Wasim/Waqar vs Akhtar/Asif - Which was the better duo and who did you like to watch more?

[shaz619]

The Double W's v The Double A's, who were the best at their peak? and who did you enjoy watching the most?

It's a tough one for me because both duo's were incredibly successful and entertaining to watch, they had the skill, the charisma and that box office drawing power absolute superstars; to me they were the whole package and a dream for a cricket fan.

 

[Wasim_Waqar]

It's not even a contest. Wasim and Waqar are the greatest fast bowling pair to ever play the game.

 

[Buffet]

Lopsided comparison.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

The answer would be Wasim & Waqar but I did not watch them in their peak.


More than Akhtar & Asif I would go with Asif & Amir.

 

[Slog]

Its not even a contest bro

Also Id be interested to know how many Test matches did they even play together?

I only remember one. In SA in 2007 where Akhtar did well in first innings and then got injured and missed out on bowling in the second innings

 

[Pete Rose]

Let me be a little contrarian. If I could get the peak of Akhtar and Asif, I would prefer them against South Africa and Australia.

 

[Slog]

Its not even a contest bro

Also Id be interested to know how many Test matches did they even play together?

I only remember one. In SA in 2007 where Akhtar did well in first innings and then got injured and missed out on bowling in the second innings

Damn forgot about the India tests

 

[shaz619]

The answer would be Wasim & Waqar but I did not watch them in their peak.


More than Akhtar & Asif I would go with Asif & Amir.

I second this, share the same feelings. Although I prefer Akhtar + Asif

 

[shaz619]

Its not even a contest bro

Also Id be interested to know how many Test matches did they even play together?

I only remember one. In SA in 2007 where Akhtar did well in first innings and then got injured and missed out on bowling in the second innings

I know but it's still interesting to get some opinions, posters have refrained from answering the question "whom did you enjoy watching bowl more" as well

And the comparison is purely the peaks of each duo and not as a whole because Asif and Akhtar didn't bowl as much together. We can also look at it as, a peak akhtar paired with a peak asif rather then the pairing from the mid 2000's where Akhtar had a career resurgence but his peak was during the late 90's to early 2000's.

 

[shaz619]

Let me be a little contrarian. If I could get the peak of Akhtar and Asif, I would prefer them against South Africa and Australia.

Interesting, Akhtar especially relished facing the Aussies didn't he

 

[Hasan123]

Wasim and Waqar easily. Asif and Akthar didn't play together enough.

 

[QalandarFan]

Wasim and Waqar any day.

A more even comparison would have been Asif/Akhtar vs Asif/Amir. Even then I would pick Asif/Amir loved watching those two bowl!

 

[Speedster777]

Asif and Akhtar have not played long enough to be compared with the two W's. Besides, Akhtar used to get injured every now and then. Wasim and Waqar at their peak were the best bowling pair I'll say.

 

[Justcrazy]

Wasim and Waqar .

At there peaks , waqar was slightly better version of akhtar.

Wasim had more tricks than Asif.

 

[Idrees1990]

Wasim and Waqar .

At there peaks , waqar was slightly better version of akhtar.

Wasim had more tricks than Asif.

Wasim was absolutely legend and not taking anything away from him but you can't say that he had more tricks then asif. Asif mastered wobble seam (very very difficult) and could swing accurately both ways with the same action. Asif was also better new bowl bowler imo.

 

[Suleiman]

Everyone knows who's better, but Asif/Akhtar was more fun to follow since they had so many feuds against each other of their own, yet we needed them the most in the mid 00's, but both lacked any respect for themselves and got banned for substance abuse when we needed them the most.

Had they been a bit more professional and put country first, that tour to England in 2006 would've been us walking out victors as our batting did its job and went toe to toe with England's in all but 1 test, but we lacked serious heat in our bowling which cost us.

That has always been the case for us, whenever we have the right players, they have so many off-field issues be it fixing, indiscipline, drugs that we never play to our full capacity and end up on the losing side. At least that is changing now.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Asif and Akhtar have not bowled together enough. Wasim and Waqar win this one very very easily.

 

[shaz619]

Everyone knows who's better, but Asif/Akhtar was more fun to follow since they had so many feuds against each other of their own, yet we needed them the most in the mid 00's, but both lacked any respect for themselves and got banned for substance abuse when we needed them the most.

Had they been a bit more professional and put country first, that tour to England in 2006 would've been us walking out victors as our batting did its job and went toe to toe with England's in all but 1 test, but we lacked serious heat in our bowling which cost us.

That has always been the case for us, whenever we have the right players, they have so many off-field issues be it fixing, indiscipline, drugs that we never play to our full capacity and end up on the losing side. At least that is changing now.

That's such a shame, could have been one hell of a final hurrah for Akhtar to who was experiencing a career resurgence. The bowling was entirely dependent on Kaneria who got little support. I never watched enough of Wasim/Waqar but thoroughly enjoyed the pairing of Akhtar and Asif even if it was short lived they made for an amazing duo who should have achieved a lot more

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

I actually enjoyed Akhtar and Wasim together

 

[msb314]

Everyone knows who's better, but Asif/Akhtar was more fun to follow since they had so many feuds against each other of their own, yet we needed them the most in the mid 00's, but both lacked any respect for themselves and got banned for substance abuse when we needed them the most.

Had they been a bit more professional and put country first, that tour to England in 2006 would've been us walking out victors as our batting did its job and went toe to toe with England's in all but 1 test, but we lacked serious heat in our bowling which cost us.

That has always been the case for us, whenever we have the right players, they have so many off-field issues be it fixing, indiscipline, drugs that we never play to our full capacity and end up on the losing side. At least that is changing now.

It came at a heavy price though.

Misbah's team was largely controversy-free but his preferred squad all peaked at the same time and were in similar age brackets.

YK (for all practical purposes) is 40+ whilst Sarfraz, Azhar, Asad, Wahab, Sohail etc. are all 30+

Once MIsbah and YK go - we will have a huge generation gap. Haris, Fawad, Babar can fill them in but Asad and Azhar are just a few poor series away from being dropped and them being on the wrong side of 30 will make it ever so harder for Mickey to recall them. Same goes for Sarfraz who has been living on thin ice for a long time.

IMO our Test team will decline dramatically soon. The NZ tour was just the calm before the storm...

 

[SLcric123]

Wasim/Waqar by some distance..

 

[Sachin136]

Its not even a contest bro

Also Id be interested to know how many Test matches did they even play together?

I only remember one. In SA in 2007 where Akhtar did well in first innings and then got injured and missed out on bowling in the second innings

They only played 4 matches together. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...volve_type=all;template=results;type=allround

 

[kingusama92]

I'm dissatisfied with the choices.

Where's the Rao Ifthikar Anjum + Rana Naved Ul Hasan duo?

 

[hafizexpress]

Haven't watched much of them as I started to watch Cricket properly after 2010. But I do know for a fact that Wasim/Waqar were a much more devestating pair.

Since I have been watching, my favourites have been Amir/Asif and Irfan/Junaid!

 

[coy0607]

you can go on youtube, and look at 25 year clips of Wasim and Waqar, and they're a pure joy to watch- even in their blurry poor quality


I mean c'mon man, who are you even asking this question?

 

[moghul]

Not a serious comparison, ATG due Vs also ran . Akhtar and Asif were very good bowlers but did not achieve much together.

 

[Slog]

They only played 4 matches together. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...volve_type=all;template=results;type=allround

lol so effectively only 1.5 matches

the Faisalabad match vs India was a sham

The Sydney one in 2005 too

Karachi one was a proper match

And in SA one, Akhtar walked out injured on 2nd day and misssed the rest of the match