Most under appreciated Pakistani cricketer

[criclove34]

Hanif Mohammed is the most under appreciated Pakistan cricketer. His 337 innings is the only fourth innings triple century of test cricket speaks volumes of his concentration and determination. Imagine a time when pitches were uncovered, with unlimited bouncers, against West Indies pace battery of West Indies pitches before 1990s, Gilchirst, Wes Hall considered one of the Fastest of the generation.. In fact, Holdings said once consider Roy Gilchrist faster then Malcolm Marshall. Standing at just about 5’8” and Gary Sobers considers him the fastest bowler he ever played with or against that would include Wes Hall, Dennis Lillee and Thompson (who many consider fastest of all time "consistently" average of 155mph faster then Shoaib Akhtar was 150mph average).

Fazal Mahmoud - a man who gave his peak years of cricket just so he can play for Pakistan.. one of the only cricket who has 12-for against all major test playing countries of his era he played. In 1946 match he destroy India main level when he played India A he was selected for India main team but opted to play for eventual Pakistan... as fast bowler you give peak 6 years of cricket and despite performing what he did...


Asif Iqbal is other most under appreciated cricket.
Mushtaq Mohammed
Qasim Umar
Abdul Qadir - the pioneer of googley variates.. in fact, Warne use to travel to Pakistan to learn under Qadir, despite lake of athleticism he had hands of magic leg spin.. he had 3 different kinds of googlies and "so called" leggie Yasir Shah cannot even bowl a proper googlie yet... all.. show the quality of poor batsmenship against spin.
"Z"ad- the Zaheer was better then Javed but lacked Cricket street IQ of Javed. But skills it like Yousaf vs. Younis...

Appreciate folks comments to build on it.

Our memory are so present focused that we don't see things in context.. so called shinny object of present.

 

[Suleiman]

Danish Kaneria- The player not necessarily the person.

Too bad our captain didn’t know how to use a leggie.

 

[criclove34]

Danish Kaneria- The player not necessarily the person.

Too bad our captain didn’t know how to use a leggie.

Right on! Danish was denied his hattrick in test match against Eng and he was good but improperly utilized and unfortunately perhaps some say he was Hindu...played a role.. [please don't take wrong way, plenty example muslim in India as well]

 

[Sher Khan]

Rao iftikhar anjum- very underrated bowler. If he was around now, he’d be in our first choice xi. Bowled at 140 kph with reverse swing and pinpoint yorkers. Also had a very good outswinger with the new ball. Always knew how to take wickets.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Imam ul Haq.

 

[zain7077]

Babar Azam

 

[as-95]

Danish Kaneria- The player not necessarily the person.

Too bad our captain didn’t know how to use a leggie.

Not only the captain but the wicket keeper didn’t know how to catch...

 

[Karl]

Azhar Ali in ODI´s

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Younis Khan

 

[JattMaula]

 

[Mamoon]

Definitely Kaneria. He gets shockingly little respect for someone who has taken more Test wickets than anyone barring, Wasim, Waqar and Imran.

He also received no support from the PCB in his spot-fixing scandal because he was surplus to requirements.

A better Test spinner than both Yasir and Ajmal, in spite of suffering more from dropped catches than any bowler.

Moreover, he was not helped by Woolmer’s insistence of playing only one specialist spinner.

With better luck, he could have played 100 Tests and taken around 350+ wickets.

 

[Slim]

I would say in the past decade, it got to be Mohammad Yosuf. The way he was phased out of nowhere was not right.

 

[Slim]

Definitely Kaneria. He gets shockingly little respect for someone who has taken more Test wickets than anyone barring, Wasim, Waqar and Imran.

He also received no support from the PCB in his spot-fixing scandal because he was surplus to requirements.

A better Test spinner than both Yasir and Ajmal, in spite of suffering more from dropped catches than any bowler.

Moreover, he was not helped by Woolmer’s insistence of playing only one specialist spinner.

With better luck, he could have played 100 Tests and taken around 350+ wickets.

What about MoYo?

 

[Mamoon]

What about MoYo?

He is severely underrated on PP. He is one of our greatest ever batsmen and is easily better than someone like Younis. However, outside PP, he is still highly regarded.

