Murali The Greatest Asian Cricketer Ever

[r3alist]

ah i see, if this is a boring statistical argument then why bother to ask, not one for thinking are you?

sometimes its nice to talk about the game in a slightly different way, and if you observe with your eyes whilst engaging your brain at the same time you might see things differently

 

[hang on]

utter tripe. you lost all credibility when you discounted khan and tendulkar summarily from the list.


please don't embarrass yourself further but i doubt you'll take my advice.

ps: out of curiosity, why are stats ok for murali?

oh, and charming use of the emoticon.

 

[r3alist]

utter tripe. you lost all credibility when you discounted khan and tendulkar summarily from the list.


please don't embarrass yourself further but i doubt you'll take my advice.

ps: out of curiosity, why are stats ok for murali?

oh, and charming use of the emoticon.

i would be embarrassed if you were anything resembling a cricketing authority, alas you are not, your opinion is the same as joe bloggs on the street, this is why they call it a forum

the factors are uniqueness, if theres something for asia to be proud of then its contributing something extra to the cricketing world.


and the cricketing world has seen many great batsmen and all rounders before tendulkar and khan.

but its never quite seen a bowler who is as deadly as murali, let alone a spinner, unheard of.

and its never quite seen a pace bowler who was as skillful and brilliant as wasim, a bowler who could do EVERYTHING you would hope a fast bowler could do plus some more.


admittedly theres more chance of seeing a player surpass tendulkar than there is khan - tendulkar has more players comparable to him even in the current era (ponting, kallis, lara*, dravid) than khan has in the history of the game (miller, sobers, who else?) - but for the reasons i mentioned murali and wasim deserve SPECIAL distinction, they were not just consistent and top performers, thats such a bland way to look at it, they were genuinely special because of the unique skills, abilities and records they have - and will remain so for a long time, imo.

 

[marc71178]

If Akram was so special how come his results didn't actually come out a lot better than they actually did then?

 

[weldone]

If Akram was so special how come his results didn't actually come out a lot better than they actually did then?

His bank records history has to be checked to know that

Disclaimer: I'm not serious in this post, for those who don't understand

 

[hang on]

forum or not, your opinion and reasoning is specious. or perhaps you are being purposely precious about it?

why do you suppose that my understanding of tendulkar or khan's ability is based solely on stats, as opposed to the joy and unalloyed awe of watching them play? i have watched cricket from the early 70s onwards, as a matter of fact.

akram was superb but no more special to watch than imran, the first great practicioner of reverse swing. the indians did not know what hit them when they were demolished by his reverse swing in 83. or his cricket against the windies in those 3 epic series in the 80s...unforgettable. unbeknownst to you, the cricket world has seen many bowlers as special as akram: marshall, ambrose, lillee, barnes, hadlee, imran....the list is huge.

just anointing a player as special or not bland because the mood strikes you to do so is meaningless. yes, it is your opinion and you are welcome to it, but expect to be hauled up for it if you cannot back it up. just saying that u watched someone and 'he wuz magic' just doesn't cut it, i'm afraid.

 

[r3alist]

akram was superb but no more special to watch than imran, the first great practicioner of reverse swing. the indians did not know what hit them when they were demolished by his reverse swing in 83. or his cricket against the windies in those 3 epic series in the 80s...unforgettable. unbeknownst to you, the cricket world has seen many bowlers as special as akram: marshall, ambrose, lillee, barnes, hadlee, imran....the list is huge.

Look at that list of players you just posted, all non-Asian except imran, which kind of supports the point I am trying to make, that wasim is the most special quick to come out of Asia.

Imrans brilliance is well know, but he himself acknowledged wasim was the more talented, and although his stats are better that's not the whole picture.

I think Marshall runs him closest in terms of talent and ability (and even better) however that's another thread.

 

[hang on]

i was responding to your comment about world cricket not being blessed by as unique a bowler as akram.

and the cricketing world has seen many great batsmen and all rounders before tendulkar and khan.

but its never quite seen a bowler who is as deadly as murali, let alone a spinner, unheard of.

and its never quite seen a pace bowler who was as skillful and brilliant as wasim, a bowler who could do EVERYTHING you would hope a fast bowler could do plus some more.

as i mentioned early on, akram was brilliant. and arguably in the 3 greatest asian bowlers. hardly faint praise given the people he is in among....khan, murali, waqar.

 

[r3alist]

My reasoning, perhaps a bold claim, is that wasim is in a league of his own.

For example waqar was a great bowler but never had the variety and craft of wasim, I mean wasim was close to 40 when he retired (suffering from diabetes too) and almost solely relied on his craft to take wickets - waqar needed pace, this is the type of argument I am making about wasims uniqueness and greatness, I think it's unprecedented, I think so atleast, not certain.

 

[r3alist]

And what I meant to say was he was close to 40.... and still effective!!