No need for apologies, I know you are not the type to mean anything by that comment. As far as the difference in Imran's average in home vs away, I think that's logical. Most professional players perform better at home and Imran was no different. I also realize that umpiring standards back then in the subcontinent were not great, and hence Imran would've benefited from that. However, umpiring was not the reason for the difference in average IMO. As we all know, Imran was the first person to advocate using nuetral umpires and succeeded in making that happen. So certainly he didn't try to benefit from any bias umpiring and played a lot of his home games in front of nuetrals. Lastly, like you pointed out, his away average was still outstanding which shows he was an all-time great regardless of venue. Anyway, I respect your opinion that Akram was better, and that's certainly a valid debate. I just wanted to rebut any impression that Imran had different results at home because of umpiring.
Its also important to note that during the 8-9 years that Imran was at his peak, Pakistan did not tour as much as they do now. Only three series (maybe four) if I am not mistaken. During this period his away record is fabulous.
Everyone knows Imran bloomed late as a bowler. This point comes up often when debating Imran versus Botham since Botham did all his 'good' bowling at the very beginning of his career. So his early tours were not great.
Similarly he prolonged his career once he became captain by giving more time to his batting (again a well known fact) but duing this last period he had declined as a bowler. His pace had dropped perceptibly and his massive in-swing was not that pronounced and not that late.
He was still good enough to bowl at home but on wickets which needed pace or swing he was not the force he was in his younger days.
His performnce dropped at home too but it dropped much more outside Pakistan.
There is some merit in Pakistani umpires helping Pakistani bowlers argument but that applies to others particularly from India, Sri Lanka and NewZealand. Its not something which explains away his great skills as a fast bowler.
I think its a better argument that Imran at his peak was a greater bower (by farin my humble opinion) while Wasim remained a top rung world class bowler for much longer by adding more and more variety to his bowling as he played longer.
We also tend to forget how many great fast bowlers were playing in Imran's time. Lillee and Thomson from Australia, Hadlee in NewZealand, and a huge number in West Indies besides the likes of Botham, Kapil, Willis etc who were no mere trundlers. The point being the world and the batsmen around the world were brought up on a regulardiet fo quality fast bowling and against such batsmen amidst such a fabulous pool of peers, for Imran to stand out was not something to be scoffed at.
It is in that wealth of right arm fast bowlers- probably the greatest the world has ever seen playing at the same time - that Imran stood out as one of the finest. Wasim was in a time of lesser/fewer lights and the only one who bowled left arm fast posing different kind of problems to the batsmen. No discredit to Wasim since he took left arm fast bowling to another level with his great use of the bowling crease and his variations and skill in swinging the ball irrespective of how old it was. Yet a small point to keep in mind.
.What did actually u mean .I was here for 5 years ? .Doing what sort of bias ?Please clarify .