Kaneria is a forgotten man today both on PP and in the real world.

 

[Shafi]

Batsmen:::: Younis Khan, M Yousuf and M Wasim
Fast Bowler::: Shahid Nazir
Spinner::: Shahid Afridi, Saqlain Mushtaq and Danish kaneria

 

[Markhor]

He is severely underrated on PP. He is one of our greatest ever batsmen and is easily better than someone like Younis. However, outside PP, he is still highly regarded.

Kaneria is a forgotten man today both on PP and in the real world.

Yousuf's choking under pressure pre-2006 accounts for most of the criticism levelled towards him.

Younis wasn't as elegant as Yousuf but scored far more knocks in important situations, hence why he's rated higher than Yousuf.

However you have a particular dislike for Younis so I won't be able to convince you otherwise.

 

[Markhor]

Mushtaq Mohammed does not get the praise he deserves as an all-rounder and captain.

Let's not forget Mushtaq was the last Pakistani captain to draw a series in Australia where we have a dismal record.

 

[Markhor]

To the OP, I think Fazal Mahmood gets his due credit for beginning Pakistan's fast bowling heritage. He was lethal on matting wickets bowling those legcutters.

However don't know if his record was as good on turf wickets, otherwise he'd be heralded even more.

 

[Mamoon]

Yousuf's choking under pressure pre-2006 accounts for most of the criticism levelled towards him.

Younis wasn't as elegant as Yousuf but scored far more knocks in important situations, hence why he's rated higher than Yousuf.

However you have a particular dislike for Younis so I won't be able to convince you otherwise.

During the time they both played together, Yousuf more often than not outperformed and overshadowed Younis. For me, that proves that he was a superior player.

They were both in the same age group, but Younis was not able to establish himself until 2005. By then, Yousuf was already inching towards becoming one of our greatest ever batsmen.

Unfortunately, his own attitude as well as his relationship with the PCB ended his career prematurely. He missed out on 3-4 years of UAE bashing and pretty much all the records that Younis holds now would have been his.

He deserved to end up with 10,000+ runs in both formats as well as 30+ Test and 20+ ODI tons. Instead, his career was over in 2010 and we replaced him with Azhar, who has been struggling to keep his average over 45 in spite of a pitiful strike rate, while Yousuf was a 50 average - 50 strike rate batsman .

In ODIs, I do agree that he choked under pressure regularly. However, it is not as if Younis set the world on fire. In fact, his 80 add vs. India in the 2004 Champions Trophy was more significant than any of Younis' knocks in ODIs.

Apart from playing spin, which explains Younis' brilliant fourth innings record, Yousuf wins from Younis on all metrics. One can certainly argue that Younis played more valuable knocks in Tests, but if we take both formats into account, there is no comparison between the two.

Yousuf was simply a level above him, and it is a fact that PPers should recognise when putting Younis above Yousuf in Pakistan's all-time greatest batsmen list.

 

[Mueez]

Misbah ul Haq.

 

[Kaka4pope]

Mentioned a couple of times but once again - MoYo, a quite brilliant batsman. His knocks in England '06 were beauties.

As per many a player, the PCB has a lot to answer for - when so many players have 'issues' with the board, its probably the board.

Yousuf, Asif, Ajmal (mark 1) - could watch all day...

Ajmal (mark 1) also was brilliant, across formats. what, a, doosra...

 

[coy0607]

M Yousuf and Kaneria are both excellent examples. Maybe Aaqib Javed to a lesser extent.

Saeed Anwar also isn't appreciated nearly as much as he should be

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Definitely Kaneria. He gets shockingly little respect for someone who has taken more Test wickets than anyone barring, Wasim, Waqar and Imran.

He also received no support from the PCB in his spot-fixing scandal because he was surplus to requirements.

A better Test spinner than both Yasir and Ajmal, in spite of suffering more from dropped catches than any bowler.

Moreover, he was not helped by Woolmer’s insistence of playing only one specialist spinner.

With better luck, he could have played 100 Tests and taken around 350+ wickets.

