• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

PAKISTANI FANS ONLY: who do you think better?

Better Test match bowler for Pakistan


  • Total voters
    46

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
This is a question that, unfortunately, can't have a particularly representative view on CW due to the relative death of Pakistani support on here. But still, it's worth a try.

In Test cricket only, who do you think the better bowler? Imran Khan or Wasim Akram? Have included other options to try and help things along. I know who those who support other teams generally think better, but have included the chance to vote here once more.

Worth mentioning as well that PLEASE DO NOT VOTE IF YOU ARE ONLY VOTING BECAUSE YOU FOLLOWED AS IT HAPPENED THE CAREER OF ONE AND NOT OF THE OTHER.
 
Last edited:

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
akram - classic case of stats not revealing the full story.
I knew there was one Pakistani who thinks that Akram > Imran. :) Just didn't want to speak for you.

I dont care about the end result now, atleast Akram is ahead of Imran right now (among the Pakistanis).
 

Beleg

International Regular
I knew there was one Pakistani who thinks that Akram > Imran. :) Just didn't want to speak for you.

I dont care about the end result now, atleast Akram is ahead of Imran right now (among the Pakistanis).

Heh, Cheers. And I knew one of the non-pakistani votes was going to be yours without looking as well. :p
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
akram - classic case of stats not revealing the full story.
I'm right in thinking, Yawer, that you watched Wasim and hardly or maybe even never watched Imran, am I?

And certainly I'm right in thinking you only ever like to judge players whose careers you followed as they went.
 

funnygirl

State Regular
Imran ,Waqar ,Akhtar ,Aquib javed ,Fazal Mahmood ,Abdur razzaq,Azhar mehmood ,ASif ,Umar Gul >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Wasim

Good night and sweet dreams ,yes a non pakistani.:sleep:
 

Beleg

International Regular
I have watched, hmm, a few days worth of Imran? A couple of test matches from one of the Indian series my uncle taped.

And you'll be correct on the second account.

It's not really a fair contest seeing as I saw so little of Imran, but nothing I saw of Imran indicated to me that he was exceptional - like Wasim - instead of being very good.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Oh, no, I only ever saw Imran bowl as it was happening once, and even then I was just 6 years old. And it was a ODI too.

But yes, he clearly was still as good a bowler as he had ever been in the 1986/87 season. Between 1976/77 and 1987/88, he was phenomenal. One of the greatest bowlers the game has ever seen.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Pretty simply, by looking at what he did.

Which I'm sure would be backed by any blow-by-blow testimony of Imran's career, TBH.
 

Fusion

Global Moderator
Imran for me. I can actually use the "statistics don't tell the whole story" for Imran as well. Imran would almost certainly have ended up in the 400 wicket club had he not been injured for 2 years of his prime. Add to that the series he missed either voluntarily (like the SL Test series in 1982) or involuntarily due to Packer, and he certainly could've finished with even better numbers. In his prime, Imran was as fearsome as they came. I know we're only comparing them as bowlers, but the fact that Imran had the added burden of Captaincy most of his career and still performed at high levels against the best of oppositions gives him the edge IMO. Imran during 1982- 1991: 51 matches, 204 wickets @ 19.90 (that not bringing into consideration the 51.60 batting average). That is truly remarkable. But forget stats. I've seen them both play (I saw more of Wasim than Imran live, but have seen almost all of Imran's career on tape or read about it) and I would pick Imran over Wasim to play for my team. That is not to say that Imran is far greater than Wasim as a bowler, just that he would be my preference.
 

Engle

State Vice-Captain
Imran was the sub-continents first genuine fast bowler. He had far greater hurdles to overcome. Wasim may have had the greater talent, but Imran relished a challenge and lifted his game to take on all-comers.

Comparing him to the greats of his time in contested matches, he loses nothing in comparison...even over the likes of Marshall and Hadlee.

So, Imran for me
 

funnygirl

State Regular
It is not like that wasim was blessed with superior fitness and smooth career.Before Akhtar came ,.it was Wasim who was the most injury prone bowler for pakistan plus diabetes .To me that was the biggest difference between Wasim and Imran ,superior fitness Imran had (Definitely full credit to Imran for that ,it is a must for an athlete).
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
I know we're only comparing them as bowlers, but the fact that Imran had the added burden of Captaincy most of his career and still performed at high levels against the best of oppositions gives him the edge IMO.
I dont believe Captaincy was a burden for Imran, If anything it helped him motivate a lot more. Not to forget that Wasim led his country in tests as well and did fairly well (as a bowler). Wasim also had to deal with his own illness and 350+ ODIs.
 

Top