Pakistan fans - Would you swap Imran Khan and Wasim Akram for MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli?

[Mamoon]

Bevan has played innings that have not been equaled anywhere close in ODI cricket. AUS would not have won either the 96 or the 99 WC has it not been for his contributions with the bat when the team was 5 down for less than 70.

Virat Kholi has not revolutionized fitness. Rather, he has improved his own and markets products such as headphones or gym shoes on IG. That is not revolutionizing my man, that is a marketing strategy. He has shown that if you improve your fitness, you can become a better player. Yet he is not the first one to do so, with Ponting giving up alcohol after troubles early on and Shoaib putting on muscle and bowing at 95+.

Coming to Wasim’s second half, yes it was plagued by injuries, politics, match-fixing suspicions, lack of support from the board. But you have to take into account, this is the man who used insulin injections everyday multiple times just to play the game he loved. That’s over 15 injections per a Test match. No bower has matched his spell against the WI during the 3rd Test in the 2000 series. 11 wickets ( should have been all 20 if not for the dubious umpiring ), that too an over-the-hill, diabetic, emotionally destabilized pariah version who still knocked the likes of Ponting and Gilly in consecutive balls at the height of their might.

Here’s the bottom line [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]. VK cannot be the Wasim Akram of batting because he is not as versatile nor is he universally recognized as the best. Kapil Dev, the other day, stayed that VK needs to perform in England, to be considere one of the best in this era. He is not even the best amongst his countrymen, Sachin wipes the floor with him, while Wasim is regarded as THE best fast bowler by his bowler and batsman compatriots.

At this point, the only thing we can agree upon is to disagree. However, I would like to touch on what Kapil said. These former players are often out of touch with the modern game and like to view things from the perspective and context of their time.

Kapil to this date thinks that scoring runs in England is the biggest challenge, even though far inferior batsmen than Kohli have scored runs there. Similarly, Imran Khan vouched for Younis to bat at number 3 in the 2015 World Cup because of the 92 mentality of having a tuk tuk at 3 to hold the batting together.

He is so out of touch with the modern game that he does not realize that Younis would be a liability even for an associate side.

Moreover, no matter what Kohli achieves or what some future Indian player achieves, it will be hard for them to steal Sachin's thunder. He is worshiped and will always be worshiped by billions of people; he is more than just a cricketer for India.

However, anyone who is not blinded by the deity that Sachin is can clearly see that Kohli is well on his way of surpassing him, at least in the ODI format. He is also a far better leader and captain already, and has the personality and aura that the midget Sachin did not.

Imran in some ways has the same status in Pakistan. He is the father of Pakistan cricket and in spite of all the talents of Wasim and Waqar, people credit their success to Imran because in their mind, they would be nobodies without him.

Kohli does not have to please Kapil to be one of the best of this era; he is already the best batsmen of this era and is acknowledged by all his peers in the game today as well as former players who are actively involved (Nasser, Viv, Bob Willis etc. etc.)

Players today appreciate Kohli as much as the players of Wasim's time appreciated Wasim. Regardless of Kapil's opinion, Kohli is the face of cricket today and 50 years down the line, 2010-xxx would be remembered as the Kohli era.

 

[Mamoon]

ODIs are won by batsmen. How many world class batsman did Clarke had? Not a single member of his team (except Starc) has a chance to make the ATG Aussie XI.

Your post is not clear. Australia had the ideal team for the 2015 World Cup in those conditions. Yes not many members of that team would make an all-time Australia XI, but we are talking about a team that is arguably the greatest ever. Not many players would get into that side.

 

[amax]

dont know about Imran but never seen a greater cricketer than Wasim.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Your post is not clear. Australia had the ideal team for the 2015 World Cup in those conditions. Yes not many members of that team would make an all-time Australia XI, but we are talking about a team that is arguably the greatest ever. Not many players would get into that side.

Will you agree that the Indian team of 2011 was better than the Australian team of 2015?

Let's compare them and see will they make their ATG team.

India

Sehwag - May be
Tendulkar - Yes
Gambir - May be
Kohli - Yes
Dhoni - Yes
Yuvraj - Yes
Raina - May be
Harbhajan - May be
Zaheer - Yes
Munaf - No
Sreesanth - No

India had at least 3 players who have a genuine shot at all time ODI XI (Tendulkar, Kohli, and Dhoni) and at least 4 (include Yuvraj) who can get into an all time Asian XI.