Without Akmal catches and PCB backing, could argue as the best test spinner ever.

Being born Hindu hurt him so much and it's very sad.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Azhar Ali in ODI´s

Can't tell if trolling.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Just overrated.

 

[JattMaula]

Just overrated.

Man who wan a real world championship singlehandedly is mocked daily.

Universe will punish the ungrateful!

 

[sshakir411]

Javed Miandad.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Off field antics aside these 3 don't get their due credit in 3 departments bowling, batting and captaincy.

Asif
Yousuf
Sarfraz

 

[MMHS]

Obviously, this list is for Test players. I think, Danish indeed was under rated (appreciated); but for me the top three in this list should be -

1. Sarfraz Nawaz
2. Mazid Khan
3. The opening pair of Khan Mohammad & Fazal Mahmood.


Most people rate Sarfraz (Not the Ahmed one) based on his stats, which is quite ordinary, but guy was the pioneer of reverse swing, started a legacy for PAK cricket which the catalyst for PAK cricket's most successful 3 decades. He toured UK in 1967, got a County Contract at Northants and that unlocked the gate for PAK players (mostly fast bowlers) in English County. It was Sarfraz that gave the confidence (to Counties & League Cricket), that PAK can be a great source for raw but cheap pace bowling talent.

Mazid Khan is among the most under rated cricketers in history - on his day, he was as good & classy as anyone can be. He was actually the first aggressive batsman from PAK (before that, every batsmen idolized Hanif), and he actually did the same job like Sarfraz for batsmen. Mazid definitely will start for the ODI team of 1970s and he was a brilliant Test opener as well. His greatest contribution to PAK was probably that he took one of his cousins to UK in 1971 .....

Among new comers (apart from ENG/AUS), PAK had by far the best 1st decade in Test history, and that 1950s achievement was championed by that opening bowling pair. Apart from 30 years of Imran (followed by WW) era between 1975-2005, still that 1950s are the best decade for PAK cricket and I don't see it's changing soon. These 2 pacers must be considered in Crickets Hall of Fame. Khan Mo. went his last 2 Tests Test for 0-259 & 2/100 (~), still his average was around 23-24, and he reached 50 wickets in 10-11 Tests. Fazal probably doesn't need to be introduced.

MoYo & Asif Iqbal are indeed under-appreciated, but they are regarded (rated) for their game, but those 3 had unique contribution to PAK cricket. In ODI, the player who is most under rated is probably Zaheer Abbas - hardly anyone knows what he was in ODI - Viv was at least 25% better player than anyone bar Zaheer in that era and Zaheer matched him stat by stat .... but Viv didn't face his own bowlers, Zaheer did that between 1975-1983.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Azhar Mahmood. The late 90's.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Mushtaq Ahmed

He was brilliant overseas in tests and a very good ODI bowler as well.

 

[Ab Fan]

Danish Kaneria

 

[BakuGM]

For me it has to be Mushtaq Muhammad as before him Pakistan had talented players but they never played/performed as a unit. He combined the skills of these players into a fighting unit and showed how to win consistently on the big stage. He gave the team the belief that they can win against the best including West Indies and Australia who were cricketing superpowers of the time when the game came of age, 60's to 80's. Mushtaq is not appreciated enough given he was not the best on the team but he was probably one of the best captain if not the best during his time.

 

[Chokli]

Off field antics aside these 3 don't get their due credit in 3 departments bowling, batting and captaincy.

Asif
Yousuf
Sarfraz

Sarfraz is good in T20s but his ODI and Test captaincy is awful

 

[Karl]

Can't tell if trolling.

No, i think he did a good job as Captain. Also he was an important part of the team in the CT Win 2017.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

For me it has to be Mushtaq Muhammad as before him Pakistan had talented players but they never played/performed as a unit. He combined the skills of these players into a fighting unit and showed how to win consistently on the big stage. He gave the team the belief that they can win against the best including West Indies and Australia who were cricketing superpowers of the time when the game came of age, 60's to 80's. Mushtaq is not appreciated enough given he was not the best on the team but he was probably one of the best captain if not the best during his time.

