Where does Inzamam rank among Asia's batting greats?

[Outswinger@Pace]

A tier system of rating players always makes more sense to me than individual ratings. Needless to say, discrepancies that come along with comparing across eras would always be there.

Tier 1: Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid and Miandad

Tier 2: Hanif Mohd., Sathasivam, Vijay Merchant, Inzamam, Vishwanath, Mohd. Yousuf and Sangakkara

Tier 3: De Silva, Jimmy Amarnath, Saeed Anwar, Vijay Hazare, Mahela et al.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Inzy was an excellent batsmen overall but apparently has an ordinary record against quality bowlers on pitches with bounce and seam. Thus diminishing his credentials;

Ave in Australia = 30.9
Ave in England = 42.5
Ave in South Africa = 31.8

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

It would be interesting to make a comparison with other Asian batsmen with respect to succeeding away from home and away from their comfort zone of flat dull pitches. The current India V Australia series is a case in point.

For starters, Inzy pails in comparison to truly great batsman like Sachin who can succeed anywhere (but that's hardly surprising);

Ave in Australia = 55.3
Ave in England = 54.3
Ave in South Africa = 46.4

His record most certainly pales in comparison to Tendulkar..and we are not comparing him with Tendulkar..but according to what standards is averaging 42 in England considered an ordinary record? Lets look at three great batsmen of Inzamam's time who are considered better than him..
Ponting avg 41 in England
Lara ave 48 in England
Kallis avg 29 in England

 

[kyear2]

Inzi in my estimation is only behind the top tier of Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Dravid and Miandad and is in the same ball park as Kumar Sangakkara. Great player.

 

[Shri]

A tier system of rating players always makes more sense to me than individual ratings. Needless to say, discrepancies that come along with comparing across eras would always be there.

Tier 1: Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid and Miandad

Tier 2: Hanif Mohd., Sathasivam, Vijay Merchant, Inzamam, Vishwanath, Mohd. Yousuf and Sangakkara

Tier 3: De Silva, Jimmy Amarnath, Saeed Anwar, Vijay Hazare, Mahela et al.

Sathasivam? Who is he?

 

[Prince EWS]

Seven.

1. Tendulkar
2. Gavaskar
3. Miandad
4. Dravid
5. Sangakkara
6. Jayawardene
7. Inzamam

 

[Mike5181]

1.Tendulkar
2.Gavaskar
3.Dravid
4.Miandad
5.Sangakkarra
6.Inzamam

 

[Prince EWS]

Seven.

1. Tendulkar
2. Gavaskar
3. Miandad
4. Dravid
5. Sangakkara
6. Jayawardene
7. Inzamam

The program I made a few months back to rank cricketers has them ranked similarly; Inzy and Hanif are ahead of Jayawardene though.

1. Tendulkar
2. Gavaskar
3. Miandad
4. Dravid
5. Sangakkara
6. Inzamam
7. Hanif
8. Jayawardene
9. Azharuddin
10. Yousuf
11. Laxman
12. de Silva
13. Merchant
14. Vengsarkar
15. Hazare
16. Zaheer
17. Viswanath
18. Umrigar
19. Younis
20. Sehwag

 

[smash84]

Azhar at 9?

 

[Prince EWS]

Azhar at 9?

I'm not sure if you expected him to be higher or lower.

 

[Prince EWS]

The program I made a few months back to rank cricketers has them ranked similarly; Inzy and Hanif are ahead of Jayawardene though.

1. Tendulkar
2. Gavaskar
3. Miandad
4. Dravid
5. Sangakkara
6. Inzamam
7. Hanif
8. Jayawardene
9. Azharuddin
10. Yousuf
11. Laxman
12. de Silva
13. Merchant
14. Vengsarkar
15. Hazare
16. Zaheer
17. Viswanath
18. Umrigar
19. Younis
20. Sehwag

The program would pick this as a combined subcontinent all-time XI:

1. Gavaskar
2. Hanif
3. Dravid
4. Tendulkar
5. Miandad
6. Sangakkara +
7. Imran
8. Kapil
9. Wasim
10. Kumble
11. Muralitharan

Looks fair enough to me.

 

[Satguru]

Tier 1:
1) Tendulkar... easily has the most complete record, hardly any holes to pick out
2) Gavaskar
3) Miandad

Tier 2:
4) Dravid
5) Sangakkara
6) Inzamam
7) Laxman
8) Aravinda

Tier 3:
9) Azharuddin
10) Hanif
11) Samaraweera (Rising fast)
12) Sehwag (Sinking fast)

 

[sachin200]

1. Tendulkar
2. Gavaskar
3. Dravid
4. Sangakkara
5. Miandad
6. Inzamam
7. Laxman
8. Hanif
9. Jayawardene
10. Yousuf
11. Azharuddin
12. de Silva
13. Merchant
14. Vengsarkar
15. Hazare
16. Zaheer
17. Viswanath
18. Umrigar
19. Younis
20. Sehwag

 

[smash84]

I'm not sure if you expected him to be higher or lower.

should have been lower

The program would pick this as a combined subcontinent all-time XI:

1. Gavaskar
2. Hanif
3. Dravid
4. Tendulkar
5. Miandad
6. Sangakkara +
7. Imran
8. Kapil
9. Wasim
10. Kumble
11. Muralitharan

Looks fair enough to me.

Kumble ahead of Waqar?

 

[Prince EWS]

should have been lower



Kumble ahead of Waqar?

Longevity the main factor in both those cases I think.

 

[weldone]

Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Miandad, Dravid, Sangakkara, Sehwag, Inzamam - probably in that order so far.

 

[MrPrez]

Sanga and Jayawardene overrated in this thread imo.

 

[weldone]

The program I made a few months back to rank cricketers has them ranked similarly; Inzy and Hanif are ahead of Jayawardene though.

1. Tendulkar
2. Gavaskar
3. Miandad
4. Dravid
5. Sangakkara
6. Inzamam
7. Hanif
8. Jayawardene
9. Azharuddin
10. Yousuf
11. Laxman
12. de Silva
13. Merchant
14. Vengsarkar
15. Hazare
16. Zaheer
17. Viswanath
18. Umrigar
19. Younis
20. Sehwag

You need to sort your longevity formula like I suggested

Polly Umrigar was certainly not a better batsman than Sehwag IMO.

 

[Satguru]

Reckon people underrating Sehwag a bit here becuase of the horror run he's going through. He's bad in swinging and seaming conditions but seriously theres no way i would put Sehwag below Jayawerdene. He's as good, if not better than Jaya in the SC, possibly the best SC bat ever. Played some crucial innings under pressure on tough SC pitches too, with the 2008 Galle one being the obvious standout.
jaya hasnt even done that well in Pakistan, where Sehwag averages 90+, and apart from this tour, Sehwag's done very well in Australia, where jayawerdene is crap, just like everywhere else outside the SC.

Sehwag> Jayawerdene easily imo

 

[fredfertang]

I'd rather watch Inzi bat than any of the others who have been mentioned, but in absolute terms I suppose there are several who are better players

 

[r3alist]

Inzi is over rated, but then I see guys like sanga are being over rated too, inzi was definitely a better batsman, although sanga definitely the better player overall!

To me dravid and tendulkar are the top layer, below them you have gavaskar and miandad, then I am not too fussed other than inzi>sanga.