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Unpopular opinions: Cricket edition

topspin said:
It would have been for the greater good of Pakistan cricket if Misbah retired from international cricket in 2013 after drawing against a minnow Zimbabwe side and losing every game in the 2013 CT to end what was Pakistan's worst ever performance in an ICC tournament.

Younis Khan should have led the Pakistan side from 2013 until retirement. His cricketing intelligence was evident from his captaincy in the side's 2009 WT20 winning campaign.

Amir would make a good captain and brings his best when the stakes are high as shown by his bowling performances in the 2009 WT20 Final, 2009 CT vs India, 2016 Asia Cup vs India and 2017 CT Final.

Yasir Shah is the most overrated spinner in the 21st century thus far courtesy of Shane Warne.

India has the best ODI bowling attack.

Pakistan's number 1 ranking in T20Is is bogus as it gets and the reality check awaits those who think the contrary in next year's WT20.

PCB is neglected by BCCI but they brought it upon themselves.

If Asif had played 70 - 80 tests he would have been Pakistan's greatest test bowler ever.
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How are most of these unpopular when they are quite widely acknowledged?
 
Bilal7 said:
In addition to this, I would say that Kohli has never won his team anything of note. Whenever he does score a lot of runs, he either gets outbatted by an opposing batsman or chokes at crucial points and his team loses. India's biggest wins this decade have all come due to other players, with Kohli contributing next to nothing:

- WC 2011: Dhoni, Zaheer, Yuvraj and Sachin
- Australia test series win: Pujara, being lucky with the toss and pace bowlers.
- CT: Again, not Kohli.

I don't think it is an unpopular opinion anymore to suggest that Ashwin is disgustingly overrated and is arguably, not even among the top five spin bowlers of this decade. In any format.
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The amount of stupidity and lameness in this post is beyond universe. Just shows how much you envy a few players (read Kohli) for whatever obvious reasons.

Too say that Kohli has "never" won anything of note for his team is just senseless. I can list out numerous occasions of him single handedly taking India over the line in crucial situations, but no. I don't like feeding the trolls.
 
rollingstoned said:
How are most of these unpopular when they are quite widely acknowledged?
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Which ones do you think are widely acknowledged? You'll find most people (including the fan base on PP) would not concur with such views.
 
Stalin said:
The amount of stupidity and lameness in this post is beyond universe. Just shows how much you envy a few players (read Kohli) for whatever obvious reasons.

Too say that Kohli has "never" won anything of note for his team is just senseless. I can list out numerous occasions of him single handedly taking India over the line in crucial situations, but no. I don't like feeding the trolls.
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This response stems from his rage after a horrid prediction (2-1 to Pakistan vs SA) and seeing India win in Australia.
 
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Wasim and Waqar were useless against the big teams of their era and achieved nothing of note in the second half of their career.
 
Its impossible to do proper reverse swing without ball tampering. All yesteryear bowlers could only manage to do those famous banana reverse swing because of lack of camera's on field.
 
Faheem Ashraf will unfortunately not turn out to be the allrounder we want for Pakistan team. He will essentially become a decent pace bowl that can inconsistently hit boundaries.
 
Great to see the love for Yousuf, has some odd opinions these days (he’d be all of this thread as a PPer!) - wonderful batsman, his big hundreds in England were crackers.
 
Stalin said:
The amount of stupidity and lameness in this post is beyond universe. Just shows how much you envy a few players (read Kohli) for whatever obvious reasons.

Too say that Kohli has "never" won anything of note for his team is just senseless. I can list out numerous occasions of him single handedly taking India over the line in crucial situations, but no. I don't like feeding the trolls.
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Perhaps you could have responded by listing the major test series and/or tournaments that Kohli has won for his team instead of writing two paragraphs about how "beyond universe" my claim was. That would be called making an argument, not "feeding the trolls".

You just proved why this is such an unpopular opinion through your reaction.
 
WengerOut said:
Younis Khan can't play pace and seam.
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That is simply a wrong opinion, not an unpopular one. You don't average 50+ in England and Australia if you cannot play pace and seam.

Younis has actually done better in Australia and South Africa than Rahul Dravid.
 