Very good post

 

[Junaid_ahmed]

Hanif muhammad
A H Kardar (his man management & captaincy skills were beyond every other Pakistani captains).
Fazal Mehmood
Imtiaz Ahmed (wk) as a wk he scored centuries in the era where keepers only job to stay behind wickets.
Mushtaq Muhammad
Sarfraz Nawaz
Zaheer Abbas (may be Kohli of that era)
Abdul Qadir
Wasim Raja
Tauseef Ahmed
Ramiz Raja
Saqlain Mushtaq
Deneish Kaneria
Muhammad Yusuf
Fawad Alam (under used)

 

[Junaid_ahmed]

For me it has to be Mushtaq Muhammad as before him Pakistan had talented players but they never played/performed as a unit. He combined the skills of these players into a fighting unit and showed how to win consistently on the big stage. He gave the team the belief that they can win against the best including West Indies and Australia who were cricketing superpowers of the time when the game came of age, 60's to 80's. Mushtaq is not appreciated enough given he was not the best on the team but he was probably one of the best captain if not the best during his time.

Good observation. Actually he was the man who turn the draw machine into the winning side.

 

[PakLFC]

Majid Khan. I am told he was seriously good in his prime until a very poor 1982 tour of England after which IK dropped him. The two were not on speaking terms for a long time despite being first cousins. Another one is Asif Iqbal who was an underrated batsman. A good stoke player who could run like a rabbit between the wickets. Wasim Jaffer a fine pacer from the late 1980's was also very under appreciated. He was the Wasim Akram of his time!

 

[Markhor]

Shoaib Mohammad ?

Seemed like a decent blocker and blunter of the new ball in an era of great fast bowlers. Also a gun fielder. Azhar Ali seems like a poor man's Shoaib Mohammad.

 

[Chokli]

Abdur Rehman
Yasir Hameed
Shahid Nazir
Rao Iftikhar Anjum
Sohail Tanvir
Misbah Ul Haq
Saleem Elahi
Taufeeq Umar

 

[Junaid_ahmed]

Shoaib Mohammad ?

Seemed like a decent blocker and blunter of the new ball in an era of great fast bowlers. Also a gun fielder. Azhar Ali seems like a poor man's Shoaib Mohammad.

Yarrr, what a man he was. I remember in 1993 he scored 53 NO on 240 balls and against Zimbabwe.

 

[Junaid_ahmed]

Without Akmal catches and PCB backing, could argue as the best test spinner ever.

Being born Hindu hurt him so much and it's very sad.

Similar case to Muhammad Azharuddin, being born Muslim hurt him so much & it's very sad.

 

[Major]

misbah
taufeeq umar
yasir shah

 

[Major]

to some extent azhar ali aswell

 

[Major]

Definitely Kaneria. He gets shockingly little respect for someone who has taken more Test wickets than anyone barring, Wasim, Waqar and Imran.

He also received no support from the PCB in his spot-fixing scandal because he was surplus to requirements.

A better Test spinner than both Yasir and Ajmal, in spite of suffering more from dropped catches than any bowler.

Moreover, he was not helped by Woolmer’s insistence of playing only one specialist spinner.

With better luck, he could have played 100 Tests and taken around 350+ wickets.

oh yes kaneria. But after he has admitted his corruption i dont care for the guy.

But i do remember back in 2005, the Kaneria hype that was created. I remember watching Kaneria coming into his run putting some spit on his ball and then delivery the ball with a beautiful action, and with so many catchers in position. It was Kaneria who made me fell in love with spin bowling.

As for Yousuf, the guy destroyed his own career. Once he got that 2006 record that was it, he didn't bother to work hard. He was mroe focussed on religion and didn't work hard in cricket. THe guy was a big joke in ODI cricket aswell and couldn't be relied upon

 

[Hasan123]

Saqlain Musthaq in ODIs, his record is fantastic yet he is hardly talked about on PP.
Kaneria deserves a mention. He was a very good test bowler.
Finally I’ll go with Sarfaraz Nawaz for his reverse swing invention. Doesn’t get enough praise for that.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Sarfraz is good in T20s but his ODI and Test captaincy is awful

Has done pretty decent in odis too after we were on the verge of playing qualifiers for CT and that he got a no 8 team. Won a global odi tournament with no 8 team which has 5 times the value than any bilateral series win or losses, especially the fact that we won against India in final.

