Imran Khan vs Dale Steyn

[BazBall21]

Pioneer-type figures who changed the game and inflicted a wider impact that is still talked about today should always be held in fairly high regard in these lists so I wish I found a place for Fred Spofforth.

 

[Qlder]

Do mods not do anything here. Isn't there a player comparison sub forum because most people don't want to read this ****?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Excellent. The WI record is a serious clincher for me too.

Wouldn't the analogous best batting lineup for Steyn be India instead of Australia or England? His incredible bowling performances against India in the late 2000s when they were all in amazing form is why I rate him highly.

I'd probably still go for Imran by a hair though for his peak. Imran number 4 and Steyn number 5 on my list of ATG fast bowlers.

 

[The Sean]

Wouldn't the analogous best batting lineup for Steyn be India instead of Australia or England? His incredible bowling performances against India in the late 2000s when they were all in amazing form is why I rate him highly.

I'd probably still go for Imran by a hair though for his peak. Imran number 4 and Steyn number 5 on my list of ATG fast bowlers.

Top three of Marshall-McGrath-Hadlee or Marshall-McGrath-Ambrose?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Top three of Marshall-McGrath-Hadlee or Marshall-McGrath-Ambrose?

I have recently been converted into a Hadlee > Marshall/Mcgrath believer. I like my lone wolves.

 

[subshakerz]

Wouldn't the analogous best batting lineup for Steyn be India instead of Australia or England? His incredible bowling performances against India in the late 2000s when they were all in amazing form is why I rate him highly.

I'd probably still go for Imran by a hair though for his peak. Imran number 4 and Steyn number 5 on my list of ATG fast bowlers.

I wouldn't put India quite as the same level of intimidator threat as WI but yeah Steyn's performance against them is awesome and puts him over Ambrose for me.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I wouldn't put India quite as the same level of intimidator threat as WI but yeah Steyn's performance against them is awesome and puts him over Ambrose for me.

As a batting lineup, I think I would definitely rank late 2000s India over 80s West Indies. I dunno, is that controversial? Sehwag - Gambhir - Dravid - Sachin- VVS- Dhoni in the form they all were in at the time is probably better than any lineup that's ever played except maybe for 2000s Australia or some SA teams.

It's the bowling where WI were miles ahead of every team that has ever played.

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

Wouldn't the analogous best batting lineup for Steyn be India instead of Australia or England? His incredible bowling performances against India in the late 2000s when they were all in amazing form is why I rate him highly.

I'd probably still go for Imran by a hair though for his peak. Imran number 4 and Steyn number 5 on my list of ATG fast bowlers.

Fair point. But Imran’s peak makes me rank him above Steyn.

 

[Coronis]

It is very close between Imran, Steyn, Ambrose. While I feel Steyn and Imran were better tested across conditions, and Ambrose was not that tested in SC, he was good everywhere he bowled and he is leagues ahead of Imran and Steyn in Aus and even somewhat clearly better in Eng. Steyn perhaps had the best bowling conditions at home, and the argument for him bowling in a batting friendly era is somewhat neutralised by the fact that he didn’t do that well in Aus and Eng, where the tracks had become flatter. I choose Imran by a smidgeon due to him having the best short term bowling peak ever, and his ATG performance against the greatest test side of all time(80 wickets@21)

I didn’t know Imran played against Waugh and Ponting’s Australia.

Imran in the 1980 decade played 16 test series. He was man of the series in half of those.

That includes three consecutive series against the WI, two in England and one in India.

Reached the highest bowler rating of any post-war bowler. Then got injured and scored well as a pure bat before returning as a bowler to the same success.

No modern cricketer can touch that level of performance in their peak.

Kallis still had more.

 

[trundler]

I didn’t know Imran played against Waugh and Ponting’s Australia.



Kallis still had more.

1 more in 2.2x the number of series. I'm no expert in ratios but I think that works out to less impressive. Got some James Anderson is the GOAT logic going there.

 

[Coronis]

1 more in 2.2x the number of series. I'm no expert in ratios but I think that works out to less impressive. Got some James Anderson is the GOAT logic going there.

Aren’t players always saying Anderson is the GOAT these days?

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

I didn’t know Imran played against Waugh and Ponting’s Australia.



Kallis still had more.

Wi side was better.

 

[trundler]

Aren’t players always saying Anderson is the GOAT these days?

I get Stokes engaging in this kind of propaganda to hype up his ace pacer but the first bloke to come out with this gem was Alec Stewart who played against 3 generations of ATG quicks who were definitely better so I can't buy that as a genuine opinion and he doesn't gain anything from cheerleading either.

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

I get Stokes engaging in this kind of propaganda to hype up his ace pacer but the first bloke to come out with this gem was Alec Stewart who played against 3 generations of ATG quicks who were definitely better so I can't buy that as a genuine opinion and he doesn't gain anything from cheerleading either.

Many Eng supporters nowadays come across as doofuses and that Barmy Army stuff is BS. Broad and Anderson are overrated hacks. Eng has had a lot of great players, literally the two greatest openers in all of cricketer history(one of whom for me(Hobbs)is the second best bat after Bradman, and other one isn’t too far behind either), two bowlers who belong amongst the greatest to play the game(Barnes and Trueman, and I’d pick Trueman in top 10 fast bowlers ever, Barnes in my top overall top 10) etc, but for Eng supporters and some ex Eng cricketers Anderson and Broad, (especially(and mostly) the former), seem to the best things that ever happened to Eng cricket.

 

[Slifer]

As a batting lineup, I think I would definitely rank late 2000s India over 80s West Indies. I dunno, is that controversial? Sehwag - Gambhir - Dravid - Sachin- VVS- Dhoni in the form they all were in at the time is probably better than any lineup that's ever played except maybe for 2000s Australia or some SA teams.

It's the bowling where WI were miles ahead of every team that has ever played.

Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Sachin
Vvs
Dhoni

Vs

Haynes
Greenidge
Viv
Kallicharan
Rowe
Lloyd

Or

Greenidge
Haynes
Richardson
Viv
Gomes
Lloyd
Dujon

I'll give India the edge in general but against raw pace on a dodgy wicket, I'm giving the WI the edge.

 

[subshakerz]

Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Sachin
Vvs
Dhoni

Vs

Haynes
Greenidge
Viv
Kallicharan
Rowe
Lloyd

Or

Greenidge
Haynes
Richardson
Viv
Gomes
Lloyd
Dujon

I'll give India the edge in general but against raw pace on a dodgy wicket, I'm giving the WI the edge.

What? WI is so obviously superior it isn't funny.

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

What? WI is so obviously superior it isn't funny.

On most pitches WI is clearly superior(primarily cause their top is clearly superior to their Indian counterparts), but on spinning pitches it might be close, although Lloyd was a genius at playing spin, and Viv and Gomes were not too bad either.

 

[subshakerz]

On most pitches WI is clearly superior(primarily cause their top is clearly superior to their Indian counterparts), but on spinning pitches it might be close, although Lloyd was a genius at playing spin, and Viv and Gomes were not too bad either.

Plus Kallicharan was a terrific player of spin.

 

[honestbharani]

Bradman
Daylight
Sobers
Imran
Miller

Hadlee/Tendulkar/Warne/McGrath/Marshall/Muralidaran/Hobbs/Hutton

Almost unliked for not including Lara in that below tier.

 

[honestbharani]

No modern cricketer can touch that level of performance in their peak.

So all they need to do is play past their peak?