I have no respect for Javed Miandad. He sullied his cricket legacy post-retirement by leeching off the PCB in several failed positions where he achieved nothing. His own record was inflated in the era before neutral umpires.

Younis Khan however did not play a single Test in Pakistan in the second half of his career, and had DRS as well as neutral umpires to contend with.

Canford Cliffs said:
Its impossible to do proper reverse swing without ball tampering. All yesteryear bowlers could only manage to do those famous banana reverse swing because of lack of camera's on field.
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Agreed. People love to reminisce about the "banana swing" Imran and the 2Ws generated but ignore the helpful assistance provided by bottlecaps etc. You can't help but look back at the old videos with suspicion.
 
WengerOut said:
Younis Khan can't play pace and seam.
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This isn't an unpopular opinion but an uninformed and ignorant one.

You don't score a double century against Anderson, Broad and Woakes or 175* against Starc and Hazlewood without being able to play pace. On the 2006 tour of England against Harmison and Hoggard who were red hot after the Ashes win, he scored 173 at Headingley with his backfoot shots against the steepling bounce of Harmison being a particular treat. In the Old Trafford Test when Pakistan were brutally exposed against Harmison's bounce - Younis top scored in both innings.

He scored also scored a hundred in New Zealand against in Auckland in 2001 and a hundred against Steyn, Morkel and Philander in Cape Town in 2013. He also had the best average of all Pakistani batsmen in the 2007 tour of South Africa.

It's true his reflexes against pace slowed down but that's natural when you play well past your mid 30s. To the Pakistan fans who criticised his supposed inability to play pace and kept calling for his retirement for years so the young Bradmans he was apparently holding back could replace him - I hope you're thrilled with the jokers masquerading as batsmen we have now.
 
Pakistani fans desperately want Sri Lanka to win series in Australia so they can downplay Indias historic series win...
 
topspin said:
This response stems from his rage after a horrid prediction (2-1 to Pakistan vs SA) and seeing India win in Australia.
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Lol I can remember when he use to say Kohli doesn't have a match winning century in ODIs against Australia,England ,NZ,and South Africa. He would make sure that filler doesn't include Kohli match winning knocks versus other teams in those countries. Also Kohli scored in India's win in SA last year so he doesn't even bring it up now :))) .

It's what you call looking at things from a green tinted point of view my friend.
 
Bilal7 said:
Perhaps you could have responded by listing the major test series and/or tournaments that Kohli has won for his team instead of writing two paragraphs about how "beyond universe" my claim was. That would be called making an argument, not "feeding the trolls".

You just proved why this is such an unpopular opinion through your reaction.
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Can you tell me how many match winning scores Kohli in South Africa and Australia now? Since you kept on harping on about this but seem to have gone silent on it since Kohli scored in the SA LO series last year:)) . I thought you respect batsmen who score in all conditions . You might want to look at Kohlis average away from home before contradicting yourself.

Just come to the conclusion you have no respect for the game of cricket if you can't admit Kohli is a future ATG and that you were so wrong on him.
 
Bilal7 said:
That is simply a wrong opinion, not an unpopular one. You don't average 50+ in England and Australia if you cannot play pace and seam.

Younis has actually done better in Australia and South Africa than Rahul Dravid.
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His 50 average in Aus is accentuated by that 175* in the dead rubber and that too in flattest era Sydney. Similarly in Oval. Cape Town was also a SC style wicket where Ajmal made merry. Look, i did not want to bring stats coz some things are obvious and not described by stats.
 
Markhor said:
This isn't an unpopular opinion but an uninformed and ignorant one.

You don't score a double century against Anderson, Broad and Woakes or 175* against Starc and Hazlewood without being able to play pace. On the 2006 tour of England against Harmison and Hoggard who were red hot after the Ashes win, he scored 173 at Headingley with his backfoot shots against the steepling bounce of Harmison being a particular treat. In the Old Trafford Test when Pakistan were brutally exposed against Harmison's bounce - Younis top scored in both innings.

