Hi all! This is my first post on PakPassion after being a lurker for about two years.
I wanted to get an opinion from people who have watched cricket over a long period of time, especially those who have seen Shane Warne in his prime and hopefully even Abdul Qadir. I have only been properly following cricket since 2015, so my knowledge isn't as extensive as others on this subject.
Yasir Shah is probably my favourite bowler right now (bar maybe Hasan) and he is without a doubt Pakistan's best test bowler atm and probably the best leg spinner in test cricket. I'm intrigued to see how people compare him to the other greats of leg spin such as Warne, Qadir, Kumble, etc. Obviously its still fairly early days for him and he has not reached the heights of those great names as of yet, but following his current curve, you would've thought he will reach a fair amount of test wickets. I understand that to be an ATG he needs to be performing in all formats and it is very unlikely he will get his chance in the ODIs due to the brilliance and youth of Shadab, so I am talking purely from a test format perspective.
The obvious blip in his record is his away form, particularly in Oceania. Others have struggled there but an average of 92 is nothing to boast about. His numbers in England aren't fantastic either, but he does suffer from being ridiculously over-bowled and without a support spinner these days - although these are just excuses. In terms of pure stats he is averaging 29.44 with a SR of 56.2. His average is better than Kumble and Qadir's but not better than Warne's but astonishingly, his SR is better than all of theirs. You would look at this and see the amount of wickets he's taken in his 28 tests and say that he is on his way to becoming one of the greatest leg spinners ever. Furthermore, even though he's 31, his late entry into international cricket may aid him in this, and with Pakistan's nature with older players he could easily play for another 6/7 years. We have Shadab who is very young and raw in test cricket, and I do believe we should wait a while for him to be playing regular test cricket. Regular FC and LOI cricket is more important for him atm. However Shadab, along with other young spinners, will hopefully push Yasir to maintain his high performance levels. Furthermore the lack of test cricket we play will hurt Yasir I feel in getting close to these greats.
Having said all of that, cricket is not a game based on stats. So I ask people with knowledge of previous great leggies and how their game was 28 test matches in. How does Yasir shape up against the great leg spinners. Is he a modern day great, overrated or somewhere in between?
Thanks
I wanted to get an opinion from people who have watched cricket over a long period of time, especially those who have seen Shane Warne in his prime and hopefully even Abdul Qadir. I have only been properly following cricket since 2015, so my knowledge isn't as extensive as others on this subject.
Yasir Shah is probably my favourite bowler right now (bar maybe Hasan) and he is without a doubt Pakistan's best test bowler atm and probably the best leg spinner in test cricket. I'm intrigued to see how people compare him to the other greats of leg spin such as Warne, Qadir, Kumble, etc. Obviously its still fairly early days for him and he has not reached the heights of those great names as of yet, but following his current curve, you would've thought he will reach a fair amount of test wickets. I understand that to be an ATG he needs to be performing in all formats and it is very unlikely he will get his chance in the ODIs due to the brilliance and youth of Shadab, so I am talking purely from a test format perspective.
The obvious blip in his record is his away form, particularly in Oceania. Others have struggled there but an average of 92 is nothing to boast about. His numbers in England aren't fantastic either, but he does suffer from being ridiculously over-bowled and without a support spinner these days - although these are just excuses. In terms of pure stats he is averaging 29.44 with a SR of 56.2. His average is better than Kumble and Qadir's but not better than Warne's but astonishingly, his SR is better than all of theirs. You would look at this and see the amount of wickets he's taken in his 28 tests and say that he is on his way to becoming one of the greatest leg spinners ever. Furthermore, even though he's 31, his late entry into international cricket may aid him in this, and with Pakistan's nature with older players he could easily play for another 6/7 years. We have Shadab who is very young and raw in test cricket, and I do believe we should wait a while for him to be playing regular test cricket. Regular FC and LOI cricket is more important for him atm. However Shadab, along with other young spinners, will hopefully push Yasir to maintain his high performance levels. Furthermore the lack of test cricket we play will hurt Yasir I feel in getting close to these greats.
Having said all of that, cricket is not a game based on stats. So I ask people with knowledge of previous great leggies and how their game was 28 test matches in. How does Yasir shape up against the great leg spinners. Is he a modern day great, overrated or somewhere in between?
Thanks
