There is only one bowler in the 300-wicket club who averages under 30 against every opposition and in every country. He is a Pakistani, and he is not Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis. Imran Khan turns 74 today, and he is the greatest Test bowler this country has ever produced.
You might be scratching your head, wondering how I could lean towards Imran over Wasim, Waqar and Fazal. I could be slightly biased here, but I have the credits to claim it.
He is the only Pakistani fast bowler with more than five ten-wicket hauls. His career average, strike rate and economy rate are all better than Wasim Akram's.
Richard Hadlee gets a lot of credit for being a lone warrior, but Imran's support bowlers were very similar to Chatfield, Snedden and Cairns. And over the course of his career Imran had to bowl more overs per innings than Wasim or Waqar.
Now look at what he did anyway, in Tests between 1982 and 1989.
With the bat: 54 innings, 1,971 runs, an average of 49.27. Only five players in the world scored more runs at a better average in that period: Miandad, Border, Viv Richards, Dean Jones and Vengsarkar.
With the ball: 43 matches, 210 wickets, an average of 18.76. No bowler on earth picked up more wickets at a better average in those years.
Across his career he averaged 37 with the bat and 22 with the ball, which makes him arguably the most balanced cricketer the game has had. And in his last ten years of international cricket, across 51 Tests, his batting average exceeded 50 while he averaged 19 with the ball. That made him perhaps the only all-rounder after Sir Garfield Sobers who could have merited a place in the side with either one of his skills.
So Imran Khan the fast bowler is short-changed. There is nothing between him and Wasim as far as their bowling is concerned.
If being more watchable makes you a great bowler, then Jimmy Anderson ought to be rated ahead of McGrath and Ambrose.
Imran was unparalleled.
Imran Khan has got what he deserves and no one else has got it - an unprecedented public support across Pakistan. His party is not the boat but the sea underneath it.
One thing we should keep in mind is that Saudi Arabia was the one that started offensive strikes against Ansarullah
So where exactly does the Makkah Pact say pak has to defend KSA when KSA is the one that started the war (aggressor)
Which article are we even talking about?
🚨 GOOD NEWS FOR HYDERABAD FANS. 🚨
- PCB is set to take control of Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad for the next 20 years.
- PCB will upgrade the stadium to international standards. (Geo News)
"We only want one thing: the release of our Imran Khan."
Thousands of Imran Khan's supporters are marching to Islamabad to demand the former prime minister's release. The march started on Sunday in Lakki Marwat, 170 miles from the capital city and continued into Monday.
Originally planned for last week, the march was pushed back to allow for negotiations between the government and Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. But those talks ended in a deadlock, and the march went ahead Sunday.
Concerns over the 74-year-old Khan's health have grown in recent months. According to his family, he has lost most of his eyesight in his right eye after neglect from prison officials.
Democracy only works when people can raise their voices in the streets, and at the ballot box, without fear of reprisal.
The people of Pakistan deserve free and fair elections, and I'm proud to stand with them!