He scored also scored a hundred in New Zealand against in Auckland in 2001 and a hundred against Steyn, Morkel and Philander in Cape Town in 2013. He also had the best average of all Pakistani batsmen in the 2007 tour of South Africa.

It's true his reflexes against pace slowed down but that's natural when you play well past your mid 30s. To the Pakistan fans who criticised his supposed inability to play pace and kept calling for his retirement for years so the young Bradmans he was apparently holding back could replace him - I hope you're thrilled with the jokers masquerading as batsmen we have now.
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Look, it is not about stats. He can average 20 but if he had performed on an authentic Aus or SA track, it would have been a different opinion. But he consistently failed on those situations. He scored on SC style tracks on those countries.
 
WengerOut said:
His 50 average in Aus is accentuated by that 175* in the dead rubber and that too in flattest era Sydney. Similarly in Oval. Cape Town was also a SC style wicket where Ajmal made merry. Look, i did not want to bring stats coz some things are obvious and not described by stats.
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Yeah as if...Kohli in 2014 and Pujara in the recent series scored on green mambas in Australia.

The Oval is one of the fastest and bouncier wickets in England.

Cape Town pitch got slower as the game pogressed but it was a fresh 1st morning wicket against peak Steyn, Philander and Morkel with Pak 30-4 (hardly subcontinent-like) when Younis came in and scored that 100.

Younis Khan wasn't the best batsman against pace but the amount of hate he gets here is so ignorant and stupid.

He was pretty decent early on in his career and gradually in late 30s his reflexes slowed down.
People judge him by seeing him in the last stage of his career when he had obviously declined.

He did well in NZ, Eng early on in his career and hardly got a chance to play in Australia at his peak but still did pretty well.

And not to forget he was the second to none against spin as well as his great 4th innings record.

He may not be the best batsman in world but he wasn't half as bad as people make it seem here.
 
Ashmal said:
Yeah as if...Kohli in 2014 and Pujara in the recent series scored on green mambas in Australia.

The Oval is one of the fastest and bouncier wickets in England.

Cape Town pitch got slower as the game pogressed but it was a fresh 1st morning wicket against peak Steyn, Philander and Morkel with Pak 30-4 (hardly subcontinent-like) when Younis came in and scored that 100.

Younis Khan wasn't the best batsman against pace but the amount of hate he gets here is so ignorant and stupid.

He was pretty decent early on in his career and gradually in late 30s his reflexes slowed down.
People judge him by seeing him in the last stage of his career when he had obviously declined.

He did well in NZ, Eng early on in his career and hardly got a chance to play in Australia at his peak but still did pretty well.

And not to forget he was the second to none against spin as well as his great 4th innings record.

He may not be the best batsman in world but he wasn't half as bad as people make it seem here.
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Like i thought, quite unpopular opinion
 
Bilal7 said:
Perhaps you could have responded by listing the major test series and/or tournaments that Kohli has won for his team instead of writing two paragraphs about how "beyond universe" my claim was. That would be called making an argument, not "feeding the trolls".

You just proved why this is such an unpopular opinion through your reaction.
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Kohli is the captain of the team which won a test series in aus.
He scored runs at avg of 41,and was the third highest run scorer of the series. 41 average looks less but this is bcoz of his high standards.
Kohli has already won a bigger test series than younis did in his entire career. FACT.

In his entire career younis won just one away series and that too in New Zealand. Kohli already has a much bigger series win.

The fact is that younis khan won nothing of note away from home in his entire career.
Kohli already has bigger impact on away series.
Now even if we remove these "impact" constraints and compare younis with kohli based on stats, then kohli beats younis khan easily.
Never forget
Kohli 11 centuries in SENA (age 30)
Younis 5 centuries in sena.
Lets see what excuses u come up with.
 
Hasan123 said:
Lol I can remember when he use to say Kohli doesn't have a match winning century in ODIs against Australia,England ,NZ,and South Africa. He would make sure that filler doesn't include Kohli match winning knocks versus other teams in those countries. Also Kohli scored in India's win in SA last year so he doesn't even bring it up now :))) .