Australia
----------
Warner - May be
Finch - No
Smith - No
Clarke - No
Watson - May be
Maxwell - No
Faulkner - No
Haddin - No
Johnson - No
Starc - Yes
Hazlewood - No

None of these Aussie players except Starc is an ODI superstar. Some of them will not make even all time Pakistan XI.

 

[ManFan]

At this point, the only thing we can agree upon is to disagree. However, I would like to touch on what Kapil said. These former players are often out of touch with the modern game and like to view things from the perspective and context of their time.

Kapil to this date thinks that scoring runs in England is the biggest challenge, even though far inferior batsmen than Kohli have scored runs there. Similarly, Imran Khan vouched for Younis to bat at number 3 in the 2015 World Cup because of the 92 mentality of having a tuk tuk at 3 to hold the batting together.

He is so out of touch with the modern game that he does not realize that Younis would be a liability even for an associate side.

Moreover, no matter what Kohli achieves or what some future Indian player achieves, it will be hard for them to steal Sachin's thunder. He is worshiped and will always be worshiped by billions of people; he is more than just a cricketer for India.

However, anyone who is not blinded by the deity that Sachin is can clearly see that Kohli is well on his way of surpassing him, at least in the ODI format. He is also a far better leader and captain already, and has the personality and aura that the midget Sachin did not.

Imran in some ways has the same status in Pakistan. He is the father of Pakistan cricket and in spite of all the talents of Wasim and Waqar, people credit their success to Imran because in their mind, they would be nobodies without him.

Kohli does not have to please Kapil to be one of the best of this era; he is already the best batsmen of this era and is acknowledged by all his peers in the game today as well as former players who are actively involved (Nasser, Viv, Bob Willis etc. etc.)

Players today appreciate Kohli as much as the players of Wasim's time appreciated Wasim. Regardless of Kapil's opinion, Kohli is the face of cricket today and 50 years down the line, 2010-xxx would be remembered as the Kohli era.

Agreed. Only person who can even come close to matching Kholi's popularity in this era is AB. But he is on the way out. This decade will be remembered as the Age of Kholi.

 

[ManFan]

Kapil is however right in the regard that England is a black spot on an otherwise flawless Test record of VK. If and when VK performs in England, he will shut up critics like me questioning his ability in swinging conditions. Which, he has already done to a certain extent, with his quality performances in SA.

 

[Bilal7]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] - This is a legendary fail. You can fantasize about how Kohli's career will go down but we are talking about the here and now. Currently, neither Dhoni, nor Kohli is fit to tie the shoelaces of Wasim Akram. They simply have not achieved as much across formats and their legacy is unclear. Dhoni is a very mediocre test player and Kohli is a massive choker, compared to Wasim who is a bonafide ATG in both formats along with being a clutch WC player.

If your wish came true in some hypothetical nightmare, Pakistan would have lost its two most iconic players and along with that, would have no World Cups wins and probably, an inferior W/L ratio to the arch-rivals. We would not have been the team that stood up to the great Windies and nor would we be known as the inventors of reverse-swing. We would be just like every other Asian team and have a total of zero great pace bowlers and our standing would be no better than that of Sri Lanka's. As it stands, we're probably the second best cricketing nation of all time, have a highly respected tradition of fast bowling and have had every other Asian team in our pockets.

Hey [MENTION=129948]Bilal7[/MENTION] - would you replace Imran or Wasim with Hashim Amla?

Of course not. I wouldn't replace either of them with any pure batsman or keeper-batsman barring Bradman and Viv. It's just the nature of the game. However, I would gladly trade any Pakistani batsman for Hashim Amla.

 

[Bilal7]

At this point, the only thing we can agree upon is to disagree. However, I would like to touch on what Kapil said. These former players are often out of touch with the modern game and like to view things from the perspective and context of their time.

Kapil to this date thinks that scoring runs in England is the biggest challenge, even though far inferior batsmen than Kohli have scored runs there. Similarly, Imran Khan vouched for Younis to bat at number 3 in the 2015 World Cup because of the 92 mentality of having a tuk tuk at 3 to hold the batting together.

He is so out of touch with the modern game that he does not realize that Younis would be a liability even for an associate side.

Moreover, no matter what Kohli achieves or what some future Indian player achieves, it will be hard for them to steal Sachin's thunder. He is worshiped and will always be worshiped by billions of people; he is more than just a cricketer for India.

