Miandad reappointed as PCB Director

[Rock_Express]

@GoldenAsif

Could not agree more. A lot of the things are in batsmen’s favour these days

• batting friendly pitches (no covered pitches)
• neutral umpires (so fewer biased and controversial decisions compared to the 70s and 80s)
• mandatory 90 overs per day (so fewer draws + teams and batsmen have more chances to score runs)
• more teams and more test matches per year so you get to play a lot of the games during your peak years (Miandad and Viv Richards’ 124 and 121 test matches respectively were spread out over 18 years whereas these days you might achieve that in just 10 odd years!!)
• the quality of fast bowling is not the same
• better protective gear etc. so less chance of being injured
• shorter boundaries
• one bouncer per batsman per over rule
• greater use of technology in run out/stumping decisions (I remember Gooch being given not out by one of the English umpires in a test in 1992 when he was atleast a yard and a half short of the batting crease)
• feel free to add more..

I don’t know what we have to do to convince you that Miandad was a great great batsman. It is only right and fair to compare batsmen of the same era and Miandad had the most test double hundreds among his contemporaries - (6) followed by Greenidge, Zaheer, Gavaskar & Greg Chappell (4 each) and Viv Richards (3)

As I have said it many times before among his contemporaries I would only put Viv Richards above Miandad because the former was just awesome and destructive. Gavaskar and Miandad were about the same in tests but Miandad was a far superior one-day player. Border similarly had a poor one-day record

And there should be no doubt about Miandad’s coaching abilities and technical know-how even if his communication and manmanagement skills are debatable. He has one of the shrewdest and sharpest minds in the game; ask Ian Chappell, ask Imran, ask Botham, ask Gavaskar, ask Viv Richards, ask any player from his era..

And it is nonsense to say that only Miandad benefited from home umpires. Everyone did incl. Viv Richards, Gavaskar, Australian players (they were some of the most biased umpires around), English players (remember David Constant, Kitchen and the infamous Palmer brothers) etc.

One thing which you have made clear now is the fact you ONLY rate master blaster Viv Richards ahead of Javed from his era.

It would have been insult to the many great great batsmen that the World of cricket has produced had you put Javed ahead of them.

You are entitled to your opinion of having Javed behind Richards from his era.

No doubt Javed was a good batsman and one of the best from his era and certainly the greatest the Pakistan production line has managed to produce.

To me how good a batsman someone is will be reflected in his ability as a test player not as an ODI batsman.

I will always put Gavaskar & Border possibly few others ahead of Javed from his era as test players. You like stats and I don’t need to mention what they have achieved as test players.

Just give you an example of Gavaskar’s achievements, held the record highest number of centuries for over two decades until it was broken by another Indian, you know who.

Also, not forgetting the fact Gavaskar scored heavily against the best bowling sides i.e. Australia & West Indies away from India.

**He scored 7 centuries in the Caribbean against the fiery West Indian fast men (highest 220); 5 centuries in Australia. **](Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com)

This is some record baby.

This is what Imran stated about Gavskar:

“The most compact batsman I’ve bowled to"

Javed struggled against the West Indian fast bowlers. I know he did finally manage to score 2 centuries (hadn’t scored centuries before this against them) in West Indies but it was really hard work for him.

Javed scored a double century against Australia but that was in Karachi. You know what I mean Harry?

You keep on stating Richards; Imran etc said this and that…

As another example of such statements, didn’t Imran state that dopey Inzi was better / talented than Tendulkar. Did this really mean he was better than Tendulkar?

Hadlee stated that Tendulkar is the greatest batsman in history of the game. Again, does this statement mean he really is - as others will have different opinion.

One player who I feel had the ability and talent and could have become greater player than Javed is Saeed Anwar who was far far more exciting to watch as a batsman.