It's what you call looking at things from a green tinted point of view my friend.
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In addition don't forget this time last year (prior to the NZ whitewash ODI series), he claimed Babar Azam > Kohli in ODIs on the basis of his 55-57 average. After the series I asked him about this, his response was "I believe Babar will surpass Kohli by the end of his career" without any insight whatsoever.

The number of times he ends up embarrassing himself and eating his own words is just countless.
 
topspin said:
In addition don't forget this time last year (prior to the NZ whitewash ODI series), he claimed Babar Azam > Kohli in ODIs on the basis of his 55-57 average. After the series I asked him about this, his response was "I believe Babar will surpass Kohli by the end of his career" without any insight whatsoever.

The number of times he ends up embarrassing himself and eating his own words is just countless.
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Babar won't surpass Kohli.

Does he really think Babar will have over 50 centuries in international cricket by the age of 30? :))
 
Pete Rose said:
Wasim as well. His figures are masked by early performances in Australia
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By the time Australia became the greatest team in the world Wasim was 30 plus. He had already been diagonosed as a insulin dependent diabetic. So his decline in performance was what happens with most Fast bowlers post 30.
 
cricketjoshila said:
By the time Australia became the greatest team in the world Wasim was 30 plus. He had already been diagonosed as a insulin dependent diabetic. So his decline in performance was what happens with most Fast bowlers post 30.
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Not Steyn, not McGrath etc etc
 
Hasan123 said:
Babar won't surpass Kohli.

Does he really think Babar will have over 50 centuries in international cricket by the age of 30? :))
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Even if babay fulfills these prophesies, he will need a conversion rate better than Kohli’s because we won’t get to play as many games as India as per ftp
 
Pete Rose said:
Even if babay fulfills these prophesies, he will need a conversion rate better than Kohli’s because we won’t get to play as many games as India as per ftp
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FTP is irrelevant. He won't surpass Kohli and that doesnt mean he can't have a good career.
 
While their names are often touted together, ability wise, Bret Lee did not compare to Shoaib Akhtar.
 
Ponting gets more credit than he deserves as a captain.
Yousaf was a great batsman but he never won matches for Pakistan.
Shane Bond was better than Shoaib, Lee etc.
Cook is overrated and one of the worst to score 10k+.
McCullum is overrated as a captain.
Pakistan's best world cup side was in 96.
Pujara is India's best test batsman ahead of Kohli.
Broad is better than Anderson in terms of impact overall.
ABD was a massive choker.
Williamson is better than Root and Smith in tests.
Hafeez as a bowler is underrated.
 
Hasan123 said:
Can you tell me how many match winning scores Kohli in South Africa and Australia now? Since you kept on harping on about this but seem to have gone silent on it since Kohli scored in the SA LO series last year:)) . I thought you respect batsmen who score in all conditions . You might want to look at Kohlis average away from home before contradicting yourself.

Just come to the conclusion you have no respect for the game of cricket if you can't admit Kohli is a future ATG and that you were so wrong on him.
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Err... What was I wrong about? Kohli was a failure against seam and swing for the longest time but credit to him, he improved his batting and did well in South Africa and England. Since he did that, I have no more reason to bring it up anymore. I don't see the problem here.

WengerOut said:
His 50 average in Aus is accentuated by that 175* in the dead rubber and that too in flattest era Sydney. Similarly in Oval. Cape Town was also a SC style wicket where Ajmal made merry. Look, i did not want to bring stats coz some things are obvious and not described by stats.
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Yet, Kohli's four centuries in Australia are a miracle? Australia has had flat pitches since 2015 but they always have pace down there and Khan faced proper fast bowlers during that innings.

Oval was the quickest pitch of the series and also had the most amount of seam movement, IIRC. This is not an opinion but a fact that was revealed through technology. Look it up.

Cape Town was nowhere near a subcontinental wicket. Pakistan was four down for a handful at one point before Younis and Shafiq played blinders. Ajmal taking 10 is not a surprise, he's the greatest spinner of this decade across formats.

jeeteshssaxena said:
Kohli is the captain of the team which won a test series in aus.
He scored runs at avg of 41,and was the third highest run scorer of the series. 41 average looks less but this is bcoz of his high standards.
Kohli has already won a bigger test series than younis did in his entire career. FACT.