However, anyone who is not blinded by the deity that Sachin is can clearly see that Kohli is well on his way of surpassing him, at least in the ODI format. He is also a far better leader and captain already, and has the personality and aura that the midget Sachin did not.

Imran in some ways has the same status in Pakistan. He is the father of Pakistan cricket and in spite of all the talents of Wasim and Waqar, people credit their success to Imran because in their mind, they would be nobodies without him.

Kohli does not have to please Kapil to be one of the best of this era; he is already the best batsmen of this era and is acknowledged by all his peers in the game today as well as former players who are actively involved (Nasser, Viv, Bob Willis etc. etc.)

Players today appreciate Kohli as much as the players of Wasim's time appreciated Wasim. Regardless of Kapil's opinion, Kohli is the face of cricket today and 50 years down the line, 2010-xxx would be remembered as the Kohli era.

Except that he is not. Please remind me of his accomplishments in the test format because I do not remember any apart from that one series in Australia which was played on the flattest pitches of all time and where he was outbatted by Smith. He has good averages almost everywhere now - apart from England and of course, the UAE - but to borrow a quote from you, his "averages are misleading". He's not been able to help his team win any major matches or series away from home and has always been in the shadow of players like Amla, Sangakkara and now, Smith.

In ODIs, he is unarguably a fantastic player who has done great things. However, even there he is not the batsman. Most people would pick ABD over Kohli and that is what the stats show as well. Despite his dominance in bilateral series, he has been a massive choker when it counts. Failing in three of the most important ODIs that India have played in this decade is hardly the way to convince people that you're a fantastic big-match player.

 

[Savage]

And Wasim did not achieve anything substantial after the mid 90s because of his diabetese and dishonesty. Kohli is almost as good at 29 as Wasim was at 28, but considering his fitness and hunger, 2018-2028 should be better for him than what 1994-2003 was for Wasim.

Dhoni is severely underrated on this forum. He is the best ODI captain of all time and the second best WK batsman in the format after Gilchrist. The World Cup and the team were not handed to him. He took over an aging side and changed the complexion of the Indian team.

He took over from where Ganguly left. India were lucky to have a legendary captain take over from a legendary captain and avoid what happened to Pakistan cricket after Wasim. Imran left a team that could dominate the world but Wasim made sure that it did not.

That I would agree.In 2015,Dhoni was rated amongst the top five ODI players of all time by cricinfo.

I don't think Indian team that won the world cup was ATG Team mainly because India's fielding and Bowling were not upto ATG standards.I still remember the loss against SA in 2011WC and experts like Dean jones completely write off India.

http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/win-wc--tell-dhoni-hes-dreaming-says-dean-jones/761803/

India's WC win in 2011 was not as easy as some people here think.

While I'm not fully sure whether Dhoni is best but he probably is most successful captain from asia.

Across formats,I think India were the best team in his captaincy tenure(from 2007 T20 WC-2016).SA and India had the best W/L ratio in that period.(Can somebody get the stats?)But India won all 3 ICC tournaments,even WI won 2(2 T20 WC) whereas SA won 0.

According to me,This gives India edge over SA.Infact,I'd say Australia were the second best team in that period because they won WC,CT and their W/L ratio were close third.

People here are bringing kohli's knockout performance in ODIs.Then we should also bring his knockout performance in T20s where he averages 238.(as this thread is not only about ODIs)

This stat does not include his match-winning knock on a must win games like 55* against Pak and 82* against Australia in last T20 WC.

 

[Mamoon]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] - This is a legendary fail. You can fantasize about how Kohli's career will go down but we are talking about the here and now. Currently, neither Dhoni, nor Kohli is fit to tie the shoelaces of Wasim Akram. They simply have not achieved as much across formats and their legacy is unclear. Dhoni is a very mediocre test player and Kohli is a massive choker, compared to Wasim who is a bonafide ATG in both formats along with being a clutch WC player.

If your wish came true in some hypothetical nightmare, Pakistan would have lost its two most iconic players and along with that, would have no World Cups wins and probably, an inferior W/L ratio to the arch-rivals. We would not have been the team that stood up to the great Windies and nor would we be known as the inventors of reverse-swing. We would be just like every other Asian team and have a total of zero great pace bowlers and our standing would be no better than that of Sri Lanka's. As it stands, we're probably the second best cricketing nation of all time, have a highly respected tradition of fast bowling and have had every other Asian team in our pockets.

