The Great Captains

[listento_me]

I feel as though Imran Khan is one of the best cricket captains of all time!

Imran Khan began his first-class cricket career at the age of 16 in 1968! He assumed the role of captain in 1982 at the age of 30. Khan officially retired from cricket in 1992. Some of Khan's most notable achievements during his captaincy are listed below.

Notable Captaincy Achievements
- Career Record One Day Internationals 77-57-1
- 1982 Led the Pakistan cricket team to victory breaking their 28 year drought of wins on English turf.
- 1983 Wisden Cricketer of the year award
- 1985 Sussex Cricket Society Player of the year award
- 1987 Led Pakistan to its first ever test series win.
- 1987 Let Pakistan to its first series victory in England.
- 1992 Led Pakistan to the 1992 Cricket World Cup title.

I am curious to hear your thoughts on his career as a captain!

Learn more about Imran Khan here!

He is number 3 on my list.

But what do you mean by led Pakistan to first ever test series win? Surely you mean in England?

 

[Victor Ian]

Wow. This series.

Results | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

How must that have been for those who followed it when it happened. I think draws add SO much more intrigue? to a series of games than wins/losses.

 

[AndrewB]

Also he was never the Sussex captain (officially; I dare say he was stand-in captain on occasion), so that's not a captaincy achievement. (And "Wisden Cricketer of the Year" was probably more for his play than his captaincy).

 

[thecrickauth]

He is number 3 on my list.

But what do you mean by led Pakistan to first ever test series win? Surely you mean in England?

Yes listento_me, you are correct that was supposed to read "1987 Led Pakistan to its first ever test series win in England!"

 

[listento_me]

Wow. This series.

Results | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

How must that have been for those who followed it when it happened. I think draws add SO much more intrigue? to a series of games than wins/losses.

Rain sadly played a big part in the first 2 tests if I remember correctly.

 

[Victor Ian]

yeah, rain marred the first two games. I just love the troll in the last game where they bat into the third day after a narrow escape in the 4th test. Because draws, rain affected or not, are a thing, this can happen.

 

[Victor Ian]

I'm curious as to what are the best ever efforts shutting up shop after you have gone one up in a series. Has anyone ever batted out four days? All five?

 

[Furball]

I reckon at least one of the Tests from the 2009 West Indies v England series would still be going on if they were timeless.

 

[subshakerz]

I feel as though Imran Khan is one of the best cricket captains of all time!

Imran Khan began his first-class cricket career at the age of 16 in 1968! He assumed the role of captain in 1982 at the age of 30. Khan officially retired from cricket in 1992. Some of Khan's most notable achievements during his captaincy are listed below.

Notable Captaincy Achievements
- Career Record One Day Internationals 77-57-1
- 1982 Led the Pakistan cricket team to victory breaking their 28 year drought of wins on English turf.
- 1983 Wisden Cricketer of the year award
- 1985 Sussex Cricket Society Player of the year award
- 1987 Led Pakistan to its first ever test series win.
- 1987 Let Pakistan to its first series victory in England.
- 1992 Led Pakistan to the 1992 Cricket World Cup title.

I am curious to hear your thoughts on his career as a captain!

Learn more about Imran Khan here!

Also won the first series in India in 86 and drew three consecutive series against no.1 WI team home and away.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Drawing three consecutive series with the great West Indian team of the '80s/early '90s was impressive of Imran.

 

[wpdavid]

Drawing three consecutive series with the great West Indian team of the '80s/early '90s was impressive of Imran.

Absolutely. Not least because that Pakistan side wasn't a team of ATGs. Obviously two or three legends, and lots of very good players, but a great case of punching above their weight, which is what I look for when assessing captains.

 

[Victor Ian]

Absolutely. Not least because that Pakistan side wasn't a team of ATGs. Obviously two or three legends, and lots of very good players, but a great case of punching above their weight, which is what I look for when assessing captains.

So, no doubt, you don't rate Ranatunga

 

[wpdavid]

So, no doubt, you don't rate Ranatunga

Nicely done.

 

[listento_me]

I'm curious as to what are the best ever efforts shutting up shop after you have gone one up in a series. Has anyone ever batted out four days? All five?

I'd look that up but I'm too lazy right now lol I highly doubt anyone has batted through 5 FULL days of cricket

Drawing three consecutive series with the great West Indian team of the '80s/early '90s was impressive of Imran.

Yep. Listening to and reading a lot of the material surrounding one of the Pak/Windies series in the WI there seems to have been some outright terrible umpiring that saved them from losing to Pakistan and thus losing the series.