His ODI is brilliant; his test record is also good but feel could have been better considering his talent. I still don’t get bored of the shot when he flicked Prasad in the World Cup Q Final in Bangalore. That was so stylish …

By the way do you know if Border & Gavskar were NOT given LBW’s in their own country?

No doubt Javed has shrewdest minds but can he put his modern ideas into practice for the job he has been hired to do is a big question.

We will wait and see what he does with his grand plans.

[GoldenAsif]

^ You are entitled to your opinion but read carefully.....No one is disputing Gavaskar's superior record against the Windies. I said Gavaskar and Miandad were about the same in tests but Miandad was a better all round player IMO because he (unlike Gavaskar and Border) excelled equally in the limited overs format. He had more flair & was a great improviser, one of the first players to play the reverse flick in ODIs and he played it rather deftly. I know that test cricket is more important than one-dayers and Miandad had a better test average (52.57) than all his contemporaries barring Greg Chappell (53.86)......mind you Miandad was averaging 57+ when he went past Greg Chappell's 7110 test runs. You cannot dismiss the importance of limited overs cricket altogether. It requires skill and ability too esp. the 50-over version. Miandad's test average never dropped below 50 even if you dissect his test career innings by innings....that should tell you something.....I think there is only one other player in test history who has achieved that.

[GoldenAsif]

Saeed Anwar was undoubtedly one of the sweetest timers of the cricket ball but he never looked very convincing against short-pitched bowling

[Rock_Express]

Re: Miandad reappointed as PCB Director

@GoldenAsif

^ You are entitled to your opinion but read carefully.....No one is disputing Gavaskar's superior record against the Windies. I said Gavaskar and Miandad were about the same in tests but Miandad was a better all round player IMO because he (unlike Gavaskar and Border) excelled equally in the limited overs format. He had more flair & was a great improviser, one of the first players to play the reverse flick in ODIs and he played it rather deftly. I know that test cricket is more important than one-dayers and Miandad had a better test average (52.57) than all his contemporaries barring Greg Chappell (53.86)......mind you Miandad was averaging 57+ when he went past Greg Chappell's 7110 test runs. You cannot dismiss the importance of limited overs cricket altogether. It requires skill and ability too esp. the 50-over version. Miandad's test average never dropped below 50 even if you dissect his test career innings by innings....that should tell you something.....I think there is only one other player in test history who has achieved that.

I had already stated why I think Border & Gavaskar were better.

Both of these players without doubt will have far higher regard amongst the cricket pundits & historians due to their test achievement (which no Pakistani batsmen has come close to or can dream off at the moment).

Also, I am not too sure about Javed's flair. What flair are you talking about? Other batsman such as Saeed Anwar had much better flair. Did this make him better than Javed?

[GoldenAsif]

Re: Miandad reappointed as PCB Director

@Rock_Express

I had already stated why I think Border & Gavaskar were better.

Both of these players without doubt will have far higher regard amongst the cricket pundits & historians due to their test achievement (which no Pakistani batsmen has come close to or can dream off at the moment).

Also, I am not too sure about Javed's flair. What flair are you talking about? Other batsman such as Saeed Anwar had much better flair. Did this make him better than Javed?

Well I don't really know how you could say that Border's test achievement is better. Border has more test runs because he has played more test matches than Miandad.....Is that too hard for you to understand? Miandad's 23 hundreds in 124 tests is as good as Border's 27 in 156. Miandad averaged 51.12, 47.29, 67.52 and 79.96 against England, Australia, India and NZ respectively

And Miandad had great flair because he could both defend and accelerate as per the demands of the situation. That Sharjah innings in 1986 was a classic example of that.

Anyways we seem to be going round and round in circles here. I would still maintain there is little to choose b/w the three (Miandad, Gavaskar and Border) in tests but Miandad IMO was a far better one-day player. Think of all the runs he scored in important World Cup games (WC SF 1987 v Australia; SF and Final 1992 v NZ and England respectively) He was one of the best players of spin bowling.