It is not about fantasizing. Kohli is not some up and coming unproven player about whom one can only speculate - he is a legend of the game and his best years are ahead of him. Only a bizarre loss of form/desire or a serious injury would derail his career from this point, which is of course highly unlikely.

To claim that they are not fit to tie Wasim's shoelaces is heights of exaggeration. Kohli is in the same class as Wasim as a player, and whether he surpasses him or not depends on how he finishes his career.

Secondly, I believe that it is not about replacing one with the other in their respective eras. From what I understand, swapping Dhoni with Imran does not mean having Dhoni in the 70's and 80's; it means having Dhoni in the time period in which he actually played.

If I am given the option of Dhoni captaining the same Pakistan side in the 70's and 80's, I would say no. However, I would not have Imran over him during Dhoni's peak ODI years. That is why it is a tough decision for me - whether to have Imran in the 70s and 80s or Dhoni in the 2000s and 2010s.

Assuming that Dhoni would have been born in the 50s and Kohli would have been born in the 60s, and would have played in the 70's and 80's respectively makes no sense.

Pakistan second best cricket nation? You are having a laugh. West Indies is still ahead and India surpassed Pakistan long time back. South Africa is ahead as well, they do not have a World Cup trophy but they have done much better in Test cricket.

Pakistan is on par with England, but it does not have the deep history of English cricket.

 

[Mamoon]

Except that he is not. Please remind me of his accomplishments in the test format because I do not remember any apart from that one series in Australia which was played on the flattest pitches of all time and where he was outbatted by Smith. He has good averages almost everywhere now - apart from England and of course, the UAE - but to borrow a quote from you, his "averages are misleading". He's not been able to help his team win any major matches or series away from home and has always been in the shadow of players like Amla, Sangakkara and now, Smith.

In ODIs, he is unarguably a fantastic player who has done great things. However, even there he is not the batsman. Most people would pick ABD over Kohli and that is what the stats show as well. Despite his dominance in bilateral series, he has been a massive choker when it counts. Failing in three of the most important ODIs that India have played in this decade is hardly the way to convince people that you're a fantastic big-match player.

UAE is irrelevant. The only Asian team that has played us in the UAE have done very well there. We should be thankful India do not play us there. Our so-called unbeaten run would have ended way before 2017.

A batsman cannot win a Test series on his own. It is not Limited Overs where one innings can turn the game on its head.

For example, de Villiers played a brilliant knock, but it could easily have resulted in a loss had Rabada not picked up 12 wickets.

India's bowling attack is very good now and Kohli has the players to win overseas. They ran South Africa close and it could have been different had they won two tosses instead of South Africa.

Kohli is a brilliant Test batsman - he scores big at a good strike rate, and England is the only country he has failed in so far. He will score there this time and prove his critics wrong, which is what he did in South Africa. Simply too good a batsman not to score in a country where the difficulty of scoring runs - especially in late summer - is grossly overstated.

England is a good place to bat for middle-order batsmen. The conditions that Kohli combated in South Africa were tougher than what he would face in England. Considering his form, anything less than 2 hundreds in the 5 Tests would be a failure in my view.

 

[IAJ]

I wouldn't make the swap.

But Pakistan does need a Kohli type batsman to revolutionize their batting culture. Someone of his caliber would create a new love for batting among the young ones.

Why does a player have to come from the same country to create batting culture? In fact the best motivation should come from your biggesr rival; Pakistani youngsters should look at Kohli and try to get better than him, and same goes for young Indian pacers, they should look to bowl better than Wasim, Waqar etc.

People are not that naive anymore, Internet and vidoes are available everywhere so the motivation should not be a problem at all.

 

[Mamoon]

Why does a player have to come from the same country to create batting culture? In fact the best motivation should come from your biggesr rival; Pakistani youngsters should look at Kohli and try to get better than him, and same goes for young Indian pacers, they should look to bowl better than Wasim, Waqar etc.

People are not that naive anymore, Internet and vidoes are available everywhere so the motivation should not be a problem at all.

Looking up to players of other teams is not the same as looking up to your own countrymen. You cannot connect with foreign players the way you connect with your own.

Kohli will never be to other cricketers what he is to Indians. Wasim is a great bowler for the whole world, but he is Wasim only for Pakistan. Ditto Tendulkar for India and Imran for Pakistan.

