Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

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21

It was hard choice b/w Zaheer and Yousuf. To honest most probably the fact that I followed yousuf all of his career gave him the edge in MY XI

For keeper, I'll rate Rashid as the best I have seen playing for Pakistan. To me selecting a wicketkeeper batsman is important than selecting a batsman wicketkeeper. Beside that I think if 7 batsmen/allrounders above Rashid cant bat enough, slightly better ability of Moin will not do much.

and finally, I'll prefer Saqlain over Qadir because of his effectiveness on almost any type of wicket

but again this is my XI :)

22

does that mean that these will not be available in bowlers list? if thats the case then its stupid… Wasim (and to some extent imran) in one category or other would make 80%s of the all time XI floating around

23

Believe me Zaheer is head and shoulders above Yousef, I have seen both play throughout their careers. Zaheer on the crease was sheer elegance and brilliant strokeplay, all timing and wrist work. It was magic, poetry.

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re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

^ Should i believe you or my eyes ? :faizy:

I have seen yousuf doing poetry all his career … but I totally understand what you are saying as to my Mom (and to some extent my father), Zaheer was THE batsman.

She still have one of those Zaheer’s trademark head band that she somehow got hold off after a game at National Stadium.

25

believe me instead of your eyes. :smiley:

26

kya syasi statement mara hay. Lagta hay politics may aanay ka arada hay.

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Stumped for choice?
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/458153.html#cmnt

Wasim Bari](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43549.html)
Still considered by many to be the finest wicketkeeper Pakistan has had. Mostly he was very safe but also always able to pull off the spectacular. He was as comfortable against Imran Khan’s prodigious swing - the most difficult bowler he kept to, he says - as he was to Abdul Qadir’s spin. So good was he, in fact, that at his peak in 1978, he went through an entire three-Test series against England without conceding a single bye. Amid the great modern keepers - Rodney Marsh, Jeffrey Dujon, Alan Knott, Bob Taylor - Bari’s name does not seem out of place. He was a sturdier bat than his average indicates.

Imtiaz Ahmed](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40565.html)
Imtiaz was an integral half of Pakistan’s earliest, most potent combination: c Imtiaz b Fazal. He wasn’t a specialist wicketkeeper but made do, getting by on as few errors as possible. He preferred safety to showmanship and only took up the gloves again (he had given up after being hit in the eye in 1951) because Hanif was struggling. As a package, though, he was ahead of his time, opening the batting and hooking and pulling the best fast bowlers. Omar Kureishi thought him one of the best batsmen Pakistan produced, “a simple man who believed a long hop was a long hop, even if the bowler was Fred Trueman”. He was the first wicketkeeper to hit a Test double, and on the 1954 tour of England very nearly became the only tourist to complete the unique double of 1000 runs and 100 victims.

Rashid Latif](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42423.html)
In many eyes Latif is the most naturally gifted wicketkeeper Pakistan have had, ahead even of Bari. He didn’t play enough Tests to warrant a decisive verdict but certainly very few have made wicketkeeping appear as effortless and clean a discipline as Latif did. No Pakistani has been as stretched and agile in his diving. Against spin, in particular, he was swift on the take. And though Moin Khan, great rival and good friend, was probably the better batsman, Latif actually averages fractionally higher. As a debut fifty at The Oval showed, he was as stylish with the bat as with the gloves.

Moin Khan](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/41306.html)
Not as clean as others, and prone to errors, but if this were a vote for spirit, bravery and pure guts-out fight, Moin would win hands down. He worked harder than most on his keeping, turning himself from an ordinary one into one fit for international cricket, and on his days he could be very sharp. The heart was most evident in his batting, however, which gave Pakistan real grit and explosiveness down the order. He could win a game with the bat, save it, or counterattack, as shown in his 70 to win a Test when Pakistan were 26 for 6 in Kolkata, or his Test-best 137 in Hamilton.

Osman should have atleast mentioned Saleem Yousuf’s name. He was a gutsy batsman and decent gloveman in the late 80s under Imran Khan

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re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

wasim bari for me, lousy batsmen but head and shoulders above everyone else in keeping gloves.

