Re: Lord’s Scandal: Spot-fixing, VIDEOS ONLY
We should make this a separate thread as this discussion does not have anything to do with the spot fixing videos…
Imran may have sung verbal praise of Saeed Anwar but the facts of records show things differently. Imran had branded Anwar a one-day player only, not suitable for tests. That is why Saeed played only one test until 1994 when Imran was gone completely. That one test was against the mighty West Indies (at the time) where Saeed was made to open against the likes of Bishop, Ambrose and Marshall despite him being a middle order batsman (yes, Saeed Anwar was a middle order batsman that was forced to open to get into Pakistan team). Imran preferred the great batsmen like Aamer Malik, Ramiz Raja, Zahid Fazal, Saleem Malik, Mansoor Akhtar and Ijaz Ahmad over Saeed Anwar during the period 1989-1992. Even in one-days these batsmen were preferred over Saeed Anwar, specially when playing at home.
As far as Shoaib Mohammad is concerned, he may be average when compared to Miandad and Richards but within Pakistan team his record is second only to Miandad during his time and the best among all openers at the time. Just take a look at the test records of first choice openers/one down player of Imran Khan (Ramiz Raja and Aamer Malik, Mansoor Akhtar and Zahid Fazal) and Shoaib and it will be clear that Shoaib was head and shoulder better player than these gentlemen. Add in the fact that he was a superb fielder and a useful spinner to boot, the preference of mediocre players like Ramiz Raja over Shoaib is nonsensical. Shoaib did not play for some of the best years of his cricketing career when he scored tonnes of runs in first class but remained out of Pakistan team due to personal preferences and politics of Pakistan cricket.
A couple of other cricketers that suffered Imran’s whimsical choices were Saleem Jaffar and Iqbal Qasim.