"With Imran Nazir, we could have had a player better than Virender Sehwag" : Shoaib Akhtar

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shoaib Akhtar "It's unfortunate that we do not know how to take care of our players. With Imran Nazir, we could have had a player better than Virender Sehwag. He had all the shots & was a good fielder. We could have utilised him much better but we just didn’t" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1255161483224285186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
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[andy0204]

I always rated him as a batsman,scored a test century against Walsh and Ambrose.

 

[Rana]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shoaib Akhtar "It's unfortunate that we do not know how to take care of our players. With Imran Nazir, we could have had a player better than Virender Sehwag. He had all the shots & was a good fielder. We could have utilised him much better but we just didn’t" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1255161483224285186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
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It’s more about applying yourself.

It wasn’t PCB who are at fault if the player keeps getting himself out softly. Him and Afridi have been the kings of soft dismissals in their entire careers

 

[Swashbuckler]

Didn't have the temperament, neither the application. A whole lot of other factors, these experts must be even more bored than us.

 

[Varun]

Didn't have the temperament, neither the application. A whole lot of other factors, these experts must be even more bored than us.

Are you really calling Shoaib Akhtar an "expert"?

 

[TeymurBlake]

He was a good attacking opener, very aggressive style. The problem is he kept on getting himself out looking to play shots and couldn't apply himself and set the tone for the other batters.

 

[ali061091]

Many people have seen him in the last few years of his career where he was more of a slogger but when he started his career he was a proper batsman.

 

[Savak]

Have to agree, Nazir had the talent, he was not handled properly and he eventually decided to become a T-20 specialist. Sadly Arthiritis robbed him of his best years on the T-20 circuit.

 

[TrentDevil]

Guy got more chances than he deserved, so there's nothing PCB can do here. He had a habit of throwing away his wicket every time he came out to bat.

 

[Zaz]

Have to agree, Nazir had the talent, he was not handled properly and he eventually decided to become a T-20 specialist. Sadly Arthiritis robbed him of his best years on the T-20 circuit.

Whats handling properly, please explain?

Every player moans it wasnt their fault and that the board coach captain didnt use them properly

Please explain because im baffled how the player never takes responsibility for his own performances

 

[Savak]

Whats handling properly, please explain?

Every player moans it wasnt their fault and that the board coach captain didnt use them properly

Please explain because im baffled how the player never takes responsibility for his own performances

Being picked, dropped after 1-2 failures rather than being given 1-2 series without interruption, coaches tinkering with your natural style.

 

[Bewal Express]

Ultimately, it was the lack intelligence that led to a poor career. Its a game of numbers, and he didn't put enough on the board.

 

[Saj]

The temperament was questionable.

He had the shots and skills, but patience and the willingness to learn just was not there.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Only those of us who have watched teenage Imran Nazir smash Courtney Walsh and Curtly 'Talk to no man" Ambrose for gigantic sixes over their head can understand the true feeling behind Shoaib Akhtar's statement.

Please remember this, Imran Nazir was the KL Rahul of his era in terms of batting talent. He was EXPLOSIVE!

It is bad luck of guys like him, Klusener and Ricardo Powell that T20s arrived just when they were past their prime otherwise they would have been the BIGGEST superstars of this format.

 

[Savak]

Akhtar probably remembers the practice T-20 game where he was steaming in and Nazir effortlessly pulled and hooked him for 3 sixes.

 

[Bhaijaan]

During the Jil lo Dil series in 2004 I remember we played a tour game before the start of matches and Nazir absolutely smashed us in that match.

He was a scary player on some days

Also in 2007 world T20 final, Nazir had looked set to take the game home fot Pakistan single handedly before the run out happened and the match turned on its head.

 

[ElRaja]

he has as many test centuries as rambo, its pakistans inability to settle aggressive players in the test setup that cost imran nazir his career. he was a good shot maker but abject at strike rotation, he would have been a decent test opener, not technically the most sound but he played well when he was in.

he was certainly more impactful in his 8 tests than imran farhat, who played 40 tests for a similar average, any of the other openers in the 2000s, who apart from taufeeq umar had similar or worse stats but were persisted with cos they were defensive and all the middle order wanted was 30 off 90 balls in stead of 30 off 40 lest they have to play a newish ball.

