Best innings in a bad pitch.

[abmk]

My basic point is that even in Australia or England, where you would think he would have more success, he was not that good. Watching his spells live, you always had the fear of a great ball coming out of nowhere from him and getting the batsman out, but he was handled with a lot of ease otherwise.. I am not sure if the stats would support that and I can't be statsguruing from my mobile, butI might get on it and see what they say later on.


I am not saying he was not good, but he was not what he was at his best. That is my point.

he wasn't excellent in England at any time in his career tbh ..... Aus batsmen played him very well and he didn't bowl that well in that series

 

[smash84]

My basic point is that even in Australia or England, where you would think he would have more success, he was not that good. Watching his spells live, you always had the fear of a great ball coming out of nowhere from him and getting the batsman out, but he was handled with a lot of ease otherwise.. I am not sure if the stats would support that and I can't be statsguruing from my mobile, butI might get on it and see what they say later on.


I am not saying he was not good, but he was not what he was at his best. That is my point.

But the thing is that he never had success too much success against England and he played quite a bit against them too so watching him at that time against England wouldn't really take away anything from Wasim since he was never good against them.....Abmk mentions that as well

That 99 series against Aussies was bad for all Pak bowlers. The Aussies were on a rampage and they were whitewashing every team left right and center. I think that series was where the 16 match winning streak of Steve Waugh's team started IIRC.

I also mention that he was not at his peak but you make it sound like that Wasim in 99 was way downhill and not bowling too well which is actually not true. I followed Wasim's career closely and I can tell you that he bowled some really threatening spells during that time. I don't really recall his pace going up again near the end of his career. While Waqar's pace declined significantly over the course of his career Wasim's didn't. In fact around the time that Wasim shortened his run up i.e. mid 90s he became more difficult for many batsmen to pick because there was not much decline in pace and he had that whippy quick arm action from just a few steps

 

[smash84]

not really. He got 14 wickets in 3 matches vs India at ~24, which is pretty much his career average. He was bowling pretty well even then .. Waqar had declined quite a bit, but wasim was a force to be reckoned with ....

This

 

[honestbharani]

not really. He got 14 wickets in 3 matches vs India at ~24, which is pretty much his career average. He was bowling pretty well even then .. Waqar had declined quite a bit, but wasim was a force to be reckoned with ....

I am not gonna get into the stats part posting from my cellphone. But he definitely was a lesser threat than even Shoaib around that time to India.. It would be interesting to see which batsmen he had gotten out during those 3 tests.. He definitely looked like a bit of an overhype when he played India in tests.

 

[Blaze 18]

Disagree with HB on Wasim Akram. He was a bloody good bowler in 1999.

 

[abmk]

I am not gonna get into the stats part posting from my cellphone. But he definitely was a lesser threat than even Shoaib around that time to India.. It would be interesting to see which batsmen he had gotten out during those 3 tests.. He definitely looked like a bit of an overhype when he played India in tests.

huh ? Shoaib played in only one of those 3 tests . Was his debut test , was very quick and India hadn't played him before at all ..... OTOH, they had played wasim before many times ( in ODIs )

These are the wickets that Wasim got in those 3 tests

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Laxman - 3 times
Azhar - 2 times
Mongia-2 times
Ramesh - 2 times
Srinath - 2 times
Dravid- 1 time
Ganguly 1 time
Kumble - 1 time

 

[smash84]

I am not gonna get into the stats part posting from my cellphone. But he definitely was a lesser threat than even Shoaib around that time to India.. It would be interesting to see which batsmen he had gotten out during those 3 tests.. He definitely looked like a bit of an overhype when he played India in tests.

lol.......he got both the openers in the first innings at chennai and in the second he got Dravid, mongia and a tailender...........

in the second match he got laxman twice, azhar, and mongia......

In the third test he got ramesh, azhar, and srinath and ganguly and srinath............

hardly a bad cringe worthy performance.......

Dude Shoaib was super quick at that time and he was blasting away stumps left right and center so being a lesser threat than Shoaib didn't exactly point to a lot.

 

[smash84]

huh ? Shoaib played in only one of those 3 tests . Was his debut test , was very quick and India hadn't played him before at all ..... OTOH, they had played wasim before many times ( in ODIs )

These are the wickets that Wasim got in those 3 tests

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Laxman - 3 times
Azhar - 2 times
Mongia-2 times
Ramesh - 2 times
Srinath - 2 times
Dravid- 1 time
Ganguly 1 time
Kumble - 1 time

Nopes.......IIRC Shoaib had played earlier against SA and had been gun in one of the tests against them in 1998. Tou can still find that spell on youtube

 

[abmk]

Nopes.......IIRC Shoaib had played earlier against SA and had been gun in one of the tests against them in 1998. Tou can still find that spell on youtube

sorry ,yeah, my bad. I forgot. I've seen that spell on YT .

 

[vcs]

This thread is so nit-picky.

 

[smash84]

This thread is so nit-picky.

and ikki has not even entered this thread

 

[Borges]

This thread is so nit-picky.

