Who would be your top 10 greatest Asian cricketers?

[weldone]

people say that saqlain in the prime was better than murali, and tend to agree with it. But however, when saqlain's doosra was understood by the batsmen he was quite easy to score off. It's very well reflected in games against ind and sl, where his er, progressively got worse. If he continued, i'd say he'll still be a very good spinner. But he won't be able to maintain the amazing peak that murali maintained for one and half decades.

awta

 

[aussie]

All-time Sub-continental Test XI,

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Miandad
Sangakkara(wk)
Khan(C)
Akram
Akthar
Waqar
Murali

The top four pretty much pick themselves IMO. Hanif was considered but a bit of overkill with Gavaskar already there. Dravid and Tendulkar walk in. Sanga competes for Dravid's place but I'd rather have Sanga keep.

The fifth spot was a bit of a think. Sanga>Miandad as a pure batsman IMO, but not as much as Sanga(wk)+Miandad>Sanga+Dhoni(wk). Jayawardene criminally underrated too, but Miandad definitely the better man to bat at five particularly due to his excellence in batting with the tail. Hazare, De Silva, Azhar, Laxman, Inzy all class, but a tier below IMO.

Sangakkara - See above

Imran has to be the first pick anyone will make and Waqar, Akram and Murali walk in. Now the choice is between having Kapil Dev or Akthar. Kapil Dev obviously a fantastic cricketer who never had a significant dip either with bat or ball or body for 16 years and I'd pick him over Akthar in a Greatest Cricketers List but considering the strength of the batting, I'd rather have the better pacer. Shoaib on his days, which are often, is just something else. Can make a featherbed a raging volcano. The length of his career is often underrated too, played about 50 games and had a phenomenal SR and average particularly for this decade.

Ye basically the team i'd pick as well, with Gupte replacing Akthar on a sub-continent turner.

If their is understandable negativety in not wanting to pick H Mohammad to partner Gavasakr at the top. I'd have Majid Khan or Anwar over Sehwag in most conditions - given they proved themselves as openers in all conditions (especially vs quality quicks overseas) unlike Sehwag who has just done so in the sub-continent.

 

[ankitj]

In an ODI XI Saqlain has a pretty decent record too. I thought that for a big part of his ODI career Saqlain was a better ODI spinner than Murali. Despite a dismal showing towards the end of his career it still is an impressive record.

Copied below are Saqlain and Murali's ODI records.

ODI Bowling averages
Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10

169 165 8770 6275 288 5/20 5/20 21.78 4.29 30.4 11 6 0

337 329 1816911885515 7/30 7/30 23.07 3.92 35.2 14 10 0

I tend to look at bowlers' economy rates for ODIs where Murali comes out on top specially considering that he played right through the 2000s when balance so strongly tilted in favour of batsmen.

 

[weldone]

I tend to look at bowlers' economy rates for ODIs where Murali comes out on top specially considering that he played right through the 2000s when balance so strongly tilted in favour of batsmen.

There are some on this forum who don't place much importance on ER in ODIs, you know. Probably to them 230-7 is a better score than 260 all out.

 

[Jono]

VVS Laxman





daylight





the rest.

 

[weldone]

VVS Laxman





daylight





the rest.

Ha ha not a bad call today

Or, any day against Australia

 

[weldone]

Tbh, I rate Tendy higher than Laxman against Australia.

Even I think the same. So?...I hope you saw my earlier post starting with a 'Ha ha'

I'm in such a good mood today that I won't mind somebody rating Laxman higher than anyone (read Bradman)

Yippie, Laxman ...Whaddaplaya!

wooppie wooppie woo!

 

[Teja.]

Even I think the same. So?

Kinda misinterpreted your post, my bad.

 

[ankitj]

There are some on this forum who don't place much importance on ER in ODIs, you know. Probably to them 230-7 is a better score than 260 all out.

Did you want to say something else, and ended up saying something else?

 

[weldone]

Did you want to say something else, and ended up saying something else?

No, I meant better score from a batting POV (and after 50 overs).

 

[ankitj]

No, I meant better score from a batting POV (and after 50 overs).

Ok, get the sarcasm now

 

[SJS]

Who would be your top 10 greatest Asian cricketers?

• Muralidharan
• Tendulkar
• Kapil Dev
• Gavaskar
• Imran Khan
• Wasim Akram

THis much is easy :-)

 

[JBMAC]

Who would be your top 10 greatest Asian cricketers?

• Muralidharan
• Tendulkar
• Kapil Dev
• Gavaskar
• Imran Khan
• Wasim Akram

THis much is easy :-)

Weren't they any good before 1969 SJS. That surprises me from you.

 

[Burgey]

Weren't they any good before 1969 SJS. That surprises me from you.

JBMAC, how great to have you back mate!!

You've been missed around these parts. Hope you're back for good mate.

 

[SJS]

Weren't they any good before 1969 SJS. That surprises me from you.

They were highly over rated you know. The batsmen all batted on flat tracks against poor bowling attacks and the bowlers all bowled on bowler friendly wickets against batsmen who couldn't hold a bat - didn't you know ?

 

[Francis]

I'm bored and I enjoy these lists...

1. SACHIN TENDULKAR
It amazes me how consistent he still is. There was a period in the 00s when I thought his form was well down, and he should retire, but he's been as good as anybody recently. It's now certain in my mind, he's the best batsman after Bradman (no question). He's the best Asian player ever. He's one of the five best cricketers ever, no question. Thing is, I probably would have said this three years ago, but he just keeps going and going.

2. IMRAN KAHN
A little overrated by people who think he's way above Botham, Hadlee and Dev. He's in their league at the top.

3. MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN
I enjoy the spirit in which he plays the game. History will judge him very kindly for his 800 wickets. I was happy he got that record. Hopefully people won't get carried away with stats and just assume he's the best bowler ever though - lots of contenders for that.

4. SUNIL GAVASKAR
Did it against the most fearsome bowling attacks in the world. One gets the sense you could have put Lillee and Thompson up against him and he wouldn't be intimidated. Sadly cricket doesn't have those kind of fearsome attacks these days.

5. WASIM AKRAM
He's probably the most entertaining fast bowler ever, purely because he had pace and could swing the ball both ways, and had an unpredictable action. With McGrath you sense you need a fieldsman here and there to take wickets, but with Wasim and all his talents you'd think he could take wickets just on his own. I didn't even explain that well.

Someone made the good point about Brett Lee once. They said he's quick, but you can get accustomed to when he's going to release the ball because he had a predictable action and a predictable release. Wasim took 12 steps and his arm action was very quick. It was hard to guess when he'd release the ball - you couldn't settle yourself.

6. Kapil Dev
Maybe hurt his legacy by taking forever and a day to take his last 100 wickets, after being maybe the world's best player for a time in the 80s. Before the end, he was very good.

7. Anil Kumble
Batsmen draw tests, bowlers win them. For a time Kumble was more important than Tendulkar to India. Take Shane Warne for example. By the end of his career he probably couldn't bowl more than 40 overs an innings before his shoulder got sore and his fingers would hurt.

Kumble got you the wickets, even if it was in the 60th over he was bowling. You can say he's not as good because he didn't get wickets fast. But test cricket is less about getting wickets fast than actually GETTING THE WICKETS. Kumble was consistent when other bowlers weren't, and just kept going and going, and batsman couldn't take a rest against him.

He's also underrated because he didn't spin the ball much. But that's what made him so great. The small differences were things batsmen didn't expect. And his accuracy was good as the best.

I do submit though, that there were many Tests where fast wickets would need to have been taken, and Kumble wasn't the man for the job. But you've got five days to take 20 wickets. That's a long time. And what matters is you can remain consistent and take the wickets.

You can talk about him not being the most talented, the one who doesn't take the wickets the fastest with his strike rate, the one who doesn't spin the ball much... it's all irrelevant. He's there to win you the game.

8. Rahul Dravid
The Wall. Such a beautiful batsman to watch when he was at his best, and a beautiful player of spin.

9. Javed Miandad
He'd partner Gavaskar in my all-time Asian XV.

10. Waquar Yunis
Tough to leave out Inzamam Ul-Haq, but Yunis gets this for the best yorker I have ever seen in the history of cricket... well the second best yorker.

 

[Jono]

That's a great list.

I think the top 3 can be put in any order.

Personally I'd perhaps have Javed ahead of Rahul and Kumble, but again that's debatable.

 

[Teja.]

Personally I'd have Waqar at 4.

Imran at 1, Murali at 2 and Tendy at 3 too.

 

[bagapath]

I'm bored and I enjoy these lists...

great list. may be imran above tendulkar; not sure. otherwise cant argue much.

 

[Prince EWS]

It's probably happened in this thread already and there's probably not a great deal of difference between it and a top 10, but has anyone put together an Asian All Time XI?