[EXCLUSIVE] "Great cricketers have a lot of belief in themselves and belief in Allah": Saeed Anwar

[sweep_shot]

One of the greatest knock of all time played by one an only, Saeed Anwar....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1925064388865577151

What an innings!

This record was unbroken for over a decade.

One of the best innings of all time.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

1994 to 2001 which was anwars career if u exclude his pair on debut in 1990

player - runs, ave, s/r
slats - 4500 runs, 42, 53
kirsten - 5300 runs, 41, 41
taylor - 3500 runs, 38, 41
stewart - 2400 runs, 43, 49
atherton - 5700 runs, 38, 37
jayasuriya - 3400 runs, 42, 65

anwar - 4000 runs, 48, 56

in terms of average he was 5 runs clear of second place when opening so i dont see how anyone can argue he wasnt the best test opener over the span he was playing. also has the best hundred / innings ratio of all the opners to have scored more than 2000 runs in that period.

if he had played for another team, lets say aus, given their standard of professionalism, lack of match fixing, political stability and his preference for aussie batting condiitons, hed have been a 8k+, 50+ average opener.

I will have to disagree with this, somewhat.

When Gavaskar's record against the West Indies is scrutinised here on PP , it is often brought up that he didn't do well against their full attack.

Applying the same standards to Anwar, does not actually help his standing imo.

I've already pointed out that his record against SA and WI is not that good and he never had to play Wasim and Waqar either.

The best English bowlers of his time were, comfortably, Gough and Caddick. The rest were really not that that good.

In 4 innings against England without both Gough and Caddick, he averaged 92.5.

In 10 innings when at least one of them played for England, he averaged 17.6

When you take all of that into account and the fact that he scored only around 4000 runs as a whole , that average being 5 points ahead of the rest is quite misleading imo.

 

[ElRaja]

I will have to disagree with this, somewhat.

When Gavaskar's record against the West Indies is scrutinised here on PP , it is often brought up that he didn't do well against their full attack.

Applying the same standards to Anwar, does not actually help his standing imo.

I've already pointed out that his record against SA and WI is not that good and he never had to play Wasim and Waqar either.

The best English bowlers of his time were, comfortably, Gough and Caddick. The rest were really not that that good.

In 4 innings against England without both Gough and Caddick, he averaged 92.5.

In 10 innings when at least one of them played for England, he averaged 17.6

When you take all of that into account and the fact that he scored only around 4000 runs as a whole , that average being 5 points ahead of the rest is quite misleading imo.

have you done that analysis on everyone else?

jayasuriiya and taylor both scored daddy triple hundreds against relavetively weak attacks on absolute roads which bumped their averages considerably

kirsten averaged 30 against aus and wi in that period, and 90 against zim

slater averaged less than 30 in india, new zealand, west indies, england and zimbabwe

alec stewart agruably has the most rounded record, but he has 3 match winning hundreds opening in that period, and two were in a dead rubber after england had already lost the series agains the west indies.

you can dissect anyones record, especially openers, but you can look at my posting history, ive never poked holes in gavaskars record, hes one of the greatest openers of all time, i mean if imran khan says that, then who are forum warriors to disagree. but unless you watched saeed batting, and his impact versus the other guys in the list, you wont appreciate how his numbers alone, which are significnatly better than his peers do not do his whole talent justice.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

have you done that analysis on everyone else?

jayasuriiya and taylor both scored daddy triple hundreds against relavetively weak attacks on absolute roads which bumped their averages considerably

kirsten averaged 30 against aus and wi in that period, and 90 against zim

slater averaged less than 30 in india, new zealand, west indies, england and zimbabwe

alec stewart agruably has the most rounded record, but he has 3 match winning hundreds opening in that period, and two were in a dead rubber after england had already lost the series agains the west indies.

you can dissect anyones record, especially openers, but you can look at my posting history, ive never poked holes in gavaskars record, hes one of the greatest openers of all time, i mean if imran khan says that, then who are forum warriors to disagree. but unless you watched saeed batting, and his impact versus the other guys in the list, you wont appreciate how his numbers alone, which are significnatly better than his peers do not do his whole talent justice.

I'm not saying you personally dissected his numbers but you know it's been done to death on this and other forum

I'm curious. Has any peer or any commentator called Saeed Anwar the best Test opener of his era the way Imran rated Gavaskar?

Because I've never heard that claim.

I have not done analysis on the others. But Alec Stewart does have 2 daddy tins against Wasim, Waqar and Mushy as well as twin tons against Ambrose and Walsh at Barbados.

 

[SherWaqar]

I admire Saeed Anwar, but he is talking completely crazy here.

