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Zaheer Abbas vs Ian Chappell

trundler

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Don't think 3rd man was popular with Aussie captains then. He did love a lot of slips though and he had the bowlers to justify them and fielders to put there too.
That's great insight. Chappelli often whines about boundary riders and Ali Bacher isn't a fan of no 3rd man. I saw some Australia vs ROW footage and the commentators mentioned how quickly he was scoring. Looked pretty dominating from that.
 

sauravjha

Cricket Spectator
Zaheer Abbas
Competition Test ODI

Matches 78 62

Runs scored 5,062 2,572

Batting average 44.79 47.62

100s/50s 12/20 7/13

Ian Chappell

Competition Test ODI

Matches 75 16

Runs scored 5,345 673

Batting average 42.42 48.07

100s/50s 14/26 0/8
 

the big bambino

International Captain
That's great insight. Chappelli often whines about boundary riders and Ali Bacher isn't a fan of no 3rd man. I saw some Australia vs ROW footage and the commentators mentioned how quickly he was scoring. Looked pretty dominating from that.
Actually you raise a fair point about Chappelli's aggression and how he displayed it. He attacked with his field even more than he did at the crease. Boy he had some good fielders though apart from himself and his brother. Ross Edwards in covers and Mallett at gully were incredible.
 

trundler

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7 ODI hundreds is frankly ridiculous. Only Viv from that period got more. Greg Chappell had 3 in over 80 games for comparison. Insane strike rate too.
 

Engle

State Vice-Captain
When Zaheer walked out to bat in England Test debut 1971, he roused eyebrows. Who is this chap they mused ? Thin, curved, covered with sweater, mop of hair sideburns, spectacles covering face. One writer penned that he looked like a scholarly scientist conducting an experiment on batting. 274 runs later, he announced himself

While Chappelli had the temperament, tenacity and toughness, Zaheer had timing, talent and thirst for runs - added to elegance.

Statistically, his place is secure :
Tests - Highest debut innings in England (274), 4 double centuries, 3 successive 150+ innings, high average century score
ODI - 3 successive centuries
FC - Century + Double Century in a match 4 times unbeaten in all, 100+ centuries
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
As batsman I would rather watch Zaheer. Chappell is one of those sporting runts everyone despises but wishes he was in their team instead.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
I think there was a time in NZ when that field was set but I remember reports saying it was done just to get a cover shot for an upcoming book. Don't know if that was true but have a vague recollection it was Greg Chappell. Maybe.
Correct, it was Greg who wanted it for his book cover
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Ian Chappell is one of my favourite cricketers, and I also really like him as a person. This is one of my all time fave cricket pics, Chappell working it to leg and Knott keeping.

 

pardus

School Boy/Girl Captain
This.

Apparently Imran didn't rate Abbas very highly because he seemed to be intimidated by fast bowlers but he rated Chappeli as one of the finest batsmen he had seen because he was fearless in batting.
When Imran was first appointed the captain of Pakistan team, Zaheer called and openly told Imran that he didn't like playing under Imran.
I am not sure how much of Imran's opinion about Zaheer was affected by that.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
When Imran was first appointed the captain of Pakistan team, Zaheer called and openly told Imran that he didn't like playing under Imran.
I am not sure how much of Imran's opinion about Zaheer was affected by that.
Good question, he might have been slightly affected but probably not much.

He was always biased in favor of batsmen who weren't afraid to face up to fast bowlers in just a cap like Viv, Gavaskar, or even Chappelli. According to Miandad Imran never really rated him until he went to the WI and scored a match winning 100 in the caribbean and faced down the pace bowlers. So it was probably his bias in favor of such batsmen and the fact that he always looked for this quality that made him rate Chappelli extremely high. IIRC , and it has been a long time since I read that book, but Imran mentioned in his autobiography that Chappelli was one of those rare batsmen who got hit really badly and was injured by fast bowling but still came back and put his fears behind him. Imran loved that kind of fearless attitude and the fact that he rated Chappelli as probably the greatest captain he saw in his playing days.
 

pardus

School Boy/Girl Captain
Good question, he might have been slightly affected but probably not much.

He was always biased in favor of batsmen who weren't afraid to face up to fast bowlers in just a cap like Viv, Gavaskar, or even Chappelli. According to Miandad Imran never really rated him until he went to the WI and scored a match winning 100 in the caribbean and faced down the pace bowlers. So it was probably his bias in favor of such batsmen and the fact that he always looked for this quality that made him rate Chappelli extremely high. IIRC , and it has been a long time since I read that book, but Imran mentioned in his autobiography that Chappelli was one of those rare batsmen who got hit really badly and was injured by fast bowling but still came back and put his fears behind him. Imran loved that kind of fearless attitude and the fact that he rated Chappelli as probably the greatest captain he saw in his playing days.
One other thing is - Imran just loved the experience of Packer cricket. Imran got to spend time with some of the best teams, and some of the greatest players ever to play the game. More than cricketing skills, Packer series taught Imran about right attitude. Imran himself tells that Packer time taught him how great players from outside the subcontinent thought, what their perspective of playing for the team as well as performing when it mattered was. After that stint, Imran didn't have much respect for players who he felt played for themselves, or their individual accomplishments, and rarely contributed to the team when the going got really tough.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
English supporters of my generation will be swayed by Zaheer's double hundreds in 1971 and 1974.
Also by his stint in the county game, where he had some awesome seasons with Gloucestershire back in the days when the counties could usually call on a couple of decent overseas players.
 

Engle

State Vice-Captain
A point that goes largely unnoticed.

At the time Zaheer scored those 2 assertive double centuries in England, he broke free the shackles of Pakistan being on the “ backfoot “ batting against established nations in their own soil.

Sure there were higher foreign scores (Hanif’s 337) or assertive ones (Asif Iqbal 146), but they were either defensive in nature or smaller scores.

Zaheer broke thru Pakistan’s batting barriers by role-modelling to others that senior nations can be put on the “ backfoot “ in their own backyard with large assertive scores.
 

morgieb

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Chappelli for mine. Zaheer was definitely a good player but his ability against pace was pretty ordinary IIRC which I think leaves a big black mark on him, even if he did average more.
 

the big bambino

International Captain
From memory I can’t recall Zaheer being weak against pace. I may have heard about it but never really saw it. Not that I saw much of his career outside of his innings down under. When I first saw Pakistan they had some great batsmen. Zaheer, Iqbal, Sadiq; even Mushie was all right. I think the best and my favourite was Majid Khan.
 

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