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Abdul Razzaq vs. Chris Cairns - better ODI player?

Abdul Razzaq vs. Chris Cairns - better ODI player?


  • Total voters
    14

ankitj

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Very similar records. Yet I feel Cairns has the superior reputation. Why is that? Who you think is better player?

PlayerMatRunsHSBat Av100WktsBBIBowl Av5wAve Diff
Abdul Razzaq265508011229.7032696/3531.833-2.12
CL Cairns215495011529.4642015/4232.801-3.34
 
Last edited:

CricAddict

International Coach
Both have done well against India. But I have more bad memories of Razzaq than Cairns. So voting for Razzaq.

One reason Cairns could be rated higher is due to him batting higher in general than Razzaq which shows in how close their total runs are though Razzaq has played 50 more matches.
 

Bahseph

International Debutant
I missed a large chunk of both of these players careers so this is a genuine question: What kind of allrounders were they? I saw Razzaq towards the tailend in his bat at 7/8 and take the new ball in LO cricket phase. Never did see Cairns. I don't like pure stats analysis so some insight by people who watched them would be great 🤞
 

shortpitched713

Cricketer Of The Year
Very similar records. Yet I feel Cairns has the superior reputation. Why is that? Who you think is better player?

PlayerMatRunsHSBat Av100WktsBBIBowl Av5wAve Diff
Abdul Razzaq265508011229.7032696/3531.833-2.12
CL Cairns215495011529.4642015/4232.801-3.34
Strike rates / ERs are missing, which is key to ODI quality determination.

Abdul Razzaq sits at 81.25 and 4.69
Chris Cairns sits at 84.26 and 4.84

Where is the option for Cairns as a better bat, Razzaq the better bowler?
 

shortpitched713

Cricketer Of The Year
I missed a large chunk of both of these players careers so this is a genuine question: What kind of allrounders were they? I saw Razzaq towards the tailend in his bat at 7/8 and take the new ball in LO cricket phase. Never did see Cairns. I don't like pure stats analysis so some insight by people who watched them would be great 🤞
When I was watching the most cricket, in the mid 2000s, and even loved JAMODIs, Razzaq was part of a lower order of Pakistan allrounder/WK bats that was the true strength of the Pakistan ODI team. None of Afridi, Razzaq or Akmal were particularly special on their own, but one of them would almost always fire (Afridi the least likely of the 3 actually). Razzaq I would say was the most "all-rounded" of that grouping, as Akmal was absolute trash with the gloves, but Afridi was specialist quality as a spin bowler.

Razzaq's bowling was underrated, as he was difficult to blast out of the ground, and used some clever lines/lengths, and could be a decent yorker bowler at the death (didn't get too many opportunities though, as Pakistan usually had at least a couple of better specialist seamers). His batting was very much slog in the death overs, but not do much of anything before that. He was as clean a striker of a ball as there comes though.
 

CricAddict

International Coach
When I was watching the most cricket, in the mid 2000s, and even loved JAMODIs, Razzaq was part of a lower order of Pakistan allrounder/WK bats that was the true strength of the Pakistan ODI team. None of Afridi, Razzaq or Akmal were particularly special on their own, but one of them would almost always fire (Afridi the least likely of the 3 actually). Razzaq I would say was the most "all-rounded" of that grouping, as Akmal was absolute trash with the gloves, but Afridi was specialist quality as a spin bowler.

Razzaq's bowling was underrated, as he was difficult to blast out of the ground, and used some clever lines/lengths, and could be a decent yorker bowler at the death (didn't get too many opportunities though, as Pakistan usually had at least a couple of better specialist seamers). His batting was very much slog in the death overs, but not do much of anything before that. He was as clean a striker of a ball as there comes though.
You missed Mahmood in there. Afridi, Razzaq, Mahmood and Akram together gave great balance to the team.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Razzaq was such a weird cricketer. He was known for his explosive death hitting but he had one of the lowest Test batting strike rates in his era. Just the absolute epitome of block/bash.

His bowling never looked particularly good but he was often surprisingly effective in both formats.
 

CricAddict

International Coach
Razzaq was such a weird cricketer. He was known for his explosive death hitting but he had one of the lowest Test batting strike rates in his era. Just the absolute epitome of block/bash.

His bowling never looked particularly good but he was often surprisingly effective in both formats.
Another one of those guys who always did well against India but not so much against other teams. And iirc, he did well with both bat and ball in a lot of matches against India.
 

nightprowler10

Global Moderator
Another one of those guys who always did well against India but not so much against other teams. And iirc, he did well with both bat and ball in a lot of matches against India.
Yup. Off the top of my head he had key partnerships in 05/06 Test matches and took 7 wickets in the Karachi 06 thrashing. He got Sachin quite a few times in both formats in that era.

Could be a bit of an idiot though. I recall he fainted in 04 in Australia because he was on an all saag diet because his peer* told him so.


*peer as in the religious type...yeah.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Didn't he smash McGrath often?
He did hit him around at the death a couple of times but his ODI batting record against Australia is actually pretty bad. I think that's partly because they tried him at 3 a bit against Oz, and also partly because even when he was at 7 he'd often come in earlier than he liked because of the top order would collapse against McGrath/Lee.
 

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