 

[Faizhassan]

Another day another stupid statement by Shoaib, Sehwag has scored hundred in South Africa and Australia early on in his career. He has got test triple hundred, whereas you could not rely on Imran Nazir for 30 runs. Regarding how PCB "wasted" his potential, guy played 79 matches. Someone like KL Rahul who is batting at a position that does not come naturally to him and still delivers, whereas this flop show went to ICL and made some runs against some has beens and viola, he was a star that was meant to be.

 

[Majid Khan]

Is this meant to be a joke? Sehwag has a test triple century , twice if I’m not mistaken and look at the number of big 100s he scored.

Yes Nazir and Sehwag both scored fast but we are forgetting Sehwag scored big also. We can’t compare as batsmen someone who could score fast 20s and 30s , with someone who scored fast 200s and 300s in test cricket.

 

[FreePalestine]

In a deeper sense, perhaps the ad hoc way Imran Nazir came into professional cricket reflects the inefficiencies of PCB’s youth cricket scouting, infrastructure and pathways to the national team. As far as I know, he used to play tape ball cricket in some gully. Some high up guy who lived in the neighbourhood sent him to the team for them to have a look. He impressed them and so they were ready to pick him, basically straight from tape ball cricket.

He made his debut in FC cricket in 98/99 and in March ‘99 made his test debut as a 17 year old tapeball cricketer. So his history tells you where the difference lies. I imagine Viru was playing hard ball cricket at a younger age and went through the hard grind of domestic cricket before being picked for India.

As for Shoaib’s comments - We don’t live in a world of hypotheticals. Viru was a much, much, much, much, much batsman than Imran Nazir. The proof is always in the pudding. It is a pretty tough pudding to whip together, so respect the achievement.

 

[Zaz]

Being picked, dropped after 1-2 failures rather than being given 1-2 series without interruption, coaches tinkering with your natural style.

He was given a extended run several times The problem wasnt a lack of chances or people tinkering with his style its the lack of learning from your mistakes n repeating them again and again that was the issue

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

Nazir was special talent , Remember him and Afirdi taking SA on BIGG ! .This was when SA was a a team to be feared . The guy could play fast bowlers like nobody's business. He just didnt have the temperament , he looked like he was always restless when at the crease , always trying to clear the boundary . I have no doubt that if he had debuted now he would be pretty big .

 

[Savak]

Nazir was special talent , Remember him and Afirdi taking SA on BIGG ! .This was when SA was a a team to be feared . The guy could play fast bowlers like nobody's business. He just didnt have the temperament , he looked like he was always restless when at the crease , always trying to clear the boundary . I have no doubt that if he had debuted now he would be pretty big .

I remember Martin Crowe being awstruck by the quality of his stroke play. The problem with Imran Nazir was that he had too many shots and he also started playing across the line and slogging when he was equally dangerous playing proper cricketing shots.

 

[Zaz]

Like most pakistani young batters imran had all the shots and like most he had huge temperament and judgement issues

Its just a shame he didnt know which shot to play and when and which shot not to play

 

[topspin]

He had the raw ability and is one of the best Pakistani batsmen I've seen when it comes to playing on the back foot against quick and short-pitched bowling.

Unfortunately he was poorly coached.

 

[Faizhassan]

Nazir was special talent , Remember him and Afirdi taking SA on BIGG ! .This was when SA was a a team to be feared . The guy could play fast bowlers like nobody's business. He just didnt have the temperament , he looked like he was always restless when at the crease , always trying to clear the boundary . I have no doubt that if he had debuted now he would be pretty big .

That partnership against South Africa was a fluke, look at how their careers went after it. Comparing this lappadu with Sehwag is an insult to any genuine cricket fan.

 

[Kroll]

Dude had skill but no dedication. Just another name to Pakistan's long and illustrious list of "here today, gone tomorrow" type batsmen.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Imran Nazir went downhill as soon as he started competing with Afridi's batting style. His debut knocks are in stark contrast to the joke he reduced himself to later on his career.

PCB is not to blame for his failures. He was given enough opportunities and just refused to respect international cricket.

To compare Nazir to Sehwag speaks volumes of Akhtar's 'analysis'.

 

[adzzy786]

Also in 2007 world T20 final, Nazir had looked set to take the game home fot Pakistan single handedly before the run out happened and the match turned on its head.

I remember that clearly. I really think that may have been a career defining innings for him had he not got out

 

[Hitman]

Is this a joke? Have a look at the 150's, 200's Sehwag scored. Not to mention 2 triple hundreds. An average of almost 50 with a strike rate of 82 odd.