Pakistan's record without Sarfraz as captain in last 7 matches:
Won: 1, Lost: 6

 

[Chokli]

Has done pretty decent in odis too after we were on the verge of playing qualifiers for CT and that he got a no 8 team. Won a global odi tournament with no 8 team which has 5 times the value than any bilateral series win or losses, especially the fact that we won against India in final.

Pakistan's record without Sarfraz as captain in last 7 matches:
Won: 1, Lost: 6

Lol pretty decent? Come on mate )

0-5 against New Zealand
0-2 against India
0-1 against Bangladesh
1-1 draw against New Zealand
2-3 against South Africa (albeit he wasn't there for the last 2)

Is not decent.

The CT was a good victory but that doesn't give him a pass for the rest of the series'. If you're going to give credit to Sarfraz for the CT, then he deserves all the stick for our performances after the CT.

And lol you do know that the last 5 of the 7 was with our B team right?

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Lol pretty decent? Come on mate )

0-5 against New Zealand
0-2 against India
0-1 against Bangladesh
1-1 draw against New Zealand
2-3 against South Africa (albeit he wasn't there for the last 2)

Is not decent.

The CT was a good victory but that doesn't give him a pass for the rest of the series'. If you're going to give credit to Sarfraz for the CT, then he deserves all the stick for our performances after the CT.

And lol you do know that the last 5 of the 7 was with our B team right?

He deserves the stick but as i said CT win values 5 times more than the sadness of bilateral series and Asia cup loss. Ask anyone in Pakistan and they joy it gave us by beating India in final is unprecedented and like it or not Sarfraz was the captain who led a no 8 team to victory. If you weigh, his achievements as captain outweighs his poor show comfortably.

And in recent series we played with our B team but so did Australia with Starc, Cummins (only played 1 match), Hazlewood, Smith and Warner missing out. 5-0 in UAE was v.poor and it seemed like we were playing charity matches with no intensity. Anyways that's another discussion.

 

[Chokli]

He deserves the stick but as i said CT win values 5 times more than the sadness of bilateral and Asia cup loses. Ask anyone in Pakistan and they joy it gave us by beating India in final is unprecedented and like it or not Sarfraz was the captain who led a no 8 team to victory. If you weigh his achievements as captain outweighs his poor show comfortably.

And in recent series we played with our B team but so did Australia with Starc, Cummins (only played 1 match), Hazlewood, Smith and Warner missing out. Anyways that's another discussion.

Sure I'll give him credit for that victory, but again that doesn't give him a pass for performing poorly in every single series since then.

Lol mate, Warner and Smith have been missing for a year.. this was the best side Australia could muster up.

They beat India in India.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Sure I'll give him credit for that victory, but again that doesn't give him a pass for performing poorly in every single series since then.

Lol mate, Warner and Smith have been missing for a year.. this was the best side Australia could muster up.

They beat India in India.

Dont think so, even the MOM of the 4th odi match against India (Ashton Turner) who booked his place for WC was rested/injured. Secondly Jhye Richardson who is also a sure starter for WC got injured in 2nd odi. Thirdly Cummins played against India but only 1 match with us. As i said Aus were mostly experimenting in this series like Pakistan. Anyways this discussion can go on and on that whether Aussies played their best X1 or not.

 

[Chokli]

Dont think so, even the MOM of the 4th odi match against India (Ashton Turner) who booked his place for WC was rested/injured. Secondly Jhye Richardson who is also a sure starter for WC got injured in 2nd odi. Thirdly Cummins played against India but only 1 match with us. As i said Aus were mostly experimenting in this series like Pakistan. Anyways this discussion can go on and on that whether Aussies played their best X1 or not.

And those players weren't replaced by no names, they were replaced by players that have represented Australia before.

It was the same team that beat India in India.

We didn't even play to win the series, so you can use it to defend Sarfraz all you like but Sarfraz had his first XI and got swept by New Zealand and lost to India twice and lost to Bangladesh.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

And those players weren't replaced by no names, they were replaced by players that have represented Australia before.

