For all their records, their achievements are not of the kind best expressed in numbers or on lists. Between them they carried Pakistan through the hardest, darkest years and in doing so they did not just serve their country but the sport and all of us who love it.
So far, this is the only bowling team who could match it against the balance of Australia's all-time XI on conditions anywhere around the world. Fielding is probably the weak link in this side, but no matter given the high percentage of lbws and bowled victims that Wasim and Waqar get. West Indies lack the spinner, New Zealand and Sri Lanka lack one or two fast bowlers, and England's bowling attack is a case of "anything we can do, Australia can do just a little better".
He was lucky to bowl at a time when batsmen had no clue how to bat against reverse swing. No doubt, he was a fantastic bowler, but I leave it at that.
This is why Cricket must be one of the prime passion for Pakistani individuals beside art-music and farming, as Imran Khan said, proper education is the key for success. My Fav. players Inzi, Imran, Wasim and Waqar were probably default choice. Peace
This is soooo desperate for a laugh its ironically tragic. Not amusing at all, very cheap jokes. U can tell the author didn’t put alot of time into it. Even satire needs some authenticity, which this wholly lacks. That said Pakistan is number one test side in the world who simultaneously suffered one of the worst ODI defeats in recent memory. This is Pakistan. What else sis u expect? The unpredictables strike once again. Pakistan zindabad. Recommend
Qazi Kamaluddin Sep 06, 2015 06:46am Noman sir, you forget mighty Majid, great Asif Iqbal (Waqar /Wasim not in good list and legend bcs they had legacy very bad in drug case in W.Indies) and fined for match fixing. Recommend 0
Shdhsn Sep 05, 2015 05:46pm There was no need for these comments-(perhaps this is why we were cursed with the Akmals later to balance the scales) Moein and Rashid Latif were not the best, they were ok. Just because all 3 brothers were able to play in the Pakistan, it does not make them a curse. If anyone it is PCB's job to find a replacement. Recommend 0
Australian are the ones who come close to Pakistan bowling line up.They had Lillies,Thomsons, McGraths but they still dont match Pakistani bowling line up variety and skill. Shane Warne is the only edge they have and with Qadir on Pakistan side, that edge isnt that big. My point with variety and skill is that you give Australian bowlers Pakistani fielding side and wicket of Faisalabad and see the difference urself.
A formidable combination at home. There would be one or two concerns in series outside Pakistan. In away Tests Abdul Qadir's wickets cost 47 apiece. Zaheer's record against pace on bouncy pitches was not very good. A more secure number three would have been Majid or Younis Khan. Wasim Bari was a great wicket-keeper, but could only realistically be accomodated by including all-rounder Mushtaq Mohammad instead of one of the bowlers. Fazal, the finest matting bowler after SF Barnes, has to play. The fielding is not as good as that of the other all-time teams. On the other hand, none of the rival elevens has the capacity of Imran, Wasim and Waqar to take the pitch out of the equation and hit the stumps.
Gohar has a promising bowling average of 21.27, 20.77 and 17.13 in first-class, A-list and T20 cricket respectively. Twenty-year old Gohar has a bright future in store for him and I view him as being a potential replacement of the dynamic Shahid Afridi.
I have watched low-quality recordings of his great performance and there are no signs of reverse swing. Most of the Australian batsmen were undone off the pitch. Sarfraz was adamant that he obtained reverse swing by legal methods – exploiting dry pitches, especially in Pakistan, to create the required condition for the ball, and that he coached his bowling partners and fielders in how to shine the ball (legally) and how to return it. “It is not necessary to gouge or scrape the ball, as English people claim. They did not know that a ball can do this when it gets older.”
It has to be Miandad: for his sheer range of shots, mental fortitude, consistency, never say die attitude, a player for crisis situations, his sense for the big occasion (who can forget has last ball 6 to win the Australasia Cup against India in Sharjah) giving as good as he got and refusing to be intimidated (the infamous fracas at the WACA). Together with Imran Khan he made Pakistan a cricketing power.
I am shocked to read some people arguing for picking M.Yusuf instead of Zaheer Abbas (the Asian Bradman). They probably never actually watched Zaheer batting. I have watched Zaheer batting in England and I know English fans used to travel from far and wide only to watch Zaheer's 'unique' batting display, a master class of its own. All my friends and I think that Cricinfo got it absolutely right. Those arguing for the inclusion of M.Yusuf, Bari and Shoaib Akhtar are missing the whole point of picking an all time XI, its not all about averages my friend, its about the real talent and the real class. Well done Cricinfo.
