Saqlain Mushtaq, The most under-rated ODI bowler ever?

[rodzilla1010]

I was going through the world XI thread posted for ODI's and i realised something that every team had one specialist spinner in thier team, Warne or Murli. But most of you will be surprised to know that Saqlain had a better ODI record than both of them, he is the fastest to get to 100,150, 200 and 250 ODI wickets, a stat ussually associated with fast bowlers. He is the only spinner to be in the top ten strike rates for ODI bowlers.

288+ ODI wickets with an average and strike rate better than Warne and Murli, isnt he the greatest ODI spinner ever?

Saqlain----169--1461.4 6275 288 5/20 5/29 21.78 4.29 30.4 ---11 6
Warne ----194 --1773.4 7541 293 5/33 4/19 25.73 4.25 36.3 ---12 1
Murli------- 287 --2597.4 9970 432 7/30 5/9 23.07 3.83 36.0 ---11 8

 

[nightprowler10]

I don't think many would dispute that on form he was one of the best ODI bowler in the history of the format. A lot of people underrate him due to his absolute lack of form currently.

 

[rodzilla1010]

I don't think many would dispute that on form he was one of the best ODI bowler in the history of the format. A lot of people underrate him due to his absolute lack of form currently.

Even if he retires today he has a better record for any spinner in ODI's...so current form or no current form, he still looks better than any other bowler

 

[DCC_legend]

Even if he retires today he has a better record for any spinner in ODI's...so current form or no current form, he still looks better than any other bowler

Is he not injured atm, or has he been fixed?

 

[rodzilla1010]

Is he not injured atm, or has he been fixed?

He is suffering from a knee disease, but he is sitll playing cricket in England for Surrey and now he can play for the National Eng side too

 

[DCC_legend]

oh rite, i remember him playing for ireland last year and the commentators were saying that he was injured.

 

[rodzilla1010]

oh rite, i remember him playing for ireland last year and the commentators were saying that he was injured.

Yes he played for ireland too...but never got back his groove back.

I dont think he will play Intl cricket again, i hope i am wrong. But the matter of fact is that he is the greatest spinner ever in the hostory of limited over cricket

 

[open365]

Wow, i never had a clue his record was that good.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Not really underrated IMO, most sensible people realise that at the time he was one of, if not the, best in the world. His record was also once considerably better than it is now, too. Once averaged 18/19 IIRC.

 

[rodzilla1010]

Not really underrated IMO, most sensible people realise that at the time he was one of, if not the, best in the world. His record was also once considerably better than it is now, too. Once averaged 18/19 IIRC.

Thats was in 99-01, when he had the best average for any bowler with over 50 matches ever.

He actually avgs better than Murli against Australia (benchmark) and India (supposedly good players of spin)
Against Aus Saq avgs 23, Murli avgs 29
Against Ind Saq avgs 24 Murli avgs 28

Saqlain has 11 4wkt hauls in 169 games while Murli(famous for 5 wkt hauls) has the same # of 4 wikt hauls but it took him 118 more games.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I don't know about most underated ever, probably Garner.

 

[rodzilla1010]

I don't know about most underated ever, probably Garner.

Garner is always hailed as one of the best fast bowler along with akram in ODI's


but for because warne and murli have such a big influence because of thier status in test cricket that people forget that saqlain is the best ODI spinner ever.

To check how under-rated he is, jut go to the ODI 11 thread and read that he features in no ones all time 11, while there is murli or warne in every one of them...garner is in almost every team...so how come he is under rated..??

 

[marc71178]

He is suffering from a knee disease, but he is sitll playing cricket in England for Surrey and now he can play for the National Eng side too

He's actually playing for Sussex, and isn't available for England till 2008.

However I believe that in the last 2 or 3 years, his injuries have caused him to be a shadow of his former self.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Garner is always hailed as one of the best fast bowler along with akram in ODI's


but for because warne and murli have such a big influence because of thier status in test cricket that people forget that saqlain is the best ODI spinner ever.

To check how under-rated he is, jut go to the ODI 11 thread and read that he features in no ones all time 11, while there is murli or warne in every one of them...garner is in almost every team...so how come he is under rated..??

Well, I guess that had he played for a few years longer, he would in every team going, just a shame really. He does deserve it on merit anyway though.

 

[rodzilla1010]

Well, I guess that had he played for a few years longer, he would in every team going, just a shame really. He does deserve it on merit anyway though.

288 wickets..only 5 wickets less than warne...why would he need higher numbers?

 

[rodzilla1010]

He's actually playing for Sussex, and isn't available for England till 2008.

However I believe that in the last 2 or 3 years, his injuries have caused him to be a shadow of his former self.

again, with 288 wickets, its not like he had a lucky season r 2 lucky years...he was great for the most part of his career...ranked #1 for 2 straight years in ODI.

Even if he doesnt play another game he should be in the ODI XI

 

[adharcric]

My roommate used to say that Saqlain's average was heavily boosted by tail-end wickets. Thoughts?

 

[jammay123]

the fact is even though he has terrible form recently that is not what an all XI is about it is about the best player in the format when his form was very good and when his form was good he was the best odi bowler and would have more wickets than murali if they played the same no of odis

 

[rodzilla1010]

My roommate used to say that Saqlain's average was heavily boosted by tail-end wickets. Thoughts?

i wish there was a stat i could pull for that

But i can imply a stat which can assess his usefulness to the team, as an attacking bowler not as a tail-end wicket taker

He avgs 15 when Pakistan won and his strike rate of 24...

Basically when ever Saq struck Pak won. And moreover he was a spinner barely bowled at death to tail enders.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Is he a guy who was, statistically, fortunate enough to be injured at the right time thus never having the chance to come back as a "lesser" bowler as he may well have.

Don't think that sentence makes all that much sense, TBH, but hopefully my point can be understood. Writing sentences so early in the morning sucks.