Imran Khan, the underrated ODI bowler

[The_Odd_One]

Imran Khan is generally not regarded a top ODI bowler for some reason. What if I tell you that this perception is completely false?

We all know that Imran was a trundler earlier in his career. Only from 1979 onwards did he become the legendary fast bowler that we all know. One more thing to note is that Imran played cricket until 1992 when he was 40 years old.

Imran's ODI stats look average at first glance. I mean, a bowling average of 26 and just 182 wickets in 153 innings does not look anything special. However, nothing is far from truth.

Let's take his statistics from 1979 (turned himself into a fast bowler by sheer hard work and self-belief) to 1989 (He was 37 years old and took his first retirement).

144 wickets in 104 innings at an average of 22.95 and ER of 3.89. Tell me these numbers are not as good as some ODI fast bowling greats?

Here we are talking about a timespan of 10 years in which Imran averaged under 23 with ball.

He took 17 wickets in 6 world cup matches he bowled at an astounding average of 13. In 4 tournament finals he bowled, he took 8 wickets at an average of 18. In 31 matches he defended total in the 2nd inning, he averaged 20.

Imran Khan was not only an ATG test bowler but he was also an amazing ODI bowler and I hope it is time he gets the proper recognition for his bowling prowess in ODIs too.

 

[Buffet]

Let's take his statistics from 1979 (turned himself into a fast bowler by sheer hard work and self-belief) to 1989 (He was 37 years old and took his first retirement).

144 wickets in 104 innings at an average of 22.95 and ER of 3.89. Tell me these numbers are not as good as some ODI fast bowling greats?

Here we are talking about a timespan of 10 years in which Imran averaged under 23 with ball.

You can't take ODI numbers in isolation because ODIs keep changing a lot. You picked the best period for IK in your opinion. For the same period we had some other bowlers with or without their best periods,

Garner - Avg 19 & ER 3.3
Hadlee - Avg 19 & ER 3.2
Holding - Avg 20 & ER 3.3
Lillee - Avg 19 & ER 3.4

If you look at the best team WI for the period you quoted, IK averaged 26.8 with ER of 4.4.

IK record is not that impressive even in the period you are quoting and that's why he was rarely ranked in the top 5 ODI bowlers in his career and he had the career best ranking of 4. He was an ATG in ODI as an all rounder though, but not as a bowler.

 

[Justcrazy]

Imran is not that good in OD.

 

[The_Odd_One]

You can't take ODI numbers in isolation because ODIs keep changing a lot. You picked the best period for IK in your opinion. For the same period we had some other bowlers with or without their best periods,

Garner - Avg 19 & ER 3.3
Hadlee - Avg 19 & ER 3.2
Holding - Avg 20 & ER 3.3
Lillee - Avg 19 & ER 3.4

If you look at the best team WI for the period you quoted, IK averaged 26.8 with ER of 4.4.

IK record is not that impressive even in the period you are quoting and that's why he was rarely ranked in the top 5 ODI bowlers in his career and he had the career best ranking of 4. He was an ATG in ODI as an all rounder though, but not as a bowler.

I did not say he was an ATG ODI bowler. I said he was a very good bowler.

BTW he stayed in the top 10 almost always in 1980s.

 

[Ab Fan]

His test career was too good that it overshadowed his ODI career..

 

[Belawal2014]

You can't take ODI numbers in isolation because ODIs keep changing a lot. You picked the best period for IK in your opinion. For the same period we had some other bowlers with or without their best periods,

Garner - Avg 19 & ER 3.3
Hadlee - Avg 19 & ER 3.2
Holding - Avg 20 & ER 3.3
Lillee - Avg 19 & ER 3.4

If you look at the best team WI for the period you quoted, IK averaged 26.8 with ER of 4.4.

IK record is not that impressive even in the period you are quoting and that's why he was rarely ranked in the top 5 ODI bowlers in his career and he had the career best ranking of 4. He was an ATG in ODI as an all rounder though, but not as a bowler.

Not impressive? An average of 26 is nothing to scoff at.

 

[MMHS]

You can't take ODI numbers in isolation because ODIs keep changing a lot. You picked the best period for IK in your opinion. For the same period we had some other bowlers with or without their best periods,

Garner - Avg 19 & ER 3.3
Hadlee - Avg 19 & ER 3.2
Holding - Avg 20 & ER 3.3
Lillee - Avg 19 & ER 3.4

If you look at the best team WI for the period you quoted, IK averaged 26.8 with ER of 4.4.

IK record is not that impressive even in the period you are quoting and that's why he was rarely ranked in the top 5 ODI bowlers in his career and he had the career best ranking of 4. He was an ATG in ODI as an all rounder though, but not as a bowler.

1989 is not a good cut off period for him. He retired in 1987 & came back later, when his role in the team changed.

You have to look at it a bit differently - in his first 100 ODI (roughly same time at 1987 WC SF) he took ~119 wickets at ~19 average & 3.5 economy. His last 70 or so ODI he struggled with fitness, age & burden of leading a young side; but his role also changed as he focused mostly on batting - his last 100 ODI earned him ODI runs at ~40/80 sorts of stats across no 3 to no 6 spot - that's in late 80s, early 90s.

The bowlers you mentioned are great undoubtedly; but you have to consider that Khan played many of his matches in Asia. Also, there is a technical issue - most of PAK's ODI those days were 40-45 overs affair, which is never good for bowling stats as shorter game goes against economy & average as well, because you get less overs to clean the tail (something you take out -Garner won't look like Garner). I haven't checked data - but my hunch is in AUS, NZ & ENG combined; his stats between 1975 to 1987 will be better than the bowlers you have mentioned. This is, after he had played some matches as specialist batsman & had to make a come back in between his best days as a bowler from career threatening injury.

I always say that Imran is extremely unlucky not to play for a country with cricket media power; otherwise it's impossible ignore him even in ODI as well. I read lots of comments regarding his ODI strike rate as batsman which is pure denial of his outstanding ability of changing own game for different position. Imran played ODI at 3, 4 & 5 as specialist bat in 80s, when the role for top order was to take scores 135/3 after 35 overs. Check his SR batting at 6 or 7- this is unbelieveable quality of a true all rounder to adjust game according to the need. One occasion was 1983 WC, when he played as pure batsman at 5 - he was among top batsmen of the WC with 300+ runs at 60+ average. This same guy had some of the brutal 20s & 30s batting at 6/7 against top bowlers - in an era, when 225 was match winning. His batting stats are actually equivalent to players like Border - 2 players from same era.

Wonderful cricketer - you can't find true Imran only from StatGuru.

 

[The_Odd_One]

1989 is not a good cut off period for him. He retired in 1987 & came back later, when his role in the team changed.

You have to look at it a bit differently - in his first 100 ODI (roughly same time at 1987 WC SF) he took ~119 wickets at ~19 average & 3.5 economy. His last 70 or so ODI he struggled with fitness, age & burden of leading a young side; but his role also changed as he focused mostly on batting - his last 100 ODI earned him ODI runs at ~40/80 sorts of stats across no 3 to no 6 spot - that's in late 80s, early 90s.

The bowlers you mentioned are great undoubtedly; but you have to consider that Khan played many of his matches in Asia. Also, there is a technical issue - most of PAK's ODI those days were 40-45 overs affair, which is never good for bowling stats as shorter game goes against economy & average as well, because you get less overs to clean the tail (something you take out -Garner won't look like Garner). I haven't checked data - but my hunch is in AUS, NZ & ENG combined; his stats between 1975 to 1987 will be better than the bowlers you have mentioned. This is, after he had played some matches as specialist batsman & had to make a come back in between his best days as a bowler from career threatening injury.

I always say that Imran is extremely unlucky not to play for a country with cricket media power; otherwise it's impossible ignore him even in ODI as well. I read lots of comments regarding his ODI strike rate as batsman which is pure denial of his outstanding ability of changing own game for different position. Imran played ODI at 3, 4 & 5 as specialist bat in 80s, when the role for top order was to take scores 135/3 after 35 overs. Check his SR batting at 6 or 7- this is unbelieveable quality of a true all rounder to adjust game according to the need. One occasion was 1983 WC, when he played as pure batsman at 5 - he was among top batsmen of the WC with 300+ runs at 60+ average. This same guy had some of the brutal 20s & 30s batting at 6/7 against top bowlers - in an era, when 225 was match winning. His batting stats are actually equivalent to players like Border - 2 players from same era.

Wonderful cricketer - you can't find true Imran only from StatGuru.

Top post!

It is funny that some posters who have not watched Imran in his peak tend to select Razzaq over Imran in ODIs just because Imran's overall bowling average was 26 and batting strike rate was in low 70s.

Imran's ODI stats do not reflect how good an ODI player he really was.

 

[The_Odd_One]

BTW, in the 80s, Imran was 4th on the list of lowest bowling averages with the criterion of having bowled in a minimum of 50 innings. Only Garner, Hadlee, and Holding had lower averages.

 

[Buffet]

I did not say he was an ATG ODI bowler. I said he was a very good bowler.

BTW he stayed in the top 10 almost always in 1980s.

Agree , his records puts him as a very good bowler.

Not impressive? An average of 26 is nothing to scoff at.

It's surely good, I meant impressive relative to some other gun bowlers who bowled at the same time. [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] listed some factors which may have contributed to less impressive record, but I was just going by what he produced and as result where he was ranked as an ODI bowler in period chosen by OP.

 

[SL_Fan]

Definitely under-rated the overall numbers don’t really tell the full story. Averaged 20 in WCs against the top teams. As far as ODIs are concerned enough said I think.

 

[Perth93]

I am 1977 born. I started watching or at least folllowing cricket (radio, newspaper, magazines) from 1985. But it was enough to tell me that Imran was supernatural as far as alrounders are concerned. His bowling was unplayable and his batting impenetrable. But Kapil edges him in ODIs, simply because Kapil was that new-age maverick a la Kluesener who only believed in 4s and 6s. Bowling wise, he was more economical than Immy bhai too.Yet, Imran was a legend. My alltime ODI XI has place for both of them. / Sachin, Viv, Ponting, Kohli, Bevan, Imran, Kapil, Dhoni, Akram, Warne, Ambrose.