Would Basit Ali have been a great of his era?

[apollo]

If have never seen the 90's era of cricket but have been told that after Miandad, Basit was the the only player with the same technique and temperament as the great. He was way better than Inzaman.

Recently I came across a retro Urdu magazine from the 90's. In it Basit claims that after Lara broke Sobers record, Zaheer Abbass told him that "if there is any batsman in the world who can break his record, it's only you (Basit).

In the same magazine he also says that after West Indies won the Sharjah Cup in 1995, Brain Lara after the match personally said to him "I have never seen or will see anyone take on Ambrose like you did, you are the most fearless batsman I have come across."

He further states that he would have ended his career as one of the best batsman in the world but had to sacrifice his cricket because he did not want to play with corrupt players who had given a bad name to the country.

Was Basit really a great player in the making?

I like his analysis, he has excellent knowledge of the game. Would love to see him coach the national team.

How do you all rate him as a player?

 

[carrom_ball]

He averaged 26 after 19 tests, forget about great, he's not even on afridi's level in terms of batting

 

[carrom_ball]

He averaged 26 after 19 tests, forget about great, he's not even on afridi's level in terms of batting

Also if anyone thinks that he would have been great if he played more then he/she needs to look at his first class average which is 39 after 133 games, he was mediocre to the core

 

[apollo]

Was he a victim of cricket politics? I would like to know the inside story.

 

[Last Monetarist]

No chance. He was criminally unfit and had an unjustified sense of entitlement about his talent. He was good enough to smash bowlers around in Sharjah, like most Pakistani batsmen of the age, but looked suspect the moment he ventured outside the UAE. So no difference from the current generation really. He also perennially lumbered about at the wicket, wafting about lazily to innocuous deliveries. His dismissal to Warne in the last over of the day at the SCG in 1995 is about his only meaningful contribution to the game.

 

[apollo]

He says that he was sacked because he spoke the truth and stood up against the untouchables of Pakistani cricket.
Plus he does not rate Imran Khan highly as a person or captain.

 

[Pete Rose]

I would call him a supremely unfulfilled talent.
When Pakistan toured West Indies in 1992-93 under Wasim Akram (and Javed Miandad as disgruntled senior batsman having been passed over for captaincy) Basit Ali had a breakthrough tour for a batsman on what was the toughest tour for any international batsman. Not many players got going in the series (Inzi failed, in most of the series, except a century in the last match I think) but Basit did quite well against Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop. Thereafter he smashed a 60 ball 100 against the windies in sharjah: it was unheard of at the time against their bowlers. Thereafter he became too big for his boots, had a very controversial tour of Southa AFrica and Zimbabwe (he accused certain players of match fixing and also admitted involvement as well) and then he kind of fell away after that.

 

[Markhor]

My abiding memory of him was the 95 series when Shane Warne bowled him around his legs. There was a great innings in Sharjah vs West Indies when he scored 127 off 79. Then he got mired in the match-fixing scandal and I think was part of the revolt against Wasim Akram's captaincy.

 

[Pete Rose]

He says that he was sacked because he spoke the truth and stood up against the untouchables of Pakistani cricket.
Plus he does not rate Imran Khan highly as a person or captain.

he parrots miandad in everything: batting style, and the grudges as well,

 

[Markhor]

he parrots miandad in everything: batting style, and the grudges as well,

There's no shortage of ego with Basit, as was demonstrated by the interview he did with PP many years ago.

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...nterview-with-Basit-Ali&p=2529888#post2529888

I think you'll particularly enjoy this gem:

PakPassion.Net: But all three of them have been given many chances and found wanting. Hafeez is a decent ODI bowler and fielder, but has a batting average of 18!

Basit Ali: Hafeez’s average of 18 would have been 58 if I had been coaching and managing his career to date.

