Yes Latif’s wicket-keeping stats are quite impressive, a dismissal/innings ratio of 1.88 is very good. Kamran Akmal surprisngly has the best stats (2.011) among Pak wicket-keepers despite missing tons of catches and stumpings!!
interesting... think I read that before. guess it's one of those statistical anomalies that you have to analyze further.
for example, Afridi's test batting average which suggests that he can't be that horrible a batsman. but nothing could be further from the truth. similarly, people talk about Ijaz Ahmed's stats against Australia. what they neglect is that Ijaz Ahmed scored only when the series/match was lost. and he is the man who either invented or perfected the art of doing nothing for several matches and only scoring runs when he was about to be dropped. this art has had many practitioners later on. but he was the one who mastered it, Mashallah. what a horrible, horrible player.
anyway, back to Rashid. Rashid was a million times better/safer/more stylish than Kamran. though Moin became pretty safe later on in his career. but in terms of sheer ability, style, etc, Rashid is the best I've seen - and not just in Pakistan. he was the best pure keeper in the world imo. though I've always been a huge fan of Boucher's. what a champ he is. SA haven't treated/used him well.
The only thing I w’d say about this XI is that the batting still does not look very strong - just sums up our batting over the years in general
Windies for instance could have Greenidge, Lara, Viv Richards, Gary Sobers, George Headley (nicknamed the black Bradman)/ Weekes and Clive Lloyd (c) followed by Dujon (w/k), Malcolm Marshall, Holding/ Roberts, Garner and Ambrose/ Walsh. That would be an even more awesome team
an all-time **Aussie **attack of Dennis Lillee, Mc Grath, Bill O’Reilly and Warne looks equally menacing
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/414510.html
some interesting comments on cricinfo
Posted by eddy501 on (May 24 2010, 13:04 PM GMT)
A great, no, a super team. Strong in every dept. Yet i’m sure the up and coming WI all time team will better this. For every player in this super-team i could name a WI player of equal or greater ability. For Wasim you have MM, for Imran you have Sir Garry,in fact Sobers would be the abdul Q bowler with his left arm spin and chinaman. Ambrose, Walsh, Holding, Garner are all on WY’s level. As for the Pak batsmen (all great) WI have greater…GG ( better than Anwar), VIV, Lara, Headley Weekes, etc
Posted by intcamd on (May 24 2010, 15:38 PM GMT)
So many readers commented about the greatness of this attack, but 3 or 4 of them played together in late 80/early 90’s, and while Pakistan was pretty good back then, it was not even the best in the world at that time (at least not conclusively), so it is a HUGE stretch to claim this is the best attack of all time, blah blah.. I would take WIndies attack of early 80’s, or Warne+McGrath combined with a couple of old timer aussies over this Pak attack, any time. Also, while the bowling is decent, this batting line does not inspire fear for any bowlers (well, the all time best bowling lineups, anyway). Except Miandad, the rest of them were no better than the best Sri Lankan lineups, and would be behind Aus/WI/Eng/India/SA on that score.
Posted by Nayeem_Kohir on (May 24 2010, 10:23 AM GMT)
Only Australia and West Indies can match Pakistan when it comes to an all time XI. There is misconception among the readers that the all time Pakistan XI is not strong to match their bowling line up. Zaheer Abbas was one gem of a batsman. I have watched Zaheer’s videos and found him as talented as any other of the greatest batsmen of all time. And one does not need to mention the batting and fighting capabilities of Javed Miandad. Vivian Richards had famously said that if he had to pick up a batsman to play for his life then it will be Javed Miandad. Inzimam was a match winner. Hanif Muhammad batted for three days against Wendies on those bouncy pitches and Saeed Anwar was as great destroyer of the bowling attack as anybody else. Then you have big hitters down the order. Hence this Pakistan outfit does not only have a lethal bowling attack, which can match or beat an all time Aus or WI attack, but they also have a solid and attacking batting line up. Pakistan Cricket simply best.
