Athlai
Not Terrible
The greatest bowler ever - Barnes.
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The CW50 - No.7
- Thread starter The Sean
- Start date
Hurricane
Hall of Fame Member
My Imran Khan story comes from my mother. She was at a Pakistan vs Northern Districts game at Seddon Park. And she was reading the paper and she felt a "presence" walking past her. And she looked up and saw Imran Khan walking through the crowd right in front of her.
Ikki
Hall of Fame Member
Had Imran at 8 IIRC so pretty close. However, since many of my top 10 weren't picked in this survey I think he should be higher. He is by far the most important and supremely talented cricketer from the subcontinent.
In fact, now I can't give a great reason why I had him behind Richards, Lillee or Hobbs.
In fact, now I can't give a great reason why I had him behind Richards, Lillee or Hobbs.
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Burgey
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Fair to say a few ladies have felt Imran's presence over the years tbh.
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
Considering many people have stated "**** how did I forget him" about a number of players and others took it less than seriously by throwing in the likes of Jardine, Flintoff and Hamilton, I reckon the results are not too bad in terms of the Top 25. You're always going to get generational and statsmongering bias to a certain extent.
subshakerz
International Coach
Or Tendulkar over Imran. But no.7 isn't that bad of a position to complain, though I feel Imran deserves to be in the top five.
BhupinderSingh
Banned
Everyone have their own opinions and I respect them but If I was alone making this list,he would've been # 2.Only some of the longtime posters or who have thoroughly gone through my posts understand that I can argue as much(if not more) in favour Imran as the greatest allrounder ever as anyone on this forum can argue for Sobers or any other.Same stands true for Imran as the greatest bowler ever.For example,Sobers would not be amongst my top 10 ever because of him making truckloads of runs against the weakest attacks of his time and being an absolutely useless bowler for about half of his career.Yes,much worst than Samis and Agarkars and could've easily been worst bowler ever had he not improved.He was an average bowler at his best and thats why I can't have him amongst my top allrounders and cricketers.And he wasn't a great captain by any strech of imagination.Amongst others,Miller has a very poor wkts/match ratio and Botham doesn't have consistency or good enough record for it.Anyway my top 15:
1.Don Bradman
2.Imran Khan
3.Viv Richards
4.W.G.Grace
5.Jack Hobbs
6.Richard Hadlee
7.Muttiah Muralitharan
8.Brian Lara
9.Garry Sobers
10.Schin Tendulkar
11.Shane Warne
12.Brian Lara
13.Keith Miller
14.Sunil Gavaskar
15.Andy Flower
1.Don Bradman
2.Imran Khan
3.Viv Richards
4.W.G.Grace
5.Jack Hobbs
6.Richard Hadlee
7.Muttiah Muralitharan
8.Brian Lara
9.Garry Sobers
10.Schin Tendulkar
11.Shane Warne
12.Brian Lara
13.Keith Miller
14.Sunil Gavaskar
15.Andy Flower
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BhupinderSingh
Banned
To add to that,Imran averaged 16 as a bowler at his peak and has better peak than any modern day bowler.For more than half of his career,he averaged 18.Two in one day - who said I don't spoil you lot? We continue our countdown with the one and only Lion of Lahore...
7.
Imran Khan | Cricket Players and Officials | Cricinfo.com
Nominated by 92% of voters - highest ranking no.3
Imran Khan Niazi is a tall, dark and handsome Pakistani aristocrat of immense personal wealth, status and charm who mixes in the highest circles, is an active charity worker, a political activist, has a degree in Political Science from Oxford University and is currently the Chancellor of the University of Bradford. In short, he is the kind of man who makes most others feel utterly inferior in every way even without acknowledging the rather significant fact that he somehow found the time to be the greatest cricketer his country has ever produced, and both one of the finest fast bowlers and one of the finest all rounders in the history of the game. Imran was still a teenager when he made his Test debut for Pakistan in 1971 while doubling as a moderate medium pacer for Worcestershire in the County Championship. While he was considered the outstanding Oxford cricketer of his generation, Imran's early years in international cricket produced few achievements of note, and it was not until a matchwinning 12-wicket haul against Australia in 1976 that he truly announced himself, after which Imran was a key all round performer for two years of World Series cricket, further establishing his reputation among cricket's elite players.
By the turn of the 1980s, Imran had moved into cricket's stratosphere and he stayed there. A change of action had increased his speed tremendously and as a bowler alone he achieved greatness, comfortably sitting alongside Marshall and Hadlee as one of the top three of his generation, and ergo among the greatest of all time. Imran averaged sub-20 with the ball for a barely-believable eight consecutive series in the 1980s - the high watermark coming in a six-Test series against India which yielded 40 wickets at less than 14 on slow, hard dustbowls. During that series he also averaged 61 with the bat and followed Ian Botham as only the second man to score a century and take ten wickets in a single Test. Imran's ability with the bat made him a genuine all rounder - indeed, he played for some time as a specialist batsman for Pakistan when he was unable to bowl due to injury. The numbers have been quoted on many occasions but still bear repeating - his last 10 years of international cricket spanned 51 Tests and in these matches Imran averaged 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball. On top of all that, Imran was an outstanding captain who marshalled Pakistan's talented but previously disorganised troops into the one outfit in world cricket who could compete with the all conquering West Indians on an even keel. Imran's Test immortality was already well and truly assured by the end of his career, but he also went out on the highest possible note in his limited overs career by captaining Pakistan to World Cup glory in Australia in 1992, taking the final wicket with his last delivery in international cricket. As the greatest figure in his country's sporting history, it seemed only appropriate that he should leave the game by giving them their greatest ever moment.
Your all time number 6 will follow in the next day or so...
And an unmatchable record as an allrounder for last 10 years or 50 matches.
Some people claim him to be not as good a batsman than Botham or Miller but infact he was a better batsman than both of them because they were both middle order batsman and Imran was a lower order batsman which means he got less chance to bat than them and yet has as good a reord as them or better.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
A question for The Sean: if I had submitted a list and named a player no-one else voted for at all at #1, would he have made the top 25?
zaremba
Cricketer Of The Year
I've not heard many people say that Botham was a better batsman than Imran. Botham was more explosive and his 14 centuries are impressive; but I'd have thought most people would say Imran was better overall.
As for where he batted in the order, he generally batted at 6 or 7 - same as Botham.
All of that said, I don't disagree with you that Imran was outstanding, and the finest all-rounder of (at least) the last 40 years.
Goughy
Hall of Fame Member
Really? We must talk to very different people.
The Sean
Cricketer Of The Year
What gwo said. He would have tied for 50th with Jardine.
zaremba
Cricketer Of The Year
Most of the people I talk to don't like cricket much tbf.
Do you rate Botham above Imran as a batsman, Goughy?
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Fair enough. If I did mine properly I probably would've included a few players from the 1800s that some members here probably wouldn't have even heard of. I wouldn't have had the balls to put any of them at #1 though so they'd wouldn't have made the 50 unless Goughy included a few (I know he included Mynn but I haven't seen his full list).
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