Cricket does not work like that. Even the worst fielder in the world does not cost 15-20 runs per game. Besides, Inzamam was not a bad fielder by any means. Yes he was slow and unathletic, but he was an excellent catcher and had a very strong arm.
As far as his fitness is concerned, it is true that it hampered him from fulfilling his potential especially in ODIs. He should have ended with a lot more tons but was usually out of breath after 70-80 deliveries. Every single was a burden on his heavy frame.
His 83 fifties but only 10 hundreds tell a story. With better fitness, he would have had scored 25+ hundreds.
Even in Tests, he underachieved. He was much better than what his rubbish record against Australia and South Africa show.
He would be the first name on the team sheet today in all formats because no contemporary Pakistani batsman is anywhere close to him, and not only Pakistan but he would make into most playing XIs.
Of all the Asian batsmen, in terms of all-round ability and versatility, he is only behind Kohli and Tendulkar in my view, and on par with the likes of Aravinda. However, performance wise, he was outclassed by a quite a few less gifted batsmen.
Imran though has often overrated him by comparing him with Tendulkar and Viv, but it is largely down to the fact that he owes him the World Cup. Imran had played a terrible, match-losing innings in the semifinal (it was as bad as Misbah’s Mohali), but Inzamam’s once in a lifetime innings changed the course of the game.
That Herculean effort gave Imran the chance to make amends in the final where he played a splendid knock.
Nonetheless, one of the top three batsmen produced by Pakistan would comfortably get into one of the worst lineups in history of Pakistan.