It was the same team that beat India in India.

We didn't even play to win the series, so you can use it to defend Sarfraz all you like but Sarfraz had his first XI and got swept by New Zealand and lost to India twice and lost to Bangladesh.

No it was not the same team as against India. Go and check the line ups. And not sure where did i defend Sarfraz in his losses and here btw we are talking about Pak vs Aus.

Anyways again CT wins carries 5 times more weight compare to the loses considering we were on the verge of playing qualifiers. You can think otherwise but majority of Pakistanis and the joy they felt that day tells us otherwise. Even the reception at airport and the crowd outside Sarfraz and Babar and Hasan's home showed us a picture.

 

[Chokli]

No it was not the same team as against India. Go and check the line ups. And not sure where did i defend Sarfraz in his losses and here btw we are talking about Pak vs Aus.

Anyways again CT wins carries 5 times more weight compare to the loses considering we were on the verge of playing qualifiers. You can think otherwise but majority of Pakistanis and the joy they felt that day tells us otherwise. Even the reception at airport and the crowd outside Sarfraz and Babar and Hasan's home showed us a picture.

It's the same team.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_India_in_2018–19

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_against_Pakistan_in_the_UAE_in_2018–19

That doesn't matter anymore, it's in the past.

You can't give Sarfraz a pass for being mediocre just for the CT win.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Hanif Mohammed is the most under appreciated Pakistan cricket. His 337 innings is the only fourth innings triple century of test cricket speaks volumes of his concentration and determination. Imagine a time when pitches were uncovered, with unlimited bouncers, against West Indies pace battery of West Indies pitches before 1990s, Gilchirst, Wes Hall considered one of the Fastest of the generation.. In fact, Holdings said once consider Roy Gilchrist faster then Malcolm Marshall. Standing at just about 5’8” and Gary Sobers considers him the fastest bowler he ever played with or against that would include Wes Hall, Dennis Lillee and Thompson (who many consider fastest of all time "consistently" average of 155mph faster then Shoaib Akhtar was 150mph average).

Fazal Mahmoud - a man who gave his peak years of cricket just so he can play for Pakistan.. one of the only cricket who has 12-for against all major test playing countries of his era he played. In 1946 match he destroy India main level when he played India A he was selected for India main team but opted to play for eventual Pakistan... as fast bowler you give peak 6 years of cricket and despite performing what he did...


Asif Iqbal is other most under appreciated cricket.
Mushtaq Mohammed
Qasim Umar
Abdul Qadir - the pioneer of googley variates.. in fact, Warne use to travel to Pakistan to learn under Qadir, despite lake of athleticism he had hands of magic leg spin.. he had 3 different kids of googlies and "so called" leggie Yasir Shah cannot even bowl a proper googlie yet... all.. show the quality of poor batsmenship against spin.
"Z"ad- the Zaheer was better then Javed but lacked Cricket street IQ of Javed. But skills it like Yousaf vs. Younis...

Appreciate folks comments to build on it.

Our memory are so present focused that we don't see things in context.. so called shinny object of present.

All of them were famous and very well appreciated (Maybe Iqbal Qasim was not so much ) It is just all these Cricketers belong to Distant Past. Hence they were sort of forgotten with time. I can't believe Hanif Mohammad and Fazal Mahmood are in your list those two were absolute super stars of Pakistan Cricket. People could not stop talking about them.
However Time fades even the Legends

 

[giri26]

None in current set up. Everyone who plays for Pakistan currently actually gets praised more than they actually deserve. Possibly some players in the past from 80's and 90's.

 

[Hasan123]

It's the same team.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_India_in_2018–19

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_against_Pakistan_in_the_UAE_in_2018–19

That doesn't matter anymore, it's in the past.

You can't give Sarfraz a pass for being mediocre just for the CT win.

He will never say anything negative about Sarfraz. Expect him to go into hiding if we are embarrassed at the World Cup. When he returns he will blame xyz and not his precious captain anyway.

We win the CT it’s all his precious captain, when we lose it’s xyz fault.