excellent. In the next over Junaid's partner in crime Mohammed Irfan, had Gambhir's measure as he set him up with three length balls and then bowled a full one which rattled into the middle stump. India were two down at this stage.

In came the golden boy and India's supposedly new Sachin Tendulkar - Virat Kohli. Misbah greeted Kohli with three slips and Junaid Khan. Just like Sehwag, Junaid wasn't fussed by Kohli's reputation. He bowled a genuine out-swinger to begin with and had him poke outside his off stump. The ball fizzed past his edge and thudded into Kamran's gloves. The slip cordon, like vultures were waiting for an outside edge as they clapped and smiled and they knew something was about to happen. The next ball was a booming in-swinger which went through Kohli's bat and pad and missed the stump by mere inches. The third ball was a peach, on a perfect length, Junaid brought the ball back again as it went through Kohli's gate - of India'esque gap - and demolished the off stump. The line and length were perfect, the set up, again excellent. Both of his wickets had no involvement of the fielders. 

The next batsmen in line was Rohit Sharma, the ex Sachin Tendulkar. Junaid greeted him with an in-swinger which nearly had him, however his french-cut brought him a single and the strike was given to Yuvraj Singh. Yuvi is undoubtedly a match winner and was in top form as he dismissed Saeed Ajmal for 3 sixes in the previous game and was the main reason for India's victory. Junaid though bowled a delivery which had Ramiz Raja jump out of his seat in excitement. Now that's a rare sight. The ball was as unplayable as it gets, bowled on the middle stump, moving in with the angle and then moving away to hit the top off stump. 9/10 batsmen would have been dismissed by that delivery, never mind Yuvraj Singh. 

Every single delivery was bowled at over 140 kph. The pace was high and so was the confidence. Junaid now had three top quality scalps. All three bowled and all three were set up perfectly. His figures after dismissing Yuvraj read 3 wickets for 6 runs. The pressure mounted on India as both Junaid and Irfan beat the outside edge at regular intervals. Junaid didn't have to wait long as in the 9th over of the game, Rohit Sharma edged it to Hafeez, who took a brilliant catch to his right. 

The game was over by then - Junaid already had scripted Pakistan's victory with help from Jamshed later on in the match. Pakistan came out to bat and did the formalities to win the first ODI of the series.

We witnessed a special spell from the young Pakistani bowler. No Pakistani will ever forget it. A star studded batting line up was brought crashing down to earth, he made them look like club cricketers. Even the Indian fans lost confidence in the Indian batsmen and labelled their 'World Champions' as a 'Weak Team'. It was more or less the same team which had won the World Cup for India. Junaid left his mark and announced officially that he belongs in the international arena. 

Junaid is not a bowler who relies on pace or swing. He is an intelligent bowler who can swing the new ball and reverse swing the old ball as he showed against Sri Lanka. He already has two 5 wicket hauls in Test cricket. At 22, he has already taken the responsibility of leading the attack. 

Before Junaid and Irfan, fans were worried about how badly Pakistan would do in South Africa. Now with Junaid, Pakistani fans have hope and a ray of light to look up to. The burden on him has just increased as the real challenge starts now. Will he be able to dismantle the South African giants? That remains to be seen. However, the responsibility has increased and his performance will now be in the spotlight. He is not a rookie anymore, rookies don't dismantle world champions in their own backyard.

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