In his entire career younis won just one away series and that too in New Zealand. Kohli already has a much bigger series win.

The fact is that younis khan won nothing of note away from home in his entire career.
Kohli already has bigger impact on away series.
Now even if we remove these "impact" constraints and compare younis with kohli based on stats, then kohli beats younis khan easily.
Never forget
Kohli 11 centuries in SENA (age 30)
Younis 5 centuries in sena.
Lets see what excuses u come up with.
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An average of 41 is not a series-winning contribution. This win against the weakest Australian side of recent memory was all down to Pujara and the fast bowlers. Kohli as captain did absolutely nothing to help the team. He's a poor captain and this is the consensus among some of his ardent supporters.

Younis helped Pakistan draw a series in England and take them to #1 in the rankings. He was far more influential in his team's greatest test achievement this decade than Kohli was for India. The NZ win is just icing on the cake.

Kohli can score another nine useless centuries in SENA but if the end result is India losing like is the case with 90% of those centuries, no one will care. Khan's double at the Oval is far better than any of Kohli's hundreds up to this point.

Pete Rose said:
Even if babay fulfills these prophesies, he will need a conversion rate better than Kohli’s because we won’t get to play as many games as India as per ftp
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It's not simply about the numbers otherwise Sachin would be the greatest batsman of all time.
 
Cape Town was nowhere near a subcontinental wicket. Pakistan was four down for a handful at one point before Younis and Shafiq played blinders. Ajmal taking 10 is not a surprise, he's the greatest spinner of this decade across formats.
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Cape town was indeed a subcontinental type wicket.Proof:
Smith: "It was a tough Test. The conditions reminded me of the subcontinent. Ajmal's not the No.1 bowler for no reason. It's a quality bunch of guys. We were hoping to strike with the second new ball but Vernon struck for us. We turned it around in our first innings. Robbie's 84 really contributed well for us."
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An average of 41 is not a series-winning contribution. This win against the weakest Australian side of recent memory was all down to Pujara and the fast bowlers. Kohli as captain did absolutely nothing to help the team. He's a poor captain and this is the consensus among some of his ardent supporters.
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An average of 41 may not be series winning but it certainly is a decent average when you consider that the series was a bowler dominated series.Kohli was the third highest run scorer in the only series india won in AUS,a great achievement.As far as captaincy is considered kohli's team is on top of rankings,he won a test series in aus was competitive in SA and has also won 2 test series in srilanka(first to do so).
So Facts>opinions.

Younis helped Pakistan draw a series in England and take them to #1 in the rankings. He was far more influential in his team's greatest test achievement this decade than Kohli was for India. The NZ win is just icing on the cake.
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A series win in australia is ten times bigger acheivement than drawing a test series in england,where both of india and england have already won three test series each.
If drawing a test series in england is your teams biggest achievement ,then sorry your team has'nt done much this decade.India's test series draw in Sa in 2011, is a much bigger achievement.Younis averaged 47 in 2016 england test series thats not .47 IS not a humongous average ,infact 41 and 47 are quite comparable.

Before you come up with questionmarks on AUS series win due to absence of cheats,let me make it clear that:
1.aus series win in india in 2004 , two player injured-sACHIN AND HARBHajan.Best batsman and aussies biggest nightmare in india(remember 2001).
2.PAK TEST SERIES DRAW IN WI-Malcomm marshall and ViV rICHARDS Were absent in the only test match pak won.
3.Eng ashes win in 2005-Mcgrath did'nt play.
and yet no one raises any questions on those wins.So basically our test series win will be remembered as the first test series win in aus despite all accusations.
Kohli can score another nine useless centuries in SENA but if the end result is India losing like is the case with 90% of those centuries, no one will care. Khan's double at the Oval is far better than any of Kohli's hundreds up to this point.
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People do care, younis khan has 2 centuries in wins in SENA even greats like sachin,lara have two centuries in wins in SENA,but what separates sachin and lara from younis is his performance in all countries and no. of centuries scored(even if they come in lost series).
A crystal clear record in all countries is the first parameter to judge a great batsman.Accoring to you younis may be even better than LARA,but thats you living in la la land,please have a look outside your fantasy world,kohli is consideres a better batsman than any pakistani ever.Worldwide accepted.
 