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Strike fear with three

Fast bowling has been Pakistan’s trump card, their national obsession, and a resource they have never been short of. Which men make it to the final XI?

Wasim Akram](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43547.html)
The greatest left-arm bowler of all time and among the very greatest of any kind, ever. Akram had everything you could ask for in a fast bowler: pace, swing and cut, brains, brawn. Imran Khan said he was the most naturally gifted bowler he had seen and who are we to argue? Akram was a good enough batsman as well to be considered an allrounder. He remains Pakistan’s leading Test wicket-taker, the only one with over 400 victims.

Imran Khan](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40560.html)
Imran transformed himself from a middling medium-pacer to one of the foremost, most complete fast bowlers the world has seen. At his peak, in the late 70s and early 80s, he was also one of the quickest. He reverse-swung the old ball viciously, bent the new one like a banana, and in his youth, happily and successfully engaged in the bouncer wars of the era. He also had the most athletic, awe-inspiring action to boot. His 12-wicket haul in Sydney in 1976 arguably changed the face of Pakistan fast bowling and cricket forever.

Waqar Younis](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43543.html)
Few fast bowlers around the world have been capable of as much instant destruction as Waqar. When he burst onto the scene in the early 90s, he was the quickest bowler around and reverse-swung the ball with greater effect than even Imran and Wasim. Proof of his destructive qualities lies in the remarkable statistic that no bowler with over 200 Test wickets has a better strike rate than him; once he got going, at his peak, he was difficult to stop. The majority of his wickets were bowled or leg-before. Even after losing his pace, he transformed himself into a very good new-ball bowler.

Fazal Mahmood](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40092.html) The spiritual father of all Pakistan’s pace bowling, Fazal was responsible for all of the country’s earliest, greatest triumphs. He wasn’t quick, but he had a truckload of stamina, unrelenting accuracy and a vicious legcutter. On matting wickets, or rain-affected surfaces, he could be unplayable. In key triumphs against India, England, West Indies and Australia, he took 12 or more wickets to help put Pakistan on the map. He was also impossibly handsome.

Sarfraz Nawaz](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42630.html)
Sarfraz is the father of modern-day reverse swing and was one of the smartest bowlers Pakistan has produced. He didn’t have the pace of an Imran or a Waqar, but his nous with the new ball was enough to see him through. He was an essential part of Pakistan’s advance in the 70s, forming a very formidable new-ball pair with Imran, and always had the attitude of an out-and-out quick: he was easily drawn into bouncer wars. He remains a vastly underrated link in the chain that joins Fazal to the modern-day greats.

Shoaib Akhtar](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42655.html)
Though his career has been ravaged by injuries and scandal, on good days Shoaib could be as dangerous as any modern-day fast bowler. He was always frighteningly quick, but as he got older, he also became much smarter with the ball. He swung the new ball out and brought the old one back in and developed, late in the day, an excellent loopy slower ball.

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/459047.html

voted for Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Fazal Mahmood. Imran Khan is already there in my team as captain and all-rounder.

On second thoughts we do not need a 6th batsman (Yousuf) with Imran batting at no. 6. Wasim was good enough with the bat as well. But gotta have Fazal Mahmood in the team

1- Hanif Mohammad
2- Saeed Anwar
3- Zaheer Abbas
4- Javed Miandad
5- Inzamam-ul-Haq
6- Imran Khan (c)
7- Wasim Akram
8- Wasim Bari
9- Abdul Qadir (was a better test bowler than Saqlain. Saqlain was better in ODIs)
10- Fazal Mahmood
11- Waqar Younis

This team has 5 quality batsmen, a great all-rounder, 4 great fast bowlers (incl. Imran) and Abdul Qadir

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And finally..

Three leggies, an offie and a leftie

Abdul Qadir](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/38973.html)
The true father of modern legspin, Qadir had more tricks than - to paraphrase Almanack editor Scyld Berry - a truckload of monkeys. There were two kinds of googlies (from the wrist and fingers), a killer flipper, leggies of various breaks and speeds, and an over regularly threw up six different deliveries, all from a wonderfully wheelin’, dealin’ action. Qadir was a slave to his moods but when the mood took him - usually at the coaxing of Imran Khan - he was unplayable. Graham Gooch reckoned him to be more difficult to negotiate than Shane Warne.