 

[apollo]

I would call him a supremely unfulfilled talent.
When Pakistan toured West Indies in 1992-93 under Wasim Akram (and Javed Miandad as disgruntled senior batsman having been passed over for captaincy) Basit Ali had a breakthrough tour for a batsman on what was the toughest tour for any international batsman. Not many players got going in the series (Inzi failed, in most of the series, except a century in the last match I think) but Basit did quite well against Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop. Thereafter he smashed a 60 ball 100 against the windies in sharjah: it was unheard of at the time against their bowlers. Thereafter he became too big for his boots, had a very controversial tour of Southa AFrica and Zimbabwe (he accused certain players of match fixing and also admitted involvement as well) and then he kind of fell away after that.

Scored a lot against the West Indies, that shows he had serious talent!

 

[Pete Rose]

There's no shortage of ego with Basit, as was demonstrated by the interview he did with PP many years ago.

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...nterview-with-Basit-Ali&p=2529888#post2529888

I think you'll particularly enjoy this gem:

Thats a gem alright. Hafeez can only average 58 if we happen to be playing bangladesh, zim, sri lanka

 

[Slog]

There's no shortage of ego with Basit, as was demonstrated by the interview he did with PP many years ago.

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...nterview-with-Basit-Ali&p=2529888#post2529888

I think you'll particularly enjoy this gem:

maybe he wouldve played him only in UAE and against minnows?

 

[apollo]

People from Karachi rate him very highly as a batsman and as an analyst.

I have heard he has been a brilliant coach for the domestic teams but at the moment looks very overweight.

 

[#GreenRoars]

Great??? Hell no.

 

[Madplayer]

He was very talented. No doubt about it. Umar akmal of his time.

 

[muqarrab]

He was a copy of miandad and barring his one innings in sharjah and another one in new zealand he did not do much. His legacy is outsized because of his outspokenness about match fixing. He can forever claim he was ostracized after zimbabwe toure of 1994-95 and his career was cut short but that would mean overlooking his mediocre performance as a player.

He is like shafiq papa, iqbal qasim, sallu, sikandar bakht, great crickets on talk shows and media and ordinary in reality.

 

[Junaids]

Basit Ali got too involved in team politics and only avoided a life ban from Justice Qayyum by retiring.

He did quite well on a tour of the West Indies when the bowling was weaker than it had been for 15 years and the wickets were flat and grassless.

But he was poor against spin and suspect against swing too.

 

[srh]

I would call him a supremely unfulfilled talent.
When Pakistan toured West Indies in 1992-93 under Wasim Akram (and Javed Miandad as disgruntled senior batsman having been passed over for captaincy) Basit Ali had a breakthrough tour for a batsman on what was the toughest tour for any international batsman. Not many players got going in the series (Inzi failed, in most of the series, except a century in the last match I think) but Basit did quite well against Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop. Thereafter he smashed a 60 ball 100 against the windies in sharjah: it was unheard of at the time against their bowlers. Thereafter he became too big for his boots, had a very controversial tour of Southa AFrica and Zimbabwe (he accused certain players of match fixing and also admitted involvement as well) and then he kind of fell away after that.

This. I would also include Imran Nazir in the list of cricketers who were not able to fulfill their talent.

 

[Kroll]

Due to the current lack of quality in batting personnel, there is a trend of reminiscing about the batting heroes and greats of our past. One named popped up was Ijaz Ahmed. But I recall there was one of his contemporaries - a guy named Basit Ali who was destined for the top according to many at the time. But for reasons of which some are mentioned above, unfortunately his career had a premature end. Kinda seems similar to Umar Akmal's situation altough the reasons for both of their demise are different. Here's another post http://http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?60377-A-Tribute-to-Basit-Ali-(by-Bilsher007)

 

[Buffet]

How much did he average when he played?

 

[Kroll]

He had the unusual distinction at the time of averaging more in ODI's than Tests.

ODI: 34.18 (50 Matches)
Tests: 26.81 (19)

 

[the_game]

Inzi was way, way, Way above his league! The guy was a sitting duck against quality spin, and was extremely overrated even back in the day. He still speaks a lot of nonsense now and thinks he was the next coming of Bradman but he would have been ordinary no matter what era he belonged to.

