2nd greatest living cricketer

[ataraxia]

I don't Hadlee at any point could make the team as a batsman alone.

Agree with the rest of the post but Hadlee was arguably better with bat than a few long-term batsmen (J Crowe, Rutherford) for NZ, especially when he doesn't have a bowling workload anymore.

 

[nightprowler10]

I always thought Azhar Mahmood was better

Not much between the two. I think Razzaq comes off looking worse overall in Test bowling because he was over used when we had injury troubles and stupid bans in the mid-noughties. Azhar always seemed the smarter cricketer though.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Not really. Imran was a specialist bat from 89-92. However, during his bowling peak from 80-88, he was still averaging 40 as a batsman and played as a pure batsman alone when he was injured from bowling.

I don't Hadlee at any point could make the team as a batsman alone. He was around Wasim-level really.

Overall, after 15 years and 60 tests
Imran scored just 2255 runs at 30 avg
2 centuries, 9 fifties.

 

[honestbharani]

Not much between the two. I think Razzaq comes off looking worse overall in Test bowling because he was over used when we had injury troubles and stupid bans in the mid-noughties. Azhar always seemed the smarter cricketer though.

Azhar had more batting talent IMO. Razzaq had more skills with the ball though.

 

[harsh.ag]

Umar Akmal Out for a Duck in American Grade Cricket Debut

 

[subshakerz]

Overall, after 15 years and 60 tests
Imran scored just 2255 runs at 30 avg
2 centuries, 9 fifties.

Why stop at 60 tests? Imran was still an ATG bowler until the 1988 series in WI, which is around 73 tests of his career, averaging around 33 with 4 tons.

 

[Teja.]

Why stop at 60 tests? Imran was still an ATG bowler until the 1988 series in WI, which is around 73 tests of his career, averaging around 33 with 4 tons.

haha but he wasn't an ATG bowler or close for the first 25 of those 73 tests till 1980 which is a very big chunk of the pizza!

Also his peak stats get ruined for 1987 and he has a very ordinary year thanks to infamous cement pitch 5 test series in India where he takes an expensive 8 wickets in 5 tests @ 50 with over 90 SR after 7 years without a year where he averaged above 20.

Notwithstanding his stats getting messed up a bit due to that series, it's probably fair to say his peak was till 1988 though as he had a couple of ATG series in England and WI after that.

 

[honestbharani]

Averaging around 33 with 4 tons.

Almost Ashwin level then?

 

[ankitj]

We need a thread about just how good Ashwin is as an all-rounder.

 

[harsh.ag]

Going by peak, Sobers is the second greatest living cricketer. Botham is the greatest.

 

[ankitj]

Going by peak, Sobers is the second greatest living cricketer. Botham is the greatest.

Yeah, no one comes close to Botham at peak. It's mental what he achieved. Must have been such a gun era to follow careers of Imran, Hadlee and Botham at the time (with 1-2 other lesser all-rounders thrown in the mix).

 

[subshakerz]

Going by peak, Sobers is the second greatest living cricketer. Botham is the greatest.

Imran, Steve Smith and Murali would be part of that conversation.

 

[subshakerz]

haha but he wasn't an ATG bowler or close for the first 25 of those 73 tests till 1980 which is a very big chunk of the pizza!

Also his peak stats get ruined for 1987 and he has a very ordinary year thanks to infamous cement pitch 5 test series in India where he takes an expensive 8 wickets in 5 tests @ 50 with over 90 SR after 7 years without a year where he averaged above 20.

Notwithstanding his stats getting messed up a bit due to that series, it's probably fair to say his peak was till 1988 though as he had a couple of ATG series in England and WI after that.

Yes true, but Imran still earned man of the series for his batting, WAG.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Why stop at 60 tests? Imran was still an ATG bowler until the 1988 series in WI, which is around 73 tests of his career, averaging around 33 with 4 tons.

Next 28 tests
1552 runs at 60 avg
80 wickets @ 28

Seems like a Sobers replacement than a Hadlee one.

 

[srbhkshk]

Imran, Steve Smith and Murali would be part of that conversation.

No one but Bradman is a part of the conversation when it comes to Botham's peak, he was bowling at ATG levels while casually scoring 12 hundreds - twice of what Imran managed in his whole career.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Yeah, no one comes close to Botham at peak. It's mental what he achieved. Must have been such a gun era to follow careers of Imran, Hadlee and Botham at the time (with 1-2 other lesser all-rounders thrown in the mix).

Marshall and Viv are not proper allrounders.

 

[ankitj]

Marshall and Viv are not proper allrounders.

ok

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Yeah, no one comes close to Botham at peak. It's mental what he achieved. Must have been such a gun era to follow careers of Imran, Hadlee and Botham at the time (with 1-2 other lesser all-rounders thrown in the mix).

How is Botham peak ( 5 years? ) better than 8 year Sobers peak?
Sobers averaged 63 with bat and 28 with ball while taking 4 wickets per match.
Botham wasn't considered as best bowler in the world.. Sobers was clearly the number 1 batsman in his era / alltime (bar Don)

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

ok

And you forgot the best ( Proctor ) and 4th best ( Kapil )

Proctor
Hadlee
Imran
Kapil
Botham

5 legends

 

[ataraxia]

Next 28 tests
1552 runs at 60 avg
80 wickets @ 28

Seems like a Sobers replacement than a Hadlee one.

So you're saying Imran was first better than Hadlee and then better than Sobers? Cool. Great cherrypicking, though maybe not in your intended direction.