Saqlain Mushtaq](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42628.html)
A wonderfully innovative offspinner, who gave to the world the offie’s wrong’un, the doosra. His basics were solid too, and his offbreak was a big-spinning and accurate staple, delivered from a fast, short-stepping action that has spawned numerous imitators in Pakistan. At his peak, from the mid-90s to the end of the decade, he was arguably the best of his kind in the world, even with Muttiah Muralitharan around; even India, those masters of spin, were regularly troubled by him. Over-use of the weapon that made him eventually eroded his effectiveness.

Mushtaq Ahmed](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/41316.html)
Though he began as a Qadir clone - the action was essentially a bouncier version - Mushy actually hastened the end of his career in the late 80s and early 90s, so impressive was his arrival. He had the variations, even if he relied too heavily on the googly, but on bouncy surfaces he was lethal and a perfect complement to Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. His best years came in the early and mid-90s, and at his absolute peak he didn’t come off poorly in comparisons with Warne

Iqbal Qasim](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40572.html)Comfortably Pakistan’s best left-arm spinner, Qasim wasn’t one to lure batsmen into elaborate traps of flight and spin. His was a more pragmatic charm, relentlessly pegging away at one target, often pushing it through, drying up runs and playing on patience. The famous Bangalore win in 1987 was a case in point, where he smartly took Bishan Bedi’s advice to not spin the ball too much and rely instead on the track to misbehave. But 50 Tests in a time when Qadir ruled the roost and Tauseef Ahmed was around speak highly of just how good he was.

Danish Kaneria](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40043.html)
No spinner has taken more Test wickets for Pakistan than Kaneria. He was the man who ended Mushy’s Test career in the early years of this decade, and though not as explosive as his two predecessors, Kaneria has been a worthy successor in troubled times. Flight is not the weapon as much as bounce and accuracy, and the googly - again overused - is a well-disguised one. He has suffered from not having reliable pace-bowling support at the other end and can go for long spells where he doesn’t look like getting a wicket. Unlucky also to have Kamran Akmal as a wicketkeeper, but on his day he can and has transformed Tests.

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/459829.html

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re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

One day: Saqlain
Test: Abdul Qadir

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re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

The XI

Saeed Anwar
Hanif Mohammad
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Imran Khan
Rashid Latif
Wasim Akram
Fazal Mahmood
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younis

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/magazine/alltime.html?site_area=2199

GoldenAsif’s team replaced the keeper!

33

re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

Almost same GA & KB

Test XI
Saeed Anwar
Hanif Mohammad
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Imran Khan
Wasim Bari
Wasim Akram
Fazal Mahmood
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younis

ODI
Saeed Anwar
Aamir Sohail
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Imran Khan (c)
Kamran Akmal (His catching / stumping performance very bad during Aus tour but i'm considering that under capitancy of Imran he can't think for match fixing ;) )
Wasim Akram
Fazal Mahmood
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younis

34

re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

lol no yousuf n Akhtar n X11

what a biase jury :aj:

35

Yousaf is on Chilla and Shooby is unfit :cb:

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All-Time XI announced by cricinfo.

Not a single current Pakistani player selected in the final XI. Sad state of affairs and lamha-a-fikriya.

Three fast bowlers have been picked unanimously in Cricinfo's all-time Pakistan Test XI. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan each received 10 votes from a jury that included Ramiz Raja and Intikhab Alam among others. The only other unanimous selection was Javed Miandad, in the middle order.

No current Pakistani player makes it to the side - unlike in five of the six all-time XIs named by Cricinfo so far. The most recent retiree was Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is at No. 5 in the order, with nine votes. Mohammad Yousuf, who received four votes, and Shoaib Akhtar (one) were among those who didn't make the cut.

