Hmm so we have a topic on Inzamam ul Haq and we are bringing up the likes of Jayawardene and Sehwag??? I think thats terribly unfair on Inzamam! Inzamam is leagues ahead of Jayawardene or Sehwag!
Ok now coming to Inzamam the batsman
In terms of natural ability, talent, footwork, eye, shot range, Inzy is no less than Dravid, Ponting, Tendulkar or Lara! However, having ability is not always the end of the story, with Inzy, the ability and talent did not always transfer into great and spectacular performances which in turn would have given him a spectacular track record...Lets face it, on statistics alone, his test record is nothing to talk about when we are talking about the top 4-5 batsmen in the world! Average of less than 50, not even 30 test centuries, not even 10000 runs, and a below average record against Australia and South Africa!
However, when analysing players like Inzamam, one is able to realize the limitations of statistics. The reason Inzamam failed to reach the levels of Sachin or Lara or Ponting is because of his personality, and character! These are the factors that come into play when you are comparing the top players, at this level, statistics are irrelevant. This is where a strength of character makes a player rise above his contemporaries! This is what made a ordinarily talented Imran Khan the best allrounder in the world and rise above more naturally talented all rounders of his time like Hadlee and Botham!
Inzamam lacked that, thats why he failed! As a player he lacked courage at times, and that was more apparent when he became captain. He lacked hunger for runs as a batsman! When I mention hunger for runs, one name that comes to mind is Sachin Tendulkar! Here is a man who has played 400 ODIs and over 100 test matches, his body should be gone by now, he should be sitting in a commentary box along with other retired players, but what keeps him going is his hunger for runs! When I saw him bat in the finals in Australia recently, I was amazed by how much each run still meant to him! Here is a man with over 15000 runs in ODIs yet look at the way he runs for a single, look at his reaction when he scores a half century!
Inzamam totally lacked that, he was more of a lazy batsman who if he had his way, would be quite happy sitting in the pavilion all day and let others go and score all the runs!
I think he somewhat realized that during the last few years of his career and and he probably regrets the fact now, because he doesnt even have 10000 runs! In terms of ability, I consider him more talented than Dravid and Kallis, he definitely is a better player of fast bowling than Dravid and Kallis. I still remember a 90 odd he scored against South Africa in the nineties, with Donald and Schultz steaming in at him, earlier I had seen Lara struggle against Donald, and here was Inzamam playing Donald as if he was the easiest bowler in the world! On his day, there is no better player than him, on his day, the bowler has no chance unless Inzy gifts it to him!
But Dravid and Kallis will be regarded as better players and rightly so because they have more of the hunger for runs, they want to be in the middle and score runs, they want to bat.
Inzamam will be remembered as a player who never really realized his abilities as a batsman and as a result was unjust to it! He could have been the next Viv Richards as predicted by his mentor but he lacked Richards' hunger and determination and strength!