Bilal7 said:
Err... What was I wrong about? Kohli was a failure against seam and swing for the longest time but credit to him, he improved his batting and did well in South Africa and England. Since he did that, I have no more reason to bring it up anymore. I don't see the problem here.



Yet, Kohli's four centuries in Australia are a miracle? Australia has had flat pitches since 2015 but they always have pace down there and Khan faced proper fast bowlers during that innings.

Oval was the quickest pitch of the series and also had the most amount of seam movement, IIRC. This is not an opinion but a fact that was revealed through technology. Look it up.

Cape Town was nowhere near a subcontinental wicket. Pakistan was four down for a handful at one point before Younis and Shafiq played blinders. Ajmal taking 10 is not a surprise, he's the greatest spinner of this decade across formats.



An average of 41 is not a series-winning contribution. This win against the weakest Australian side of recent memory was all down to Pujara and the fast bowlers. Kohli as captain did absolutely nothing to help the team. He's a poor captain and this is the consensus among some of his ardent supporters.

Younis helped Pakistan draw a series in England and take them to #1 in the rankings. He was far more influential in his team's greatest test achievement this decade than Kohli was for India. The NZ win is just icing on the cake.

Kohli can score another nine useless centuries in SENA but if the end result is India losing like is the case with 90% of those centuries, no one will care. Khan's double at the Oval is far better than any of Kohli's hundreds up to this point.



It's not simply about the numbers otherwise Sachin would be the greatest batsman of all time.
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The way you was talking as though he never would score in those countries :)) .

You convientley ignore the subject as your bias was thoroughly exposed.
 
What Sarfaraz said was unfortunate but it was blown out of proportion.Should face no ban and should lead in the WC
 
Cricket as a gentleman game is why cricket is not fun nor a global sport. You can't express your passion freely. It's a sport full of silly and unnecessary rules.It's not spectacle friendly but instead based on "English sophistication". And the only format which can be fun is T20, and yet these people want to stop it.

T20 has made the game selfless. Earlier cricket was more selfish, as batsman primarily looked to protect their wickets instead of actually playing to team requirements. T20 has made them play with higher tempo and pressurize the bowlers. It's like "geganpressing" in football instead of slow tempo football. Probably my main reason why T20s is the best thing for cricket...
 
Tracer Bullet said:
Yes fact only for Pakistani fans for obvious reason...
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I’ve lost count to the amount of times Sachin would expose the tail in test cricket, how many times did we see him take a single of the first ball from a pace bowler when he was batting with the tail?

If he was more concerned for the team and not for his own stats then he’d have retired after WC2011.
 
If Pakistan hosted Bangladesh for a 3 test series in the UAE, they would not start as favorites.


Or West Indies.
 
v2 Sharjeel after his comeback in 2016 (and prior to his ban) was on par with David Warner in ODIs as evident by the below stats:

2016 - Average: 40.89 @ SR 149.59
2017 - Average 50.00 @ SR 115.21
 
topspin said:
v2 Sharjeel after his comeback in 2016 (and prior to his ban) was on par with David Warner in ODIs as evident by the below stats:

2016 - Average: 40.89 @ SR 149.59
2017 - Average 50.00 @ SR 115.21
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Please dont remind of that, considering how poor our batting is in general, that hurts.
 
gazza619 said:
Please dont remind of that, considering how poor our batting is in general, that hurts.
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It hurts me everyday knowing Pakistan could have gone into the WC with a menacing top 3 in their batting line up.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Mohammad Asif > Wasim Akram
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topspin said:
v2 Sharjeel after his comeback in 2016 (and prior to his ban) was on par with David Warner in ODIs as evident by the below stats:

2016 - Average: 40.89 @ SR 149.59
2017 - Average 50.00 @ SR 115.21
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Yes, every banned Pak player was somehow supposed to be great. :))

This same logic was given for Amir when he was banned...how he is better than Wasim at the same age, how Steyn is no.1 only bcoz Amir is banned etc. The myth got busted when he actually got back and people noted how poor he actually is. Now the talk of the town is Asif and Sharjeel.

