WHO IS LARA AND SACHIN…Indians might be proud of sachin but the statistics clearly indicate who is the real man WHEN IT MATTERS THE MOST…INZI ROCKS…
http://content.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/211234.html
The Friday column
Inzi the matchwinner, and super sweepers
S Rajesh
June 17, 2005
Perhaps numbers never do reveal the full story, but they tell a large part of it. Every Friday, The Numbers Game will take a look at statistics from the present and the past, busting myths and revealing hidden truths:
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Inzamam-ul-Haq: another hundred, this one at Kingston, and another Pakistan win © Getty Images
Talk about the best batsmen going in world cricket today, and the usual names crop up - Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis … The above-mentioned players are all batsmen of considerable merit, but there’s another name which deserves to be up there but is often missed out. Inzamam-ul-Haq may lack the charisma that some of the others possess, but with willow in hand, there is little doubt that he belongs in the top bracket.
His unbeaten 117 against West Indies in the second Test in Jamaica once again underlined just how vital a cog he is for Pakistan. There are other batsmen who play key roles for their sides, but Inzamam is truly talismanic - when he does well, Pakistan have almost always gone on to win. The century at Kingston was Inzamam’s 22nd in Tests, and 17 of them have led to Pakistani wins. In fact, the last time Inzamam reached three figures and the result was anything other than a team victory was way back in March 2001, when his 130 against New Zealand at Christchurch only led to a draw. Since then, Pakistan have played 30 Tests, Inzamam has scored nine centuries (three of them in the second innings), and each has been in a winning cause. In the last 11 Pakistan wins, Inzamam has contributed hundreds seven times. Dig out the list of most prolific batsmen in wins, and Inzamam’s name stands proud at No. 2, next only to the man who would come out on top in just about any analysis on batting. (Javed Miandad, widely recognised as Pakistan’s best batsman, averaged 59.65 in wins and 61.75 in draws.)
TestsRunsAverage100sDon Bradman304813130.0823Inzamam-ul-Haq 43428480.8317Rahul Dravid28292679.089Garry Sobers 31309777.4312Graeme Smith20189672.929Greg Chappell 38359570.4914Wally Hammond29258469.8410Jimmy Adams 21153469.734Hashan Tillakaratne24153469.735Steve Waugh 86646069.4625
(Qualification: batsmen who’ve played in at least 20 Test wins)
Unlike many batsmen, Inzamam has performed almost as well in the second innings as in the first. His overall second-innings average stands at a healthy 47.22, but those numbers look even better over the last five years. Since 2000, his second-innings average is an outstanding 58.42, much better than Sachin Tendulkar’s (41.43) and Brian Lara’s (36.36, against a first-innings average of 73.60). Among batsmen with at least 500 second-innings runs since 2000, only three batsmen have done better than Inzamam.
Highest 2nd inng. ave since 2000TestsRunsAverage100sJacques Kallis61192866.484Rahul Dravid 55170758.863Andy Flower2482258.712Inzamam-ul-Haq 43140258.424Graham Thorpe43112256.103Matthew Hayden 60192454.977VVS Laxman48130054.173Damien Martyn 49110252.484Ricky Ponting55114649.831Michael Vaughan 55172747.977(Qualification: at least 500 second-innings runs since 2000)
And here’s more reason to celebrate Inzamam. Usman Muhammad, one of the readers of the column, points out that among captains who have led their teams in at least 50 one-day internationals, no-one averages more than Inzamam’s 48.85. There have been murmurs recently about the captaincy crown not sitting easy on Inzamam’s head, but one thing is certain - it surely hasn’t diminished Inzamam the batsman.
Best ODI ave as captainODIsAverageInzamam-ul-Haq5648.85Ricky Ponting 9143.65Javed Miandad6140.58Clive Lloyd 8439.91Sourav Ganguly14239.58(Qualification: captained the side in at least 50 ODIs)
Inzi
, Giv us another world cup victory in ue captaincy :insha: