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Kevin Pietersen versus Inzamam-ul-Haq

In tests, Inzi all day every day.

In ODIs, I would be more inclined towards Pietersen especially his early days. Inzi could've been much better if his body could keep up with his mind.
 
Inzamam for sure in tests. Pietersen was capable of the kind of innings no one else except Lara could match, but he was far more inconsistent than Inzi. Never put together a truly dominant run of form like Inzi in 04/05
 
Pietersen. He underachieved but was still a better batsmen than Inzy.

Inzy was very good too but KP takes this.
 
Inzamam. Stood up in numerous pressure situations often with a weak batting lineup whereas Pietersen had a stable top order of Cook, Strauss and Trott to provide a good platform.

Pietersen had a weakness against left arm spin and the premature end to his career meant he wasn't able to achieve his full potential - but a destructive batsman nonetheless who has a better record than Inzy in Australia.
 
Lol at these responses KP was twice as good as Inzy, inzy was a complete flat track bully with crap technique
 
Inzamam was easily better in both tests and ODIs. Great batsman, our Inzi.
 
Inzi is world cup winner, KP is not.

KP more flamboyant but Inzi has played more clutch knocks.

In bilateral series, KP any day. In knockout matches, Inzi wins.
 
KP was less consistent than Inzzy in the test format, but KP has played more gun knocks than Inzzy. Inzzy went totally missing against SA and Aus in all venues. KP went missing against Pakistan. Just by this, some one might be tempted to say that KP was better, but one huge factor here. Inzzy played in 90s.

Inzzy averaged 55+ in 00s with 5k+ runs. It's not far-fetched to assume that his career average would have been closer to what he averaged in 00s if he has started playing in 2005 when KP started. I am not hyping up players from past here, but a simple look will tell you that only 2-3 players averaged 50+ in 90s and we have lots of players averaging 50+ in 00s.

Inzzy reached to rank 1 in the test format and he was consistently ranked in the top 10. KP reached rank 3 as his highest rank and he was mostly ranked below top 10.



I will take Inzzy in the test format and I have no doubt about it.

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In ODI, both spent most of their career outside of top 5, but KP actually was among the top 3 ODI batsman for 12-18 months. PPers may fondly remember Inzyy one knock in 92 WC and many good knocks while chasing, but Inzzy didn't appear among the top 3 rank for any meaningful period. KP reached to rank 1 and Inzzy managed to reach to highest rank of 3. Inzzy also has a poor record in WC.

I will take KP in the ODI format.

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Over all , I will take Inzzy over KP as a batsman. I have seen both of them play and without looking at any record, I will take Inzzy in the test format and KP in the ODI format.
 
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KP any day of the year !! Inzy is over-hyped because Pak rarely produces decent batsmen. Inzy was decent while KP was level above him.
 
Extra_Cover said:
In bilateral series, KP any day. In knockout matches, Inzi wins.
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Inzzy in Final + Semi Final + Q Final - Avg 32

Inzzy in Final + Semi Final - Avg 33

Inzzy in Finals - avg 29

Inzzy in WC - Avg 23

Impression of Inzzy as pressure player in tournaments is not really true. At same time, Inzzy in bilateral averaged around 50 or higher against Ind, Eng, BD & Zim. Around 40 against WI and SL.
 
Extra_Cover said:
Inzi is world cup winner, KP is not.

KP more flamboyant but Inzi has played more clutch knocks.

In bilateral series, KP any day. In knockout matches, Inzi wins.
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LOL.. Do you know INzy's world cup record? average of 23 with strike rate under 75.. KP's batting average in world cup is 48 with strike rate of 85.
With your logic, Joginder Sharma is better than YK or Lara :yk2
 
KP gave England their only ICC tournament.

He was as big a match winner as any.
 
Inzy

KP was potentially better but he was way too inconsistent. Also, Inzy got better with time, KP regressed big time.
 
vagabond007ti said:
LOL.. Do you know INzy's world cup record? average of 23 with strike rate under 75.. KP's batting average in world cup is 48 with strike rate of 85.
With your logic, Joginder Sharma is better than YK or Lara :yk2
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Inzamam's overall World Cup record is awful but he has also played one of the greatest ODI innings of all time in a World Cup semifinal. As a result, his overall record gets overlooked.
 
majiz said:
Not that good at all really, yousuf was a lot better
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You clearly did not watch the two of them bat.

Inzamam was a great batsman. KP was a good batsman who played great innings.
 
Depends on the conditions. Inzamam was one of the very best batsmen in subcontinent conditions, but in English or Australian conditions I would go for KP.
 
Buffet said:
KP was less consistent than Inzzy in the test format, but KP has played more gun knocks than Inzzy. Inzzy went totally missing against SA and Aus in all venues. KP went missing against Pakistan. Just by this, some one might be tempted to say that KP was better, but one huge factor here. Inzzy played in 90s.

Inzzy averaged 55+ in 00s with 5k+ runs. It's not far-fetched to assume that his career average would have been closer to what he averaged in 00s if he has started playing in 2005 when KP started. I am not hyping up players from past here, but a simple look will tell you that only 2-3 players averaged 50+ in 90s and we have lots of players averaging 50+ in 00s.

Inzzy reached to rank 1 in the test format and he was consistently ranked in the top 10. KP reached rank 3 as his highest rank and he was mostly ranked below top 10.



I will take Inzzy in the test format and I have no doubt about it.

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In ODI, both spent most of their career outside of top 5, but KP actually was among the top 3 ODI batsman for 12-18 months. PPers may fondly remember Inzyy one knock in 92 WC and many good knocks while chasing, but Inzzy didn't appear among the top 3 rank for any meaningful period. KP reached to rank 1 and Inzzy managed to reach to highest rank of 3. Inzzy also has a poor record in WC.

I will take KP in the ODI format.

---------

Over all , I will take Inzzy over KP as a batsman. I have seen both of them play and without looking at any record, I will take Inzzy in the test format and KP in the ODI format.
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Picking another batsmen over another just because of there ranking is very lazy imo. KP might have been top in the ODI batting ranking, but can you even remember any KP great knocks in ODIs like you can for him in tests? Furthermore he only averaged just over 40 in an era for the most part of his career which was batting friendly. So apart from this 1 period in ODIs where he was ranked number 1, what did he really achieve in ODI cricket? At least Inzi has that iconic knock.
 
Hasan123 said:
Picking another batsmen over another just because of there ranking is very lazy imo. KP might have been top in the ODI batting ranking, but can you even remember any KP great knocks in ODIs like you can for him in tests? Furthermore he only averaged just over 40 in an era for the most part of his career which was batting friendly. So apart from this 1 period in ODIs where he was ranked number 1, what did he really achieve in ODI cricket? At least Inzi has that iconic knock.
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Isolated great knocks are not going to make anyone better otherwise KP will be light years ahead of Inzzy in the test format. Inzy is simply over hyped in PP for just one knock in ODI format. I rated Inzy ahead of KP in the test format despite KP having lots of gun test knocks.

Inzy was a king of bilateral as long as opposition was not SA or Aus. He was also a total failure in WC except 1-2 knocks despite playing a large number of matches. He didn't have a good record in finals of tri-series which used to happen regularly in 90s and early 00s. There is a good reason that I don't rate Inzy higher in ODIs even if you don't want to look at rankings. Inzy performance came with lots of if and buts.

Anyway, Rankings are not accurate at any point, but over all trend gives you some clue.
 
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Extra_Cover said:
Inzi is world cup winner, KP is not.

KP more flamboyant but Inzi has played more clutch knocks.

In bilateral series, KP any day. In knockout matches, Inzi wins.
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Apart from 1992, Inzi was pretty disappointing in World Cups.

Yes, Inzi had a whole bunch of fantastic innings in big pressure situations but they didn't really happen in World Cups post 1992.

He's still better than KP though.
 
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I would rate KP over Inzi in both format. In test, KP has played quite a few gun knocks, winning pressure cooker Ashes against all time great Oz 11 and then winning test series in India were his great achievements.

Inzi was very good in Asia, but really disappointed by his poor performance against AUS. He was not great against bounce like most Pakistani, where as KP was great against spin(Shane Warne and then in India, although he was missing against us)...

My other main disappointment of Inzi was in WCs, other than 1992, when he was under no pressure, he really wilted under pressure in 96,99,2003. He was completely missing in all those tournament when we were counting on him...
 
Inzi easily ahead.

Inzi also played in a tougher era and is a major contributor to World Cup victory.

KP is not of that caliber, not even close.
 
Inzi was terrible against the 2 best sides of his time. How is that being over looked? On the other hand KP dominated the best bowlers of his time.
 
Hasan123 said:
Who would you say is the better overall batsmen in your opinion?

Discus
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Kevin in ODIs, Inzi in Tests

Inzis performance to victory ratio in tests was just too damn high, and a few test matches he won even single handedly
 
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Kevin was miles ahead of Inzi in ODis,

Inzi only has 10 ODI 100's and almost all of them scored in Asian conditions. (I am saying that without looking at stats,) Kevin Pieterson definitely a superior batsman in ODIs
 
Buffet said:
Isolated great knocks are not going to make anyone better otherwise KP will be light years ahead of Inzzy in the test format. Inzy is simply over hyped in PP for just one knock in ODI format. I rated Inzy ahead of KP in the test format despite KP having lots of gun test knocks.

Inzy was a king of bilateral as long as opposition was not SA or Aus. He was also a total failure in WC except 1-2 knocks despite playing a large number of matches. He didn't have a good record in finals of tri-series which used to happen regularly in 90s and early 00s. There is a good reason that I don't rate Inzy higher in ODIs even if you don't want to look at rankings. Inzy performance came with lots of if and buts.

Anyway, Rankings are not accurate at any point, but over all trend gives you some clue.
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I'm not saying they make anyone better but at least Inzi has a memorable knock on ODIs, which ones does KP have?

Inzi was more consistent in tests than KP so there is no need to look at KPs gun knocks on tests.
 
Overall: It's Inzi for me as well.

Although KP on his day was a match-winner as well. And far better fielder than Inzi :yk
 
Pretty close but I will go with KP. He is the best we have produced since long time.
 
Yousuf was a much more high quality bat than inzy. Never seen inzy play a quality test innings really
 
Bilal7 said:
Inzamam was easily better in both tests and ODIs. Great batsman, our Inzi.
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But he doesn't have any ODI centuries in England,Australia India,and South Africa.

One set of rules for your favourite players and another set of rules for Indian players . :salute
 
majiz said:
Yousuf was a much more high quality bat than inzy. Never seen inzy play a quality test innings really
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Cricket didn’t begin in the last 17 years.

Just google 1996 series vs England, 1993 against Windies and 1995 vs Aussies.
 
It's very close and a good comparison, find it hard to pick between the two. Inzamam played some amazing innings under immense pressure in a fragile batting line up with little support during a tough era and also produced one of the greatest knocks ever in a WC KO game, KP on the other hand delivered England's first ICC trophy and dominated the all time great Australian team which was a monumental feat. Both are legends who served their countries extremely well.
 
Buffet said:
KP was less consistent than Inzzy in the test format, but KP has played more gun knocks than Inzzy. Inzzy went totally missing against SA and Aus in all venues. KP went missing against Pakistan. Just by this, some one might be tempted to say that KP was better, but one huge factor here. Inzzy played in 90s.

Inzzy averaged 55+ in 00s with 5k+ runs. It's not far-fetched to assume that his career average would have been closer to what he averaged in 00s if he has started playing in 2005 when KP started. I am not hyping up players from past here, but a simple look will tell you that only 2-3 players averaged 50+ in 90s and we have lots of players averaging 50+ in 00s.

Inzzy reached to rank 1 in the test format and he was consistently ranked in the top 10. KP reached rank 3 as his highest rank and he was mostly ranked below top 10.



I will take Inzzy in the test format and I have no doubt about it.

--------

In ODI, both spent most of their career outside of top 5, but KP actually was among the top 3 ODI batsman for 12-18 months. PPers may fondly remember Inzyy one knock in 92 WC and many good knocks while chasing, but Inzzy didn't appear among the top 3 rank for any meaningful period. KP reached to rank 1 and Inzzy managed to reach to highest rank of 3. Inzzy also has a poor record in WC.