Asif is never coming back, so we will live with this delusion for ever. But Sharjeel myth will be busted pretty soon.
 
Canford Cliffs said:
Yes, every banned Pak player was somehow supposed to be great. :))

This same logic was given for Amir when he was banned...how he is better than Wasim at the same age, how Steyn is no.1 only bcoz Amir is banned etc. The myth got busted when he actually got back and people noted how poor he actually is. Now the talk of the town is Asif and Sharjeel.

Asif is never coming back, so we will live with this delusion for ever. But Sharjeel myth will be busted pretty soon.
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No Amir was never ATG calibre, so it isn't wise to use a couple of examples to make such sweeping generalisations.

Asif on the other hand was ATG calibre - only a blind man would suggest the contrary.

After Sharjeel's comeback in 2016, he had an up and down series in England but after working on his front foot game he was on the ascendancy and the number show that he was delivering on par with David Warner.

You don't average 50+ with a SR of 115 against the Starc (MOTM WC 2015), Hazlewood (WC winner) and Cummins at their backyard. Only an ignorant would be so dismissive with such numbers against such a bowling attack, but I respect that's your opinion, would be nice if you offered some insight as to why you feel "the myth will be busted pretty soon".
 
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The ban of the spot fixing trio cost Pakistan the 2011 WC.
 
topspin said:
No Amir was never ATG calibre, so it isn't wise to use a couple of examples to make such sweeping generalisations.

Asif on the other hand was ATG calibre - only a blind man would suggest the contrary.

After Sharjeel's comeback in 2016, he had an up and down series in England but after working on his front foot game he was on the ascendancy and the number show that he was delivering on par with David Warner.

You don't average 50+ with a SR of 115 against the Starc (MOTM WC 2015), Hazlewood (WC winner) and Cummins at their backyard. Only an ignorant would be so dismissive with such numbers against such a bowling attack, but I respect that's your opinion, would be nice if you offered some insight as to why you feel "the myth will be busted pretty soon".
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What? Maybe you should read posts regarding Amir when he was banned. He was hailed as the next prodigy who is better than Akram at same age and only reason Steyn became no.1 bcoz he is banned. We used to constantly hear "Wait until Amir comes back". The hype was so big that even PCB fell for it to fast track him. Anyone who was against his return (eg Ramiz Raja) was criticized like no tomorrow. All threads are there...you just gotta search them.

I am not saying Asif and Sarjeel wont do great if and when they come back. But to somehow glorify banned cricketers is becoming habbit for few fans here. Let them come back, perform and we will see how good they really are.
 
Canford Cliffs said:
What? Maybe you should read posts regarding Amir when he was banned. He was hailed as the next prodigy who is better than Akram at same age and only reason Steyn became no.1 bcoz he is banned. We used to constantly hear "Wait until Amir comes back". The hype was so big that even PCB fell for it to fast track him. Anyone who was against his return (eg Ramiz Raja) was criticized like no tomorrow. All threads are there...you just gotta search them.

I am not saying Asif and Sarjeel wont do great if and when they come back. But to somehow glorify banned cricketers is becoming habbit for few fans here. Let them come back, perform and we will see how good they really are.
Click to expand...

I don't associate myself with the abundance of the green tinted hype brigade's delusions and they deserve this ridicule. For anyone to suggest Amir would have been no.1 ahead of Steyn on the basis of a test average of 29 is just a indicator of how woeful their cricket insight really is. Besides he was carried by Asif and wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful (in his pre-bans days), if he wasn't bowling alongside him who was always there taking holding his own at the other end.

As for Sharjeel's return, I'm by no means suggesting he will be back to where he left off because we don't know what his fitness will be like and whether he will able to replicate such form after such a long absence. If he can prove form and fitness in domestics (including next year's PSL), he will be needed in the Pakistan side.

Asif is finished now and even if he wasn't banned who knows what other shenanigans he would have got himself embroiled into, but we can surely agree he was truly ATG calibre. Just a shame he had such a short lived career.
 
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