Posted by AbuZaina on (May 24 2010, 13:05 PM GMT)
I’d have also picked the same team, but with Wasim Bari as the wicketkeeper, Pakistan’s best ever. But with Rashid Latif’s batting ability I can understand the reason of his selection. Shame then that he didn’t play that many matches for Pakistan. Unfortunately, unlike India and Sri Lanka, none of our batsmen bowl part time spin, so we only have one spinner. I can therefore see the temptation to select Mushtaq Mohammed or Intikhab Alam as the all rounder and Imran as a specialist bowler. That way we could have strengthened the batting and had a second spin option. Anyway with Wasim, Waqar and Fazal as the three fast bowlers and Qadir as the spinner, there is less pressure on Imran as a bowler, so he can concentrate on his batting, a luxury he did not always have in his playing days. Unfortunately reading some of the comments, it does appear a lot of the readers are quite young and do not appreciate the greats of yesteryear. Numbers are not everything, so don’t just look at averages.
See, Latif was keeping for Ws who had most of the dismissals as bowled or LBW.
.....Kakaballi got it dead right in the end. Well Done Kaka :).....
I just copy-pasted from cricinfo :P
anyway, back to Rashid. Rashid was a million times better/safer/more stylish than Kamran. though Moin became pretty safe later on in his career. but in terms of sheer ability, style, etc, Rashid is the best I've seen - and not just in Pakistan. he was the best pure keeper in the world imo. though I've always been a huge fan of Boucher's. what a champ he is. SA haven't treated/used him well.
I totally agree with Samb regarding Rashid. He was the most elegant and natural keeper to emerge from Pakistan. Ian Healy was once asked who he thought was the best wicketkeeper around and he said that he would like to put his name forward but Rashid is his choice because he looks so natural and comfortable both standing up and back to quality bowlers. Rodney Marsh also said that he has not seen more elegant keeper than Latif. Pretty impressive recommendations!
Moin Khan was a great player, fighter and keeper and has won us so many matches but in terms of sheer ability, he could not compete with Rashid (in his own words). Moin and Akmal were talking during a television show prior to WC 2007 and Akmal was asked by Ramiz that who inspires him more (Rashid or Moin). Akmal said that both, Rashid bhai in keeping and Moin bhai in batting. To that Moin Khan said 'k bhai phir keeping Rashid ki tarah kiya karo, Moin ki tarah nahi' :D It was pretty hilarious but also an honest acknowledgment from one great to another!
The only thing I w'd say about this XI is that the batting still does not look very strong - just sums up our batting over the years in general
Bowling has always been our main weapon and this all time XI shows exactly that! :)
Bowling has always been our main weapon and this all time XI shows exactly that! :)
But that's also my point! This all-time Pakistan XI matches all-time Windies and Aussie XIs in bowling but not batting. Hence Aussies and Windies w'd beat Pak hands down on account of their superior batting. Consider an all-time Windies XI (yet to be voted by cricinfo)
Greenidge
Lara
Viv Richards
Sobers
George Headley (The 'Black Bradman')
Clive Lloyd
BEST by far...
But that's also my point! This all-time Pakistan XI matches all-time Windies and Aussie XIs in bowling but not batting. Hence Aussies and Windies w'd beat Pak hands down on account of their superior batting. Consider an all-time Windies XI (yet to be voted by cricinfo)
Greenidge Lara Viv Richards Sobers George Headley (The 'Black Bradman') Clive Lloyd
BEST by far...
Array Asif sahib eik toh aap foreign teamo say bauhat impressed rehtay hain. Hamari iss all time x1 koh haranna bauhat mushkil hoga. :)
Re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous pi
But do you not agree that Windies batting is mighty impressive?
Re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous pi
^ It is and mighty difficult to beat, but so is Pakistan XI. I would say a draw.
Re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous pi
^ I know this is a purely hypothetical situation but draws in this day and age!!
And it is not a Q of being impressed by others. I am not only a Pak supporter but a 'genuine' cricket fan too.
Was n't I proven right about England in the end? I picked them out as one of the favourites to win World T20..
Re: Cricinfo picks all-time Pakistan Test XI - Two Ws, Imran and Miandad unanimous pi
^ But you also said that Pak wouldnt make it to the second round. I think everyone knew it was between Aus and England.
^ But you also said that Pak wouldnt make it to the second round.** I think everyone knew** it was between Aus and** England**.
Nope that was well into the tournament once it became clear that England WERE a real threat. I do not remember too many guppies backing them before the tournament started and I said England right from the outset.
Most people were infact hoping against hope for a 'miraculous' Pak win. Australia we all know are always a threat in any format...