Why isn't Imran rated higher?

[_00_deathscar]

Of course everyone has him as an ATG, and a few have him as a top 3/5, and almost everyone has him as a top 10 or at worst a top 15 bowler.

But this is simply absurd (yes, yes I know it's selective statistics but he waned off at the end as a bowler and quite clearly wasn't ready as a proper bowler until around 1977 and beyond at best. This is simply an insane peak):

1980-1988
48 Matches
236 Wickets
17.77 Average
43.6 S/R

Home: 118 wickets in 22 matches @ 14.36
Away: 118 wickets in 26 matches @ 21.17

vs Australia: 35 wickets in 10 matches @ 17.91
vs England: 42 wickets in 8 matches @ 20.11
vs India: 62 wickets in 13 matches @ 19.58
vs West Indies: 51 wickets in 10 matches @ 16.68

in Australia: 16 wickets in 5 matches @ 19.5
in England: 42 wickets in 8 matches @ 20.11
in India: 22 wickets in 7 matches @ 29.81
in West Indies: 23 wickets in 3 matches @ 18.08

How/why is he not rated, almost unanimously, as a top 5 pace bowler of all time?

I never got to watch him play, only old highlights etc on YouTube.

 

[MrPrez]

Of course everyone has him as an ATG, and a few have him as a top 3/5, and almost everyone has him as a top 10 or at worst a top 15 bowler.

But this is simply absurd:
1980-1988
48 Matches
236 Wickets
17.77 Average
43.6 S/R

Home: 118 wickets in 22 matches @ 14.36
Away: 118 wickets in 26 matches @ 21.17

vs Australia: 35 wickets in 10 matches @ 17.91
vs England: 42 wickets in 8 matches @ 20.11
vs India: 62 wickets in 13 matches @ 19.58
vs West Indies: 51 wickets in 10 matches @ 16.68

in Australia: 16 wickets in 5 matches @ 19.5
in England: 42 wickets in 8 matches @ 20.11
in India: 22 wickets in 7 matches @ 29.81
in West Indies: 23 wickets in 3 matches @ 18.08

How/why is he not rated, almost unanimously, as a top 5 pace bowler of all time?

I never got to watch him play, only old highlights etc on YouTube.

What about the rest of his career?

He's somewhat well known in these parts for having a great period with the bat, and a great one with the ball, but them largely failing to coincide.

 

[Prince EWS]

I rate Imran higher than Bradman. Everyone else is just trying to even out my ridiculous opinion IMO.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

Well, I certainly rate Imran Khan higher than Imran Khan

 

[Pratters]

One of Wisdens 5 cricketers of the century. What more do you want?

 

[honestbharani]

I rate Imran higher than Bradman. Everyone else is just trying to even out my ridiculous opinion IMO.

Should have posted from the smalishah sn, PEWS. I didn't you bots can make mistakes.

 

[honestbharani]

he was pretty mediocre in Australia a couple of months ago. What can you do?

 

[Coronis]

One of Wisdens 5 cricketers of the century. What more do you want?

What list were you reading? The five were Bradman, Sobers, Hobbs, Richards, Warne. Imran was ranked joint 10th with Hadlee.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Such a joke that Warne made the 5.

 

[_00_deathscar]

What list were you reading? The five were Bradman, Sobers, Hobbs, Richards, Warne. Imran was ranked joint 10th with Hadlee.

There you go - and sorry, just to clarify, I meant specifically as a bowler. Of course everyone rates him highly as an overall package (and as a bowler for that matter, but just curious as to why he's not considered even better still).

 

[sunilz]

He is rated exactly where he should be . He makes almost everyone's 2nd XI and some people's first 11 because of competition with Sobers . This is elite level of ATG . Any player who is almost certain to make 2nd ATG XI is an elite cricketer.
He doesn't make first XI because as an allrounder he is inferior to Sobers ( Imran never clicked in both of discipline together ) and as a pace bowler inferior to Marshall, Steyn and Mcgrath.

 

[Coronis]

There you go - and sorry, just to clarify, I meant specifically as a bowler. Of course everyone rates him highly as an overall package (and as a bowler for that matter, but just curious as to why he's not considered even better still).

Because we don’t rate players just based on their peaks, we rate them on their whole career, and other bowlers have better overall records than him.

 

[honestbharani]

Also he is rated by quite a few as the greatest Asian cricketer of all time too. Not sure if he is really all that under-rated here.

 

[ankitj]

I thought this thread will be about Imran Tahir.

 

[_00_deathscar]

and as a pace bowler inferior to Marshall, Steyn and Mcgrath.

That's the part I'm contensting, but then I was too young for Marshall too so...

 

[OverratedSanity]

He is rated exactly where he should be . He makes almost everyone's 2nd XI and some people's first 11 because of competition with Sobers . This is elite level of ATG . Any player who is almost certain to make 2nd ATG XI is an elite cricketer.
He doesn't make first XI because as an allrounder he is inferior to Sobers ( Imran never clicked in both of discipline together ) and as a pace bowler inferior to Marshall, Steyn and Mcgrath.

Players should not be judged on whether they make all time XIs, I don't get why people do this. Even if Imran doesn't make the first xi, it's because of team composition issues. Among the guys who usually make the ATG first xi, I don't think anyone apart from Sobers and Bradman has a strong case to be considered a better test match cricketer than Imran.

 

[smash84]

Should have posted from the smalishah sn, PEWS. I didn't you bots can make mistakes.

Even I don't rate Imran above Bradman.

 

[sunilz]

Players should not be judged on whether they make all time XIs, I don't get why people do this. Even if Imran doesn't make the first xi, it's because of team composition issues. Among the guys who usually make the ATG first xi, I don't think anyone apart from Sobers and Bradman has a strong case to be considered a better test match cricketer than Imran.

The fact that people don't pick Imran in their ATXI despite him being much superior batsman to Marshall, McGrath or Steyn means that as an ATG bowler he was one level below all of Marshall, Steyn or McGrath. Similar to Lara/Sachin and Ponting as ATG batsman

 

[rtramdas]

Basically Imran's stats are inflated due to various factors.

Secondly , he is one of the largest beneficiaries of ball tampering, if not the largest. Heck great players respect each other, however hard they play against each other on the field. One of his great rivals Ian Botham never rated Imran that much higher and that tells a lot w.r.t the integrity of this hyped up all rounder.

 

[Red]

I remember when I shared a room with Immy... he cracked one through the covers. Let me tell you that hotel bed of his blew up into something resembling one of those huuuuuuge Pakistan marquees.