 

[Bilal7]

It is not about fantasizing. Kohli is not some up and coming unproven player about whom one can only speculate - he is a legend of the game and his best years are ahead of him. Only a bizarre loss of form/desire or a serious injury would derail his career from this point, which is of course highly unlikely.

To claim that they are not fit to tie Wasim's shoelaces is heights of exaggeration. Kohli is in the same class as Wasim as a player, and whether he surpasses him or not depends on how he finishes his career.

Secondly, I believe that it is not about replacing one with the other in their respective eras. From what I understand, swapping Dhoni with Imran does not mean having Dhoni in the 70's and 80's; it means having Dhoni in the time period in which he actually played.

If I am given the option of Dhoni captaining the same Pakistan side in the 70's and 80's, I would say no. However, I would not have Imran over him during Dhoni's peak ODI years. That is why it is a tough decision for me - whether to have Imran in the 70s and 80s or Dhoni in the 2000s and 2010s.

Assuming that Dhoni would have been born in the 50s and Kohli would have been born in the 60s, and would have played in the 70's and 80's respectively makes no sense.

Pakistan second best cricket nation? You are having a laugh. West Indies is still ahead and India surpassed Pakistan long time back. South Africa is ahead as well, they do not have a World Cup trophy but they have done much better in Test cricket.

Pakistan is on par with England, but it does not have the deep history of English cricket.

Highly unlikely but not impossible. I will take a guaranteed sum of a million dollars instead of an uncertain sum of the same amount. How can Kohli be in the same class as Wasim, who has an outstanding record on the grandest stage of them all, when he has been nothing more than a huge choker in ODIs? Wasim is a bonafide legend of the ODI format and arguably the greatest ODI bowler of all time. Kohli will not reach his level until he replicates some of his form in ODI WCs. As for Dhoni, he is a fantastic player but nowhere near being the best ODI batsman of all-time. And this is only true in the ODI format. It is simply laughable to compare Dhoni and Kohli to Wasim Akram, as of today.

Yes, that is what I am saying. If you could only pick between Imran and Wasim from the 80s-90s or Dhoni and Kohli from the 00-10s, choosing the latter player would ensure that Pakistan would have been nothing more than a mediocre team for 20-30 years. No better than the Kiwis, Indians or Lankans of those times. That means no World Cup, no fast bowling tradition, no bragging rights over India, etc.

Even the batting culture that you long for would not be there because firstly, the Dhoni-Kohli era would only have begun around 2008 and we cannot say for sure what their impact would be on future generations and secondly, no Imran means that Inzamam - one of our greatest batsmen - might not have turned out to be the great player that he eventually did.

To finish, I would like to ask you what Dhoni and Kohli would give Pakistan that Imran and Wasim could not?

 

[Bilal7]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION], West Indies have been minnows for a long time now whereas Pakistan have still managed to be a good cricket team. Additionally, Pakistan has a better head-to-head W/L ratio than India as well as a better overall W/L ratio and this is true for both formats. England have only ever been a good cricket team, never a great one. A case can be made for South Africa being the #2 team but then again, there are arguments in favor of Pakistan as well.

1) Australia
2) Pakistan/South Africa
4) West Indies

 

[kuskash]

Highly unlikely but not impossible. I will take a guaranteed sum of a million dollars instead of an uncertain sum of the same amount. How can Kohli be in the same class as Wasim, who has an outstanding record on the grandest stage of them all, when he has been nothing more than a huge choker in ODIs? Wasim is a bonafide legend of the ODI format and arguably the greatest ODI bowler of all time. Kohli will not reach his level until he replicates some of his form in ODI WCs. As for Dhoni, he is a fantastic player but nowhere near being the best ODI batsman of all-time. And this is only true in the ODI format. It is simply laughable to compare Dhoni and Kohli to Wasim Akram, as of today.

Yes, that is what I am saying. If you could only pick between Imran and Wasim from the 80s-90s or Dhoni and Kohli from the 00-10s, choosing the latter player would ensure that Pakistan would have been nothing more than a mediocre team for 20-30 years. No better than the Kiwis, Indians or Lankans of those times. That means no World Cup, no fast bowling tradition, no bragging rights over India, etc.

