To play Irfan or not: a very big question mark

AT 2.16m, Mohammad Irfan is the tallest player in world cricket.

But that will hinder rather than help his cause for selection in the Pakistan Test squad to play the Proteas in the United Arab Emirates next month.

Irfan's towering height makes facing him feel like trying to hit a ball launched from the top of a mosque's minaret.

It doesn't hurt that he is a left-armer, and after spending two weeks with Wasim Akram in April and May he is able to move the ball both ways off the seam.

"He's intimidating when you see him for the first time, and it's difficult to prepare in training to face him," Dean Elgar said yesterday.

"He hits the deck hard and the ball reacts differently off the pitch compared to shorter bowlers."

Unleashing all that against South Africa in the Tests in Abu Dhabi and Dubai next month would seem to be a no-brainer. Not, however, for Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

"There's a big question mark over playing Irfan in a Test match," Ul-Haq said. "He's OK for ODIs and T20s, but because of his physique we have to be very careful with him in the longer format."

Bowling coach Mohammad Akram concurred: "Irfan is a completely different kind of bowler compared to anyone else, but he's had a few issues and he has to be fully fit before he comes back to Test cricket."

The Pakistanis put their money where their mouths are on their recent tour of Zimbabwe.

Irfan played in one of the two T20s and all three of the one-day internationals, but returned home before the Test series.

He made his Test debut in SA last season, and took all three of his wickets - those of AB de Villiers, Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn - in the first innings of the second Test at Newlands, Cape Town.

Irfan went wicketless for 35 runs in his 10 overs in the second innings and was again unsuccessful in the Proteas' only innings in the third Test at Centurion, Tshwane, though his economy rate of 3.66 was bettered only by Saeed Ajmal's 2.62.

Elgar, who at 1.73m is 43cm shorter than Irfan, scored three runs from the 11 balls the left-arm lighthouse bowled to him.

In the one-day series against SA, Irfan was the leading wicket-taker on both sides with 11 scalps, and his average of 13.72 was the best.

But caution seems to be the sensible option with Irfan. He left the field with cramps after bowling 5.3 overs in his Pakistan debut in an ODI against England in Durham, England, in 2010.

He did not play for the national team between September 12 2010 and December 25 last year because of an assortment of injuries.

He strained a hamstring during the second match of the ODI series in SA at Centurion, and had an upset stomach for the third game at the Wanderers.

Irfan's fragility notwithstanding, the Proteas know they are likely to have to contend with him at some time during the tour in the UAE.