I will take KP in the ODI format.

---------

Over all , I will take Inzzy over KP as a batsman. I have seen both of them play and without looking at any record, I will take Inzzy in the test format and KP in the ODI format.
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What a gun post.

Interesting.

While KP in full flow was way better than Inzi, overall, I felt Inzi had a better career.
 
I would take KP he had the power to make best bowlers seem like amateurs and could win from jaws of defeat..He was inconsistent and did not perform to his max potential but Inzi underachieved himself so compared to him I would take a gamble on someone like KP since inzi isn't the best himself..
 
shaz619 said:
It's very close and a good comparison, find it hard to pick between the two. Inzamam played some amazing innings under immense pressure in a fragile batting line up with little support during a tough era and also produced one of the greatest knocks ever in a WC KO game, KP on the other hand delivered England's first ICC trophy and dominated the all time great Australian team which was a monumental feat. Both are legends who served their countries extremely well.
Click to expand...

Also, Inzy retired before 20/20’s so who knows how good he may been at it.

Coming back to the question of whose better... Inzy was a superb all round batsman who didn’t quiet live upto his talent. Also an excellent slip fielder..

Played in an era of great bowlers who were at or close their peak (Warne, Mchrath, Lee, Donald, Gough, Ambrose, Walsh etc)..

Pieterson was a cavalier batsman. You couldn’t keep his scoring rate down which meant whoever he got in his innings were impactful and extremely entertaining.

I would also call it a tie.
 
Hasan123 said:
But he doesn't have any ODI centuries in England,Australia India,and South Africa.

One set of rules for your favourite players and another set of rules for Indian players . :salute
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Nice try but unlike Kohli, Inzamam did not bat at #3 for the majority of his career. Quite difficult to score centuries in ODIs if you're batting outside of the top three or four.

Same reason why Misbah and Dhoni have 10 centuries between them (all scored by MS) and none outside Asia.

Furthermore, Inzamam is not being compared with the very best in ODI cricket so he should not be held to the same high standards.
 
IMMY69 said:
Also, Inzy retired before 20/20’s so who knows how good he may been at it.

Coming back to the question of whose better... Inzy was a superb all round batsman who didn’t quiet live upto his talent. Also an excellent slip fielder..

Played in an era of great bowlers who were at or close their peak (Warne, Mchrath, Lee, Donald, Gough, Ambrose, Walsh etc)..

Pieterson was a cavalier batsman. You couldn’t keep his scoring rate down which meant whoever he got in his innings were impactful and extremely entertaining.

I would also call it a tie.
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Agreed.

You could say KP never quiet lived up to his talent as well another similarity. Despite all he achieved should have done more and it would have been nice if his affairs were handled better towards the end of his career.
 
Bilal7 said:
Nice try but unlike Kohli, Inzamam did not bat at #3 for the majority of his career. Quite difficult to score centuries in ODIs if you're batting outside of the top three or four.

Same reason why Misbah and Dhoni have 10 centuries between them (all scored by MS) and none outside Asia.

Furthermore, Inzamam is not being compared with the very best in ODI cricket so he should not be held to the same high standards.
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Keep shifting the goal posts. :salute

He doesn't even have 1 century in those countries in ODIs though, and you calling him a great batsmen :)))
 
majiz said:
Yousuf was a much more high quality bat than inzy. Never seen inzy play a quality test innings really
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3XzTB8R.gif
 
Hasan123 said:
Keep shifting the goal posts. :salute

He doesn't even have 1 century in those countries in ODIs though, and you calling him a great batsmen :)))
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The goalposts have never been shifted but you seem incapable of understanding.

Like I said, Dhoni has 10 centuries in ODIs with none outside Asia but he's still rated as a great batsman. Same goes for Inzamam. It wasn't a lack of ability that stops them from scoring those hundreds but their batting position.

If you still do no understand this basic concept then I cannot help you any further.
 
Bilal7 said:
The goalposts have never been shifted but you seem incapable of understanding.

Like I said, Dhoni has 10 centuries in ODIs with none outside Asia but he's still rated as a great batsman. Same goes for Inzamam. It wasn't a lack of ability that stops them from scoring those hundreds but their batting position.