This thread has followed a spectacularly checkered path, hasn't it? A few token mentions of 'best innings on a bad pitch'. And then...

Meandering through 'good innings from my favourite player' territory. To the thoroughly worn out 'Tendulkar must have been the best at everything' country. A quick detour to 'great bowling by my favourite bowler'. And arriving at the evergreen 'the great dodgy statistics debate' plaza. Perhaps it can now stay there permanently, with its virtually limitless potential to either prove or disprove absolutely anything at all.

 

[smash84]

This thread has followed a spectacularly checkered path, hasn't it? A few token mentions of 'best innings on a bad pitch'. And then...

Meandering through 'good innings from my favourite player' territory. To the thoroughly worn out 'Tendulkar must have been the best at everything' country. A quick detour to 'great bowling by my favourite bowler'. And arriving at the evergreen 'the great dodgy statistics debate' plaza. Perhaps it can now stay there permanently, with its virtually limitless potential to either prove or disprove absolutely anything at all.

Lol....well said borges

 

[honestbharani]

huh ? Shoaib played in only one of those 3 tests . Was his debut test , was very quick and India hadn't played him before at all ..... OTOH, they had played wasim before many times ( in ODIs )

These are the wickets that Wasim got in those 3 tests

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Laxman - 3 times
Azhar - 2 times
Mongia-2 times
Ramesh - 2 times
Srinath - 2 times
Dravid- 1 time
Ganguly 1 time
Kumble - 1 time

lol.......he got both the openers in the first innings at chennai and in the second he got Dravid, mongia and a tailender...........

in the second match he got laxman twice, azhar, and mongia......

In the third test he got ramesh, azhar, and srinath and ganguly and srinath............

hardly a bad cringe worthy performance.......

Dude Shoaib was super quick at that time and he was blasting away stumps left right and center so being a lesser threat than Shoaib didn't exactly point to a lot.

Guys, as I said, I am not gonna enter the stats nitpicking.. (for you, vcs ) My point is the Wasim we faced back in 1999 was not the guy who was bowling circa 1992 and 1995... He was a watered down version of himself.. As I said, I do not recall as many great spells from him at this time period as I do in the early and mid 90s. He was good, but he was not THAT good.. If he was McGrath-esque early in his career, at this point he was merely Gillespie-esque, if you get my drift...

 

[honestbharani]

and ikki has not even entered this thread

Lol....well said borges

You do realize you are part of the "thread" don't you?

 

[vcs]

This thread has followed a spectacularly checkered path, hasn't it? A few token mentions of 'best innings on a bad pitch'. And then...

Meandering through 'good innings from my favourite player' territory. To the thoroughly worn out 'Tendulkar must have been the best at everything' country. A quick detour to 'great bowling by my favourite bowler'. And arriving at the evergreen 'the great dodgy statistics debate' plaza. Perhaps it can now stay there permanently, with its virtually limitless potential to either prove or disprove absolutely anything at all.

Haha, so true.

 

[smash84]

Guys, as I said, I am not gonna enter the stats nitpicking.. (for you, vcs ) My point is the Wasim we faced back in 1999 was not the guy who was bowling circa 1992 and 1995... He was a watered down version of himself.. As I said, I do not recall as many great spells from him at this time period as I do in the early and mid 90s. He was good, but he was not THAT good.. If he was McGrath-esque early in his career, at this point he was merely Gillespie-esque, if you get my drift...

When was Wasim McGrathesque???? If you refer to his peak then yes he was not at his peak but he was still very good. Better than Gillespie I would say.

You do realize you are part of the "thread" don't you?

dude lighten up and enjoy laughing at yourself once in a while

 

[Austerlitz]

Nope dont have it.

And yes, massive LOL at Hayden vs Lara!!! Im an aussie through and through, but jesus Lara was just a batting god. When I watch his innings back now I just have to laugh at his amazing skill and wonderous flair, he was just so incredible when he attacked, on a different level to any other batsman in the last 40 years when on fire.

Would you rate lara on song over viv richards on song?

 

[Furball]

Well, I don't quite think so. As an example, he failed in the first 3 live rubbers vs England in 2004 vs harmison,jones,flintoff etc . From what I saw they were not at full intensity during that 400* that he scored ( marvelous innings by any standards, but still .....)

Lara went into that Test with the following pressure:

• He was the West Indian captain
• The West Indies were 3-0 down, having never before been whitewashed in a home Test series
• They'd lost a series at home vs England for the first time since 1968
• Lara himself had only scored 100 runs in 6 innings in the series
• West Indies had twice been dismissed in the series for less than 100
• Lara walked to the crease with his team 33/1, and lost Gayle before they'd passed 100.

Regardless of the state of the pitch, or how "intense" England may or may not have been, it is nonsense to suggest that Lara wasn't under any sort of pressure in that knock.

 

[Blaze 18]

With the **** team he had to carry for the majority of his career, Lara was pretty much always under massive pressure.