 

[Zaz]

Its best to ignore any person waxing lyricals about himself Basit seems like one of those people with high ego and a unjustified high opinion about himself

His record internationally and domestically is mediocre to the core

 

[Savak]

Nope, Basit Ali was ordinary in the era he was playing in and would have been ordinary in any era. Apart from that knock against the WI, he didn't do anything else and had squandered all his other opportunities and therefore was rightfully discarded.

 

[gazza619]

He had the unusual distinction at the time of averaging more in ODI's than Tests.

ODI: 34.18 (50 Matches)
Tests: 26.81 (19)

Very disappointing numbers...

I still remember when he debut in WI. Imran Khan was doing commentary and was mighty impressed from the way he faced the first ball. I cant remember who the bowler was but it was a beamer and Basit ducked under the ball.

I loved Basit’s style of batting and back in the day I used to copy him.

 

[BaankeJi]

If have never seen the 90's era of cricket but have been told that after Miandad, Basit was the the only player with the same technique and temperament as the great. He was way better than Inzaman.

Recently I came across a retro Urdu magazine from the 90's. In it Basit claims that after Lara broke Sobers record, Zaheer Abbass told him that "if there is any batsman in the world who can break his record, it's only you (Basit).

In the same magazine he also says that after West Indies won the Sharjah Cup in 1995, Brain Lara after the match personally said to him "I have never seen or will see anyone take on Ambrose like you did, you are the most fearless batsman I have come across."

He further states that he would have ended his career as one of the best batsman in the world but had to sacrifice his cricket because he did not want to play with corrupt players who had given a bad name to the country.

Was Basit really a great player in the making?

I like his analysis, he has excellent knowledge of the game. Would love to see him coach the national team.

How do you all rate him as a player?

You liked his analysis? Never seen that one before! Most of PPers regard his analysis as useless.

 

[MenInG]

Happy Birthday to Basit Ali

Born: December 13, 1970 (age 52 years), Karachi, Pakistan

 

[MenInG]

Basit Ali sacked from his PCB role

Basit Ali:

"I was informed over a phone call that I am no longer a part of PCB"

"Hence, I am starting my youtube channel where I will be analyzing Pakistan team performance. Earlier, I got a lot of calls and messages to start a youtube channel but I couldn't do it due to my contract with PCB. But, now I will be speaking about cricket on my own channel"

 

[ArabKnight]

Basit Ali:

"I was informed over a phone call that I am no longer a part of PCB"

"Hence, I am starting my youtube channel where I will be analyzing Pakistan team performance. Earlier, I got a lot of calls and messages to start a youtube channel but I couldn't do it due to my contract with PCB. But, now I will be speaking about cricket on my own channel"

Oh, ex-cricketer starting a YouTube channel.

That must be a novel idea.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Shane Warne ended him.

 

[muqarrab]

Shane Warne ended him.

Why he was playing in that series is still an unsolved mystery.

 

[moghul]

If have never seen the 90's era of cricket but have been told that after Miandad, Basit was the the only player with the same technique and temperament as the great. He was way better than Inzaman.

Recently I came across a retro Urdu magazine from the 90's. In it Basit claims that after Lara broke Sobers record, Zaheer Abbass told him that "if there is any batsman in the world who can break his record, it's only you (Basit).

In the same magazine he also says that after West Indies won the Sharjah Cup in 1995, Brain Lara after the match personally said to him "I have never seen or will see anyone take on Ambrose like you did, you are the most fearless batsman I have come across."

He further states that he would have ended his career as one of the best batsman in the world but had to sacrifice his cricket because he did not want to play with corrupt players who had given a bad name to the country.

Was Basit really a great player in the making?

I like his analysis, he has excellent knowledge of the game. Would love to see him coach the national team.

How do you all rate him as a player?

Wow, what a ------ !! . Basit was an average player , I have seen him playing . Yes he played one great inning , on Sharja highway and that was it, nothing special otherwise.