On the face of it, Javed Miandad, but it was more complex than that. He scored a century against an under-strength attack in the First Test and another in the second, but with Pakistan leading 1-0 he failed in the crucial, lost Third Test.
Ambrose was a debutant novice and Winston Benjamin and Courtney Walsh were basically reserves for the newly retired Holding and Garner. Malcolm Marshall was the key bowler, and he missed the First Test.
Rather like now, Imran had a dodgy top order. The openers Rameez Raja and Mudassar Nazar were completely outclassed, and Imran compensated by playing a third opener, Shoaib Mohammad, who was a revelation and the most consistent batsman.
Saleem Malik showed himself to be a flat track bully, and 17 year old Ijaz Ahmed just wasn't ready. Imran's batting was also exposed at this level.
And here came the other brilliant Imran plan. He batted at 7, and the keeper Saleem Yousaf at 8 was the third most effective batter in the team after Miandad and Shoaib.
And Imran packed the tail. At 9 he had the support spinner Ijaz Fakih, who batted and bowled like Mohammad Hafeez. At 10 he had Wasim Akram, who starred with the bat 18 months earlier when Pakistan bowled the West Indies out for 53 at Faisalabad. And the last man was Abdul Qadir, who was also a Hafeez-quality batsman when he could be bothered.
The bowling was fascinating too. Wasim had that awful groin injury which spoiled 18 months of his career. His opening spells were the fastest by any bowler on either side - around 150K. But then he would bowl slow left-arm to help keep Imran fresh.