Historically fast bowling has been Pakistan's strength, and it is a sign of how highly the fearsome and influential spearheads of the side's 1990s attack were rated that both were picked unanimously. While the two Ws made the XI purely as bowlers, Imran also serves as the side's allrounder. There was no consensus over the third quick bowler, though: Fazal Mahmood, who received three votes, edged out Sarfraz Nawaz and Shoaib Akhtar.

Wasim Bari and Rashid Latif were tied with four votes each for the wicketkeeper's place. Latif was picked for his superior batting.
The jury opted for an opening combination that would provide a mix of strokeplay and stoic defence: Saeed Anwar (six votes), who attacked no matter what the format or situation, and Hanif Mohammad (nine), who gave up his naturally aggressive style and dug in for several marathon innings to complement the stroke-making of his team-mates.

At one-down is Zaheer Abbas (six), the only Asian batsman to make over 100 first-class hundreds.

Only two members of the jury did not pick Abdul Qadir, who revolutionised legspin in the 80s and paved the way for the likes of Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, as the team's lone slow bowler.

Qadir also made it to the readers' XI, getting more than half the votes polled in the spin category, comfortably ahead of Saqlain Mushtaq. Latif narrowly missed getting the gloves in the readers' XI, losing out to Bari. The readers preferred Shoaib as the third fast bowler over Fazal. All their other choices matched those of the jury.

The jury included Salahuddin Mulla, who played Test cricket for Pakistan in the 1960s, cricket writers Qamar Ahmed (who also played first-class cricket and coached Netherlands) and Kamran Abbasi, and former administrators Shaharyar Khan, Arif Abbasi and Chishty Mujahid.

The XI: *Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis *

The readers' XI: *Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Wasim Bari, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis. *

The nominees

Openers: Aamer Sohail, Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Majid Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Sadiq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan.

Middle order: Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik, Mushtaq Mohammad, Younis Khan, Asif Iqbal, Saeed Ahmed.

Allrounder: AH Kardar, Imran Khan, Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad, Wasim Akram.

Wicketkeepers: Wasim Bari, Imtiaz Ahmed, Rashid Latif, Moin Khan.
Fast bowlers: Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar.

Spinners: Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Iqbal Qasim, Danish Kaneria.

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The jury’s XI matched my XI except for Rashid Latif who was picked for his superior batting - fair enough

And good to see Fazal Mahmood being rightly acknowledged by the jury although his final vote count (3) is a bit disappointing.

Kakaballi got it dead right in the end. Well Done Kaka :slight_smile:

A batsman’s nightmare
With a bowling line-up in which Imran Khan is an afterthought, Pakistan’s all-time team looks well-nigh invincible

And so finally, 10 men, six categories and 198 Test players come together to produce one all-time Pakistan XI.
It wasn’t, on final balance, as difficult a task as it may have initially appeared.As many as four players were unanimous picks: Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis would in all likelihood be among the top contenders on any such global list. Two more batting greats, Hanif Mohammad and Inzamam-ul-Haq, were near-unanimous selections, with nine votes each. And with Abdul Qadir picking up eight votes as the sole spinner, it means as many as seven of an all-time Pakistan XI pick themselves.
Pleasingly perhaps, the XI takes in players from all eras, recognition of the prolific ability of the land to keep producing talent no matter the circumstances of the time and era: Hanif Mohammad and Fazal Mahmood from the 50s and 60s, Zaheer Abbas, Miandad, Imran and Qadir from the 70s through to the early 90s, and the rest from the mid-80s onwards. Tellingly, given how Pakistan have fared this last decade, the latest Test debutant is Rashid Latif (1992). The choice of Latif, in fact, wasn’t a straightforward one; his greater batting ability tips the scales in his favour.
Finally, a word about the shape of the line-up. Pakistan have been at their best when they have played attacking, aggressive cricket, Almost exclusively, that has come from the nature of their bowling attack, which is why the all-time XI has a four-man bowling attack and Imran Khan.
**Some might argue that another specialist middle-order batsman should have been in the line-up, but the selection assumes picking players at the peak of their skills. So Imran’s naturally solid technique provides a robust enough presence at six, around which the line-up pivots. Latif and Akram below him add up to almost another batsman. **
That leaves the bowling attack to be as spectacular as any that can be conceived. Just imagine a four-man fast-bowling attack of the variety, skill and pace of this one: Imran, Fazal, Wasim and Waqar. With Qadir backing up, there is enough wicket-taking threat here to trouble any batting side, on any surface, from any era.