The next surprise in bowling was the “chinaman” – the mirror image of a leg-break, the stock delivery of a left-arm wrist spinner. It entered the cricket lexicon in 1933 after a racist complaint by one of its early victims. “Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman,” grumbled England’s Walter Robins, stumped in 1933 off a rather ordinary West Indian bowler called Ellis “Puss” Achong. Garry Sobers bowled the chinaman in his early career, and more recently Paul Adams of South Africa beguiled batsmen and spectators with his unique “frog-in-a-blender” action.
In spite of Tehreek-e-Insaf’s struggles in elections, Khan’s populist postitions found support, especially among young people. He continued his criticism of corruption and economic inequality in Pakistan and opposed the Pakistani government’s cooperation with the United States in fighting militants near the Afghan border. He also launched broadsides against Pakistan’s political and economic elites, whom he accused of being westernized and out of touch with Pakistan’s religious and cultural norms.
Younis was one of the finest players Pakistan have had, the first to score 10,000 Test runs, the first to score more than 30 Test centuries, his batting characterised by his bloody minded determination to be “the last man standing” as he once put it, the one who “comes in and takes everything on his chest” when things get hard for the team. Younis was as tough as they come. He scored five centuries in the fourth innings, more than any other player in history. Since he started, Pakistan have won 28 Tests away from home, outside of the UAE. And in the 24 of those matches he played in, Younis scored 2,826 runs at 94.20, with 10 centuries. Steve Waugh is the only player with an away record anything like it.
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The argument that Zaheer Abbass was chosen based upon his performance in his prime. Or any other batsman is chosen on that basis then who can in his right frame of mind ignore M. Yousuf in his prime? On this logic no batsman in the world could compare to Yousuf in his prime! Ignoring M. Yousuf is like ignoring M. Ali among all time great boxers. What are the basis of calling a batsman greatest when the whole career records are ignored. Nobody in Pakistan has a better average than M. Yousuf in test cricket. Nobody is even close to him including Asif Iqbal, Zaheer, Majid, Hanif, etc.
To me, it's Javed Miandad hands down. Many times, I used to hate his guts. May be, that's my inner feeling of acknowledgement of his willingness to fight till the end, the sign of greatness, if there is one. My only disappointment with JM is that his average against WI, the greatest team during his playing time, is less than good. If he averaged 10 runs per innings against them, he would have been an automatic choice in the greatest test XI ahead of even greats like Sachin, only behind other automatic choices Sir Bradman and Viv Richards. Yousuf, Anwar and Zaheer, if you take away their performances against their arch rivals India, is moderate against other elite teams like Aussies, Eng and SA. I think Inzimam and Younis are the next best batsman after Miandad in that order.
Misbah-ul-Haq was raised in Mianwali, in Punjab. He is related to Imran Khan’s father and a member of the same Niazi clan. Both his parents were educators and made him give academic work priority over cricket. He gained an MBA at the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, a qualification which makes him one of the best-educated cricketers in the modern era. His studies of leadership skills and human resource management delayed his entry to the first-class game until he was 24, but have been of lasting value to him as captain.
kashif Sep 05, 2015 05:07pm i think the best would have been Wasim Raja, he was so far ahead of his times, never got his due . he would have been an ideal cricketer for T 20 cricket.. Recommend 0
As often happens, the heirs to the inventor obtained more profit from his invention than he did. Imran Khan told his biographer Christopher Sandford that he first used reverse swing against Australia in the Melbourne Test of 1977. In the first innings, with conventional methods, he had no wickets for 117 in 22 eight-ball overs. In Australia’s second innings “the pitch had got so hard it began to take lumps out of the ball, which then behaved like a boomerang”. He took five for 122 (his first five-wicket haul in a Test innings), three bowled and one lbw. A characteristic of successful reverse-swing spells is a high concentration of bowled and lbws.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is responsible for all first class and Test cricket played in Pakistan and by the Pakistan cricket team. It was admitted to the International Cricket Council in July 1953. The corporation has been run by former cricketers, professional administrators and trustees, who are often respected businessmen. The Board governs a network of teams sponsored by corporations and banks, city associations and clubs including advertising, broadcasting rights and internet partners.
The stats say Yunus is No. ONE. But you have mentioned some of the greatest batsmen, not just of Pakistan but the cricket world as well. These gentlemen were masters of the game and they set a glorious example for Yunus to follow. What an awesome parade of genuine stars! Today Pakistan is producing some of the best bowlers, playing the game. The batting? Well, the less said the better.
