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Inzamam

archie mac

International Coach
If he was as quick between the wickets as say Bevan then we might be talking one of the all time greats?:ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r:
 

Fusion

Global Moderator
Even accepting what you have written above, how does that translate into a batting limitation?
Not a batting limitation, but certainly a limitation in overall ability. Could more of those 50's have been converted into centuries if he was better fit? I think so.
 
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Burgey

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Top player. Loved him, tbh. On song, as good as any.

Also loved the way, when he got run out, he always had the aggrieved look on his face. Gold.
 

Calvin

Cricket Spectator
IMO its unfair to rate Kallis above Inzi if you are comparing batting alone. Dravid though is better then Inzi purely on the grounds of consistency.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Inzamam is pretty underrated. One of the best of his era for sure. Just a notch underneath PonLaraChin.
 

shortpitched713

International Captain
A truly great example of why stats like simple average will never tell the whole story. Seemed to only really get it up when it mattered and not very often otherwise. Obviously theres something to be said for consistency, but Inzi's level of clutch performance would indicate a level of ability belied by his stats.
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
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!
 

Engle

State Vice-Captain
Well, Inzi iz Inzi. As a character, he adds color to the game. Sure, he could've done dis or dat, but then again, we would've missed the antics, comedy, languid grace, power, delicacy....all of the non-numerical attributes that define a unique batsman.
 

funnygirl

State Regular
A truly great example of why stats like simple average will never tell the whole story. Seemed to only really get it up when it mattered and not very often otherwise. Obviously theres something to be said for consistency, but Inzi's level of clutch performance would indicate a level of ability belied by his stats.
Exactly what i wanted to say .u put it in much better way .

He is an underrated batsman in my opinion.
 

Beleg

International Regular
Inzamam averaged over 75 in around 45 wins for Pakistan during the course of his career.


That is truly incredible.
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
What did he average when they got beat?
Code:
				[b]Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s[/b]
won match  	1992-2007  	49  	76  	16  	4690  	329  	78.16  	8137  	57.63  	17  	20  	4  	575  	36
lost match 	1992-2007 	39 	77 	1 	2156 	142 	28.36 	4446 	48.49 	2 	13 	7 	277 	6
drawn match 	1992-2007 	32 	47 	5 	1984 	135 	47.23 	3762 	52.73 	6 	13 	4 	253 	6
 
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GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Interested in what people think as to a player averaging 50 more in victories than defeats.
 

PY

International Coach
The sod refused to get out against England on many occasions. Irritatingly good and his running between the wickets may not have added to his cricketing abilities but it certainly added to his character. :laugh:

Twofold argument, more runs = Pakistan depended on him or he only got up when Pakistan were winning. Knowing the facts, you have to go with the first option.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Aye, with it being Inzy I'm inclined to agree, it is a debate that interests me greatly in general though
 

PY

International Coach
Haha, yeah there's much more to be said on the topic but I have to be up for work at 6 and I'm knackered. :p
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
A few interesting ones:

Ponting 64.07 v 39.46 v 58.37
Lara 61.02 v 42.19 v 71.30
Tendulkar 67.55 v 37.35 v 68.71
Dravid 73.37 v 26.78 v 71.78
Kallis 65.80 v 35.51 v 75.35
Martin 4.00 v 2.22 v 2.50
 

gunner

U19 Cricketer
The fact is that inzi won his team many more matches than any current batsman,
his 100 to win ratio is second only to bradman with 17 match winning 100's and many more matchwinnig 50's

players like tendulkar,ponting have better stats but sometimes stats dont tell the full story.

those of us who saw inzi play will no doubt know what a player he was,
while the people of maybe 50 years down the ine will look at stats like we do now and maybe say tendulkar was the best ever and lara or bradman.
 

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