If you still do no understand this basic concept then I cannot help you any further.
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Dhoni had good reason to move down the order. India had some exceptional top-order batsmen but they lacked lower-order players, so the obvious solution was for Dhoni to demote himself and it worked like a charm.

Inzamam on the other hand ran away from the new ball as soon as he became a senior, and decided to hide the middle-order while we continued to play musical chairs with our top-order. If he had the balls to lead from the front, we would have a lot more ODI games. Only in Pakistan are the best batsmen played in the middle/lower-order while the inferior ones bat at the top of the order.

Inzamam was no Dhoni or Bevan, but he was a very good finisher in his own right, and a pretty decent chaser as well, but he wasn't half as good as Kohli.
 
KP, without a doubt. Capable of playing in all conditions and against all oppositions. Inzi might have a good record but he was always average against quality fast bowling. Be it in SA or in Australia. KP had the ability to play ridiculous innings against top bowling line-ups. Biggest match-winner England has had.

No contest this, surprised by the majority opinion tbh.
 
Mamoon said:
Dhoni had good reason to move down the order. India had some exceptional top-order batsmen but they lacked lower-order players, so the obvious solution was for Dhoni to demote himself and it worked like a charm.

Inzamam on the other hand ran away from the new ball as soon as he became a senior, and decided to hide the middle-order while we continued to play musical chairs with our top-order. If he had the balls to lead from the front, we would have a lot more ODI games. Only in Pakistan are the best batsmen played in the middle/lower-order while the inferior ones bat at the top of the order.

Inzamam was no Dhoni or Bevan, but he was a very good finisher in his own right, and a pretty decent chaser as well, but he wasn't half as good as Kohli.
Click to expand...

Inzamam was not as good as Dhoni or even Kohli in ODIs but there is no shame in that. In tests he was miles ahead of Dhoni and Kohli has some ways to go before he reaches Inzi's stature in test cricket. Overall, Inzi was a great batsman and better than KP in both formats.

Should he have batted at #3? No, because he was better down the order. In tests, Younis and Yousuf were better options at #3 and #4 while in ODIs, Inzamam remains our greatest finisher/chaser of all time.

The best batsman does not always bat at #3. Sobers, Clarke, ABD and Sachin all batted below inferior batsmen in on format or the other.
 
Inzi early on in his career used to bat in top 4 where I would be able to compare his batsmanship with KP, in that case I would go with Inzi in ODIs. In the last 2.5 years, Inzi started to hide down at no 5 in ODIs while accomodating Younis Khan at no.3 which i still feel was the wrong move as it shows he didnt score any ODI century in his last 2.5 years since that 2004 India vs Pak series in which he hit 2 centuries.

Kp was a genius as well who could single handedly change the game against the most in form bowlers.

It's very hard to choose between the two, but I may be biased in picking Inzi.
 
Mamoon said:
Dhoni had good reason to move down the order. India had some exceptional top-order batsmen but they lacked lower-order players, so the obvious solution was for Dhoni to demote himself and it worked like a charm.

Inzamam on the other hand ran away from the new ball as soon as he became a senior, and decided to hide the middle-order while we continued to play musical chairs with our top-order. If he had the balls to lead from the front, we would have a lot more ODI games. Only in Pakistan are the best batsmen played in the middle/lower-order while the inferior ones bat at the top of the order.

Inzamam was no Dhoni or Bevan, but he was a very good finisher in his own right, and a pretty decent chaser as well, but he wasn't half as good as Kohli.
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Can you name those exceptional top order batsmen other than Tendulkar who were better than Dhoni?
 
Bilal7 said:
Inzamam was not as good as Dhoni or even Kohli in ODIs but there is no shame in that. In tests he was miles ahead of Dhoni and Kohli has some ways to go before he reaches Inzi's stature in test cricket. Overall, Inzi was a great batsman and better than KP in both formats.

Should he have batted at #3? No, because he was better down the order. In tests, Younis and Yousuf were better options at #3 and #4 while in ODIs, Inzamam remains our greatest finisher/chaser of all time.
Click to expand...

This reminds me that I really should sit down and turn my spreadsheet of ODI finishers into a proper thread one of these days. :yk2
 
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