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Aik_Paki Sep 05, 2015 08:48pm @stranger Come on, they were both very slow. Moeen has been much better than Bari in terms of hard hitting. Recommend 0
Second, its three great exponents said relatively little about it. Most of cricket’s bowling innovators were not shy about their discoveries. Bosanquet was happy for Australians to call his delivery a “bosie” before the more exotic name of “googly” became established. In the modern era, Saqlain Mushtaq exploited the mystique of his “doosra” and even claimed a further invention, the “teesra”, matched by Shane Warne’s announcement of the ‘“zooter”.
Waseem Sarwar Mar 10, 2017 09:11pm Pakistan needs a MCG or Eden Gardens with capacity close to 80,90 thousands but sadly no cricket at home have resulted in lesser money for PCB hence less investment in cricketing facilities. Loved the pictures but you missed Gujrat stadium which hosted few international matches in 90's. It has capacity close to 25k and these days, it's called Zahoor Elahi stadium. Recommend0
In my opinion, Javed Miandad is #1, based on the quality, skills, reselience, and Younus is little behind at #2. Javed Miandad average is slightly better than Younus as well, but as far as the highest run getter from Pakistan is concerned King Younus is da one. Thanks
Misbah and his team will enjoy far more support from British Asian cricket lovers than in their ‘home’ Tests in the UAE. This great man is coming to the end of his career and deserves a farewell to match Don Bradman’s at the Oval 1948. His achievement has been epic. Like Bradman, he has been far more than a simple cricketer. For his six years at the helm of the national team, Misbah has helped to bind Pakistan together as a nation.
After a frenetic 32 days – jam-packed with four Test matches – England and Pakistan’s contest ends with honours even, the Investec Series all square at 2-2. In a closely fought battle, the tourists seemed to save their best for the capital, routing England on both sides of London, but comfortably outplayed as soon as the action moved anywhere north of the Watford Gap.
"The players get along very well. Of course, there are exceptions like Gautam Gambhir, who dare I say isn't the friendliest - we are unlikely to be found together at a coffee shop anytime soon," he said.
Some might argue that another specialist middle-order batsman should have been in the line-up, but the selection assumes picking players at the peak of their skills. So Imran's naturally solid technique provides a robust enough presence at six, around which the line-up pivots. Latif and Akram below him add up to almost another batsman.
Zaidan Sep 06, 2015 01:42pm A very disappointing list. Aamir Sohail and Ijaz Ahmed were mediocre cricketers in ODIs and would be even worse at T20. Miandad, although a great batsman, would never make it to a T20 team because of his lack of boundary hitting potential and a low strike rate. Waqar is a conundrum. Great wicket taking potential but would give away a lot of runs too. But I would have him in my team. Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Anwar and Moin Khan are the choices that I agree with (I have not seen Zaheer and Mushtaq play, so cant comment on them) Recommend 0
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The Pakistan women's cricket team has a much lower profile than the men's team. For all national women's cricket teams, the female players are paid much less their male counterparts and the women's teams do not receive as much popular support or recognition as the men's team. The women's teams also have a less packed schedule compared to men's teams and play fewer matches. The team played it first match during 1997, when it was on tour of New Zealand and Australia and were invited to the World Cup later that year and in the Women's Asia Cup during 2005 the team came third place. During 2007, the team with face South Africa and later in the year travel to Ireland to play in the Women's World Cup Qualifier. The team also played at the T20 England World Cup, the team finished 6th place, beating Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2009. cricketwatchdogs Your lack of cricketing knowledge and unsubstantiated support for Yousaf is evident from the fact that you compare players of different era. The lower quality of cricket these days adds 10-15 runs automatically to batsmen. When Majid and Zaheer were playing at their peak, they would get a 3-test series in a year. Even then they proved to be world class in English county and Australian Sheffield Shield (Majid being the only Pakistani who played in it). Majid was the only batsman to have scored over 2000 in 1972 and Zaheer was the only batsman who scored over 2500 runs in 1976, in English summer. Check your facts, Zaheer scored two double hundreds in England and close to 300 runs in Australia against Lillee. You can only compare players of different era only subjectively and if you do that Yousaf is not in the same class. Players like Yousaf are just good commodity batsmen who were lucky to score 1000s of runs in mediocre cricket to compile huge averages. https://www.cricketwatchdogs.com/2017/06/15/pakistan-beat-england-now-battle-cricket-matches-india-vs-pakistan/