With all due respect, that's bullshit.
Hammond was in Bradman's shadow, he was still seen for his quality.
Outside of the Hall and Griffith days, Sobers wasn't on the best if teams and Australia and England still ruled the roost, be brought attention to himself. He because the 2nd great phenomenon of the test game.
In the 70's the WI weren't food, Holding and Viv put them on the map, in 2 years Viv was getting his due.
Hadlee played at the same time and he was still seen as a better bowler than Imran, did he play for a bigger team?
In the 80's everyone knew who Imran was, be serious dude. I was in the ****ing Caribbean.
He was one of the big 4 all rounders and after Botham's obvious decline he was seen as the leader of the pack, even if Hadlee was always the better bowler.
Imran Khan, an absolute beast of a cricketer and one of the greatest ever and for me a top 10 player of all time.
But keeping it a
Captaincy: Even in that clip you referenced, he was noted to be "nothing special as a captain" tests or limited overs. In another Jarrod Kimber podcast on captaincy, he wasn't drafted in all of 12, and that's with an avid Pakistani hosting who said in the all rounder draft he would have picked him over Sobers. You speak of his legacy, and you can fuss all you want after, but his biggest legacy was teaching Wasim and Waqar how to ball tamper.
Batting: The ultimate not out merchant, and even then his batting average didn't pass 30 till (could be remembering incorrectly), '88? His average was soft as hell, and even in the period he was at his peak, still had a thousand runs less than Javed? He was never a "specialist" bat until he wasn't an opening bowler.
Bowling: You love to say he was a top five bowler, and accordingly merits his place in any XI. You said if he played in any other era he would have been seen as the best (in fairness player not bowler) in the world, well not unless he was travelling with his umps and the cameras weren't on him.
Imran was incredibly talented and he's a top 10 player, but you presented this one sided and obviously slanted view while blatantly ignoring the other side.
And yes, this excuse is bullshit.
@peterhrt has posted on multiple occasions how he was part of the English establishment and in another of Kimber's podcasts speaks to how beloved he was even in Australia (and England) at a time where they were exactly open to people of color (his words not mine).
You've used excuses before like his captaincy overshadowed his bowling, now he wasn't well known and overshadowed by the West Indies? They were the second best team in the world and everyone knew it.
He was the 3rd best bowler of his era, over inflated batting (which is comparable to Kallis's bowling usage and wpm compared to average) and not one of the great captains.