Saeed Anwar](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42605.html)
“He used an eclectic approach to batting - classical betrothed to unorthodox, footwork against spin as quick as a hiccup, and wrists supple yet powerful to brush the field like a Picasso.” Ramiz Raja

Hanif Mohammad](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40373.html)
“Hanif bestrode the cricket world like a Colossus of Rhodes. His patience was monumental, his judgement unique; fearless of his opponents, he shared his respect for them, both in victory and defeat. In common with many great sporting figures of the 20th century, his legend continues to grow with time.” Khadim Baloch

Zaheer Abbas](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43695.html)
“Zaheer Abbas’ consistency both at first-class level and in Tests was phenomenal. Where his contemporaries struggled he remained calm and calculating, displaying his technique against great spinners of time; and not a bad player of fast bowling.” Qamar Ahmed

Javed Miandad](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40879.html)
“He was positive and aggressive in his approach, and the tougher the situation the more he seemed to revel in the challenge. His enthusiasm was extremely infectious, which made him one of the best team men I have ever had the pleasure to play with or against.” Tony Greig

Inzamam-ul-Haq](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40570.html)
“Inzamam was colossal in frame, ability, and attitude. He could play strokes all around the wicket with brute strength or exquisite subtlety. But what made Inzi great was his determination to stand firm as his illustrious colleagues collapsed around him. He was the rock that broke the onslaught of Pakistan’s opponents. A few last stands would have been remarkable. To do it for over a decade was genius.” Kamran Abbasi

Imran Khan](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40560.html)
Imran combined thoughtfulness with a natural ability which had always been outstanding. What brought about this transformation, as Imran readily admits, was his appointment to the captaincy of Pakistan. This sense of responsibility turned a fine cavalier into a great cricketer. Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack

Rashid Latif](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42423.html)
“Few wicketkeepers in Pakistan have been as athletic and yet as unobtrusive as Latif. A dive in front of first slip was often accomplished with the same ease of a regular, standing take; and to spin, he was outstanding and swift. His errors are difficult to remember. His batting, combative and elegant, was vastly underrated.” Osman Samiuddin

Wasim Akram](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43547.html)
“If I ever get a chance to be reborn as a cricketer, I would want to be Wasim Akram.” Allan Border

Fazal Mahmood
“Fazal Mahmood was a great human being, always willing to help anyone who sought his advice. He was the doyen of Pakistan bowlers in the formative years and all our wins since we started playing Test cricket were indebted to him. It was just because of his bowling feats that Pakistan achieved the rare honour of beating every country in our early series in the 1950s and 60s.” Hanif Mohammad

Abdul Qadir](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/38973.html)
“In the pantheon of wrist-spinners he [Qadir] surely ranks near the very top. Facing him or Warne at their best must have been as severe a test of a batsman’s nerve and capacity as any slow bowler has ever represented. But unlike Warne, Qadir was always on the attack. He knew no other way… When it comes to deception, as in the way in which he disguised his googly and various legbreaks, not to mention his flipper, he was a real little sorcerer.” John Woodcock

Waqar Younis](http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43543.html)
Beyond doubt Waqar is an outstanding bowler, probably the finest to emerge from Pakistan since Fazal Mahmood. This is a bowler of brilliance and élan, a bowler as entertaining in his way as any batsman, as enthralling as any spinner, a bowler who could become, as Imran predicted, the greatest of them all. Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/460535.html

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re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous picks

amazing team.

good to see Rashid in there. he in undoubtedly the best natural keeper I have seen from 90s and onwards. the guy could fly. took catches that were slips' catches without a problem. so smooth. was one of those who actually made keeping interesting to watch on its own 'cause he was such a stylish keeper.

39

:omg:

40

And while we are on the subject of all-time XIs can anyone bat better than this guy?

Viv Richards