 

[Buffet]

Statement says more about Akhtar than Nazir.

 

[sweep_shot]

Imran Nazir had better technique than Virender Sehwag. That's for sure.

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

That partnership against South Africa was a fluke, look at how their careers went after it. Comparing this lappadu with Sehwag is an insult to any genuine cricket fan.

Dude I never compared him to shewag , shoiab did!. I just shared my opinion about his talent . Shewag the batsman is is his own class while shewag the human is a classless individual.

 

[ElRaja]

Imran Nazir went downhill as soon as he started competing with Afridi's batting style. His debut knocks are in stark contrast to the joke he reduced himself to later on his career.

PCB is not to blame for his failures. He was given enough opportunities and just refused to respect international cricket.

To compare Nazir to Sehwag speaks volumes of Akhtar's 'analysis'.

very good point, and this was compounded by him being dropped from the test team, two tests after scoring a hundred. his game was all timing, but he wasn't skilled enough to nudge and nurdle in odis.

for all his stroke play his odi s/r barring a few innings was really poor, around the 70 mark most of his career, and he would inevitably come under pressure, slog across the line and get out, thus he tried to become the afridi-esque slogger.

whats often forgotten is what a good fielder he was too.

 

[Abdullah719]

Don’t think Virender Sehwag had the talent that Imran Nazir possessed: Akhtar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes that Virender Sehwag’s Pakistani contemporary, Imran Nazir, was more talented than the aggressive Indian but didn’t have his brain and was also let down by the country’s cricket administration.

The 44-year-old believes Pakistan, in general, did not take good care of the talent it had.

“I don’t think Imran Nazir had the brain that Virender Sehwag had. I don’t think Sehwag had the talent that Imran Nazir had. There is no comparison with regards to talent. We tried to contain him a little,” Akhtar told local media.

“When he hit a brutal hundred against India in a side match, I asked them to play Imran Nazir consistently but they didn’t listen.”

Nazir played only eight Tests for Pakistan, scoring 427 runs and featured in 79 ODIs to score 1895 runs.

Sehwag, on the other hand, scored 8586 Test runs from 104 matches and had 8273 ODI runs from 251 matches.

Criticising the Pakistan cricket establishment, the Rawalpindi Express said it did not nurture the players it had.

“It is unfortunate that we do not know how to take care of our brands. We could have had a player better than Virender Sehwag in Imran Nazir. He had all the shots while also being a good fielder. We could have utilised him brilliantly but we just couldn’t,” he said.

The former pacer said legendary former batsman Javed Miandad played a crucial role in shaping Nazir’s career.

“Whenever Imran Nazir played well, it was because of Javed Miandad. He would be in the dressing room and trying to get him to play. Whenever he played a bad shot Javed bhai would send him a message in order to keep him focused,” he said.

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/cric...n-nazir-had-shoaib-akhtar/article31460987.ece

 

[kamz]

imran nazir's career was destroyed by aamir sohail He was the selector at the time when he dropped him and I still remember Sohail giving a statement in the media that he is dropped due to playing a rash shot.

That is definitely not how you nurture a player.
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] maybe able to shed some light of that period.

The man selected Junaid Zia and gave Nazir an awful hard time. Completely destroyed his confidence rather than allowing him to express himself and nurturing him rightly. I wish Nazir had a good mentor. He did amazingly well under Wasim Akram, as Akram wouldnt take any flak from Sohail

 

[chacha kashmiri]

I agree with shoaibs comments
Imran nazir was born in the wrong generation and was never developed properly
He proved late on in his career how superb he was and how good his cameos were

 

[daytrader]

Imran Nazir was an impressive talent and we were all exited for him. Sadly he proved to be no better than his underachieving counterparts of the entitled generation. He has no one to blame but himself.

He wasn't the brightest as I remember some t20 game where he came out to bat without a helmet against a pacer. Next ball he gets hit on the head by a bouncer!

 

[Savak]

I don't feel comfortable with the critical remarks against Imran Nazir. The guy has battled and over come severe Arthritis which he has battled since 2013. He lost his best years which he could have given to the T20 format

 

[Abdul]

Someone should've taken care of Akhtar's brain.

 

[cricketjoshila]

There were few batsmen as outrageously talented as Sehwag in last 2 decades. Nazir come nowhere close.

Nazir was a very good strokemaker, but as Sir Geoffrey once said, there is a long distance between a good strokemaker and a good batsman and few cover it.