Saeed Anwar's career fell apart when he became devoutly religious. It didn't improve - it basically ended.

In life you get a certain amount of talent and ability at whatever you do. But your performance level is directly related to how hard you work and how much you practise and rehearse what you do.

It doesn't matter whether you spend too much time on chasing girls or playing computer games or being religiously devout - if you spend time on other stuff which could have made you a better cricketer, you will end up performing worse on the pitch.

The odd great cricketer is religious. Vastly more great cricketers are not especially religious, but rather they analyse their game, their strengths and their weaknesses and practise and improve.

I realise that Pakistan has become a religious nation, but it has also become a cricketing country whose cricketing performance has got worse, not better.

Look at the 1979 ICC World Cup photo: Wasim Raja is the only bearded man in the squad. Pakistan came close to beating the "unbeatable" West Indies in the semi-final (they reached 176-1 chasing 294).

Now the team is far more pious - and far worse at cricket.

The death of his daughter was the actual turning point.

 

[ElRaja]

I'm not saying you personally dissected his numbers but you know it's been done to death on this and other forum

I'm curious. Has any peer or any commentator called Saeed Anwar the best Test opener of his era the way Imran rated Gavaskar?

Because I've never heard that claim.

I have not done analysis on the others. But Alec Stewart does have 2 daddy tins against Wasim, Waqar and Mushy as well as twin tons against Ambrose and Walsh at Barbados.

im pretty sure in shane warnes book anwar was the highest non aussie test opener, but thats besides the point, his figures more than justify imo my claim that whilst he was active, he was the best opener. you said anwar didnt play enough for the claim, stewart scored half his aggregate whilst opening, i dont want to hate on stewart, he was an excellent player in a very weak england team but and whilst his record is well rounded his impact does not compare with anwars, and i dont think youll find many contemporaries, stewart himself included, who would argue he was the better opener.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I'm not saying you personally dissected his numbers but you know it's been done to death on this and other forum

I'm curious. Has any peer or any commentator called Saeed Anwar the best Test opener of his era the way Imran rated Gavaskar?

Because I've never heard that claim.

I have not done analysis on the others. But Alec Stewart does have 2 daddy tins against Wasim, Waqar and Mushy as well as twin tons against Ambrose and Walsh at Barbados.

Saeed Anwar is one of the greatest openers Pakistan ever produced.

Gavasker is one of the greatest ever. I can think of few openers in the history of the game who can be compared to him, or even close to what he achieved.

His performances against the West Indies alone are enough to guarantee his name in greatness. Don't think there's any real comparison between him and Saeed Anwar, or most openers for that matter. Even someone like Sehwag does not compare to Sunny.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

im pretty sure in shane warnes book anwar was the highest non aussie test opener, but thats besides the point, his figures more than justify imo my claim that whilst he was active, he was the best opener. you said anwar didnt play enough for the claim, stewart scored half his aggregate whilst opening, i dont want to hate on stewart, he was an excellent player in a very weak england team but and whilst his record is well rounded his impact does not compare with anwars, and i dont think youll find many contemporaries, stewart himself included, who would argue he was the better opener.

OK fair enough. I'll always rate him higher as an ODI opener in the 90's when he was at his destructive best.

I actually rate his 188 at Eden Garden higher than his SENA knocks in Test cricket.

 

[mominsaigol]

I will have to disagree with this, somewhat.

When Gavaskar's record against the West Indies is scrutinised here on PP , it is often brought up that he didn't do well against their full attack.

Applying the same standards to Anwar, does not actually help his standing imo.

I've already pointed out that his record against SA and WI is not that good and he never had to play Wasim and Waqar either.

The best English bowlers of his time were, comfortably, Gough and Caddick. The rest were really not that that good.

In 4 innings against England without both Gough and Caddick, he averaged 92.5.

In 10 innings when at least one of them played for England, he averaged 17.6

When you take all of that into account and the fact that he scored only around 4000 runs as a whole , that average being 5 points ahead of the rest is quite misleading imo.

Anwar is the greatest bad bowling basher of all time.

I think we as PP posters often underrate these players as a result.

Its why I respect Gill, Rohit, Warner(In test), Saeed Anwar, Kumar Sangakkara and currently Shubman Gill etc etc.

I dont think people realise how bloody difficult it is to be a HTB, Bad bowling basher, Minnow basher etc etc.

^^ Being categorised with such terms means that you are the best of the best at it and are a must play in certain dens and against certain opposition.

Its not like the other opposition or your fellow teammates don't get the same exposure.

Lastly most of the time it is outside your control to begin with. It's not like Anwar specifically requested ICC to not play your best bowlers against him