Absolutely. Not least because that Pakistan side wasn't a team of ATGs. Obviously two or three legends, and lots of very good players, but a great case of punching above their weight, which is what I look for when assessing captains.

So, no doubt, you don't rate Ranatunga

lol

 

[rtramdas]

Much is talked about Imran's captaincy brilliance.But it can't be forgotten that he possessed a bowling unit which was statistically on a par with the great WI team of those 80s & early 90s.Akram,Waqar,Imran himself ,Sarfraz Nawaz, Qadir,Qasim,Mushtaq ahmed,Tauseef Ahmed aided Imran thru out his career.Not a wonder that PAK team of those times was the 2nd best team of those times.
But the things i give credit to Imran were that he was a great motivator & man manager.Above all he performed a lot better as a batsman when he was the captain.But i won't give credit for his bowling during those periods because ball tampering aided him a lot.All in all a brilliant captain but
not convincingly above some other highly regarded captains in the game's history. Infact one among the best.

 

[wpdavid]

Much is talked about Imran's captaincy brilliance.But it can't be forgotten that he possessed a bowling unit which was statistically on a par with the great WI team of those 80s & early 90s.Akram,Waqar,Imran himself ,Sarfraz Nawaz, Qadir,Qasim,Mushtaq ahmed,Tauseef Ahmed aided Imran thru out his career.Not a wonder that PAK team of those times was the 2nd best team of those times.
But the things i give credit to Imran were that he was a great motivator & man manager.Above all he performed a lot better as a batsman when he was the captain.But i won't give credit for his bowling during those periods because ball tampering aided him a lot.All in all a brilliant captain but
not convincingly above some other highly regarded captains in the game's history. Infact one among the best.

It would be interesting to see Pakistan's lineup in those series. I'd be astonished if Waqar played against WI in the 1980s. Maybe a very young Akram and a pretty old Sarfraz in a couple of different series. Qadir played a huge role in their home matches no doubt. But the thing that strikes me is how well Imran used the players at his disposal.

EDIT,

Yup, Waqar played in the 1990/91 series but not in the 1980s. Sarfraz didn't play at all in the 3 series that we're discussing.
But Pakistan's attack in that 1990/91 series was indeed one to treasure - Imran himself, the 2 Ws and Qadir.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I assume King kohli is number 1?

 

[rtramdas]

It would be interesting to see Pakistan's lineup in those series. I'd be astonished if Waqar played against WI in the 1980s. Maybe a very young Akram and a pretty old Sarfraz in a couple of different series. Qadir played a huge role in their home matches no doubt. But the thing that strikes me is how well Imran used the players at his disposal.

EDIT,

Yup, Waqar played in the 1990/91 series but not in the 1980s. Sarfraz didn't play at all in the 3 series that we're discussing.
But Pakistan's attack in that 1990/91 series was indeed one to treasure - Imran himself, the 2 Ws and Qadir.

when we talk about those 3 WI series , we need to remember a few more things.Firstly only Marshall among the fab 4 remained 'non retired' for those series.Walsh who debuted in 85 0r 86 was there though.Others were debutants Ambrose & Bishop. Similarly in the batting too, WI was going thru a transition phase though they were still the no: 1 team.Lloyd had retired by that time. Even other experienced batsmen including Viv didn't play all those tests. For PAK Imran could afford to play as a pure batsman( not the normal heavy workload of an all rounder) with the inclusion of Waqar(debutant though).
And PAK had more variety in their attck with the quality spinners + left handed quick Wasim.I would say PAK was better in bowling strength while WI was slightly better in batting strength.Clashes of 2 more or less equal sides. Being the captain, Imran could take the credit.

 

[wpdavid]

when we talk about those 3 WI series , we need to remember a few more things.Firstly only Marshall among the fab 4 remained 'non retired' for those series.Walsh who debuted in 85 0r 86 was there though.Others were debutants Ambrose & Bishop. Similarly in the batting too, WI was going thru a transition phase though they were still the no: 1 team.Lloyd had retired by that time. Even other experienced batsmen including Viv didn't play all those tests. For PAK Imran could afford to play as a pure batsman( not the normal heavy workload of an all rounder) with the inclusion of Waqar(debutant though).
And PAK had more variety in their attck with the quality spinners + left handed quick Wasim.I would say PAK was better in bowling strength while WI was slightly better in batting strength.Clashes of 2 more or less equal sides. Being the captain, Imran could take the credit.

Yes, I'm sure that's all fair. Perhaps his finest achievement was the drawn series in the WI, whereas the other two were in Pakistan.

 

[S.Kennedy]

During the era of West Indian domination (late-'70s to early-'90s), Pakistan were certainly the second best team.