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How many test teams...

cnerd123

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Alright so STATSGURU TIME

Tamim Iqbal's whole career: (Jan 4th 2008 -> 2nd test vs Zim)

70 innings, 2569 runs, 5 100s, 16 50s, average of 36.70, HS of 151

Lets compare some other openers:

AUS
Warner - 60 innings, 2706 runs, 9 100s, 13 50s, average of 47.47, HS of 180
Rogers - 31 innings, 1118 runs, 4 100s, 5 50s, average of 36.06, HS of 119

ENG
Ali Cook - 149(!) innings, 6487 runs, 18 100s, 30 50s, average of 46.33, HS of 294

IND
M. Vijay - 47 innings, 1706 runs, 4 100s, 6 50s, average of 36.29, HS of 167

WI
Chris Gayle - 57 innings, 2556 runs, 8 100s, 9 50s, average of 55.14, HS of 333
Brathwaite - 27 innings, 956 runs, 2 100s, 6 50s, average of 38.25, HS of 212

PAK
Hafeez - 54 innings, 1742 runs, 4 100s, 7 50s, average of 36.29, HS of 196

RSA
Peterson - 60 innings, 2007 runs, 5 100s, 8 50s, average of 35.83, HS of 182


Robson, Dhawan, Latham, Shehzad and Elgar have all played less than 20 innings, so probably aren't fit for this sort of analysis.

All other opening options are quite clearly not as good as Tamim (SL, Zim, NZ), or are not going to be selected in the near future and so aren't worth analysing.

Now this data isn't meant to be used to answer OP's question, but just to provide a starting point. The question is about which Test Team would be willing to take Tamim into their starting XI right now, which means they would be willing to select him for their next Test match if the option was provided to them. Naturally, in order to answer this, you need to factor in more than just their career records. Their recent form, their role in the side (Would Australia wan't two hyper-aggressive openers? How valuable is Hafeez's bowling to Pakistan?), and as mentioned above their age and potential all need to be considered.

Balancing out all these factors can be quite subjective...having said that, I really think only Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, South Africa and possibly England (to replace Robson) would take him.

5/9 sides, that's still pretty impressive.
 

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