Even the batting culture that you long for would not be there because firstly, the Dhoni-Kohli era would only have begun around 2008 and we cannot say for sure what their impact would be on future generations and secondly, no Imran means that Inzamam - one of our greatest batsmen - might not have turned out to be the great player that he eventually did.

To finish, I would like to ask you what Dhoni and Kohli would give Pakistan that Imran and Wasim could not?

"kohli has been nothing more than a huge choker in ODIs"- it means you really believe that he has not done anything in ODIs. Thanks all the nations for giving him almost 10K runs in charity.

 

[Bilal7]

"kohli has been nothing more than a huge choker in ODIs"- it means you really believe that he has not done anything in ODIs. Thanks all the nations for giving him almost 10K runs in charity.

In ODI World Cups.

 

[shariqnoor]

Highly unlikely but not impossible. I will take a guaranteed sum of a million dollars instead of an uncertain sum of the same amount. How can Kohli be in the same class as Wasim, who has an outstanding record on the grandest stage of them all, when he has been nothing more than a huge choker in ODIs? Wasim is a bonafide legend of the ODI format and arguably the greatest ODI bowler of all time. Kohli will not reach his level until he replicates some of his form in ODI WCs. As for Dhoni, he is a fantastic player but nowhere near being the best ODI batsman of all-time. And this is only true in the ODI format. It is simply laughable to compare Dhoni and Kohli to Wasim Akram, as of today.

Yes, that is what I am saying. If you could only pick between Imran and Wasim from the 80s-90s or Dhoni and Kohli from the 00-10s, choosing the latter player would ensure that Pakistan would have been nothing more than a mediocre team for 20-30 years. No better than the Kiwis, Indians or Lankans of those times. That means no World Cup, no fast bowling tradition, no bragging rights over India, etc.

Even the batting culture that you long for would not be there because firstly, the Dhoni-Kohli era would only have begun around 2008 and we cannot say for sure what their impact would be on future generations and secondly, no Imran means that Inzamam - one of our greatest batsmen - might not have turned out to be the great player that he eventually did.

To finish, I would like to ask you what Dhoni and Kohli would give Pakistan that Imran and Wasim could not?

It's not about that. It's just that Dhoni and Kohli are Indians and Imran and Wasim are Pakistanis. If the nationalities were reversed, he would've said that Dhoni and Kohli are nobodies in front of Imran and Wasim.

 

[Khan12]

Imran and wasim any day over them 2 and it's not even close. With all of our rubbish batting history we have still produced some excellent batsmens in hanif, zaheer, miadad etc what has India produced who is even remotely close shoaib akhtar let's alone wasim. A
nation of 1.8 billion people haven't produced a single fast bowler worth on note where cricket is the only sport.

 

[Buffet]

Looking up to players of other teams is not the same as looking up to your own countrymen. You cannot connect with foreign players the way you connect with your own.

Kohli will never be to other cricketers what he is to Indians. Wasim is a great bowler for the whole world, but he is Wasim only for Pakistan. Ditto Tendulkar for India and Imran for Pakistan.

In ODI I can understand, but how can Kohli+Dhoni have same weight as IK+Wasim in the test format. There is enough gap to not even have a debate in the test format

 

[Khan12]

In ODI I can understand, but how can Kohli+Dhoni have same weight as IK+Wasim in the test format. There is enough gap to not even have a debate in the test format

Because they are Indians and not Pakistani. I am sure if the nation's were reversed mamoon will laugh at this comparison and say it even worser then kholi vs akmal.

 

[FreePalestine]

Surely it should be Tendulkar and Kohli for Imran and Wasim?! Either way, on pure talent I am not swapping. Only if you count fixing antics etc, may I swap Wasim for one of them. Although he is probably the most naturally gifted cricketer out of all of them.

 

[hk031992]

Not in a million years. Imran and Wasim are light years away in test cricket.

Imran's test team drew multiple series vs the great West Indies side of the 80's- let's see Dhoni or Kohli come even close.

And both Imran and Wasim performed in a world cup's. Dhoni performed well in WC but Kohli has not. Even in ODI'S, Imran and Wasim are ahead.

The whole "we don't have fast bowlers of that caliber anymore" is rubbish. Imran and Wasim and Waqar inspired a ton of amazing quick bowlers. The fact that these guys (Asif, Amir, even Akhtar to a degree) threw away their potential isn't the fault of Akram and Khan.

I wouldn't trade Tendulkar and Kohli for Imran and Wasim. No way in either format.