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If Wasim Akram was so great - why are his statistics not great ?


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http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/457149.html

 

 

A stunning match-winner

Over a 19-year international career, Wasim Akram took wickets all over the world, in Tests and ODIs, with a consistency that was mind-boggling
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22980.1.jpg Wasim Akram: outstanding numbers in both Tests and ODIs Martyn Harrison / © AFP

 

There are several outstanding aspects to Wasim Akram's international career, right from its sheer longevity - almost 19 years - to the amount of success he had in Tests and ODIs, with new ball and with old, with the red variety and the white. He was pretty handy with the bat - you'd have to be if your highest Test score is 257 not out - but it's as a bowler of splendid and varied skills that Akram will be remembered.

Making his Test debut against New Zealand in the beginning of 1985, Akram needed just one match to make his mark: in his second Test, in Dunedin, he returned match figures of 10 for 128and was named Man of the Match even though New Zealand won the thriller by two wickets.

That set a glorious Test career on its way, but the early years were, as you'd expect for an 18-year-old, somewhat erratic. Even so, there were enough promising performances to prove that Akram was the real deal. In Barbados three years later, Akram took seven wickets in heartbreaker that Pakistan lost, yet again, by two wickets. In his first five years, though, Akram only managed 94 wickets in 29 Tests - a modest average of 3.24 per match.

Akram's best years were about to come. In his first Test of 1990, against Australia in Melbourne, Akram took 11 for 160, and that haul triggered a sensational run that lasted through most of the next eight years. In 48 Tests from 1990 to the end of 1997, Akram averaged five wickets per match, and his average dropped to an outstanding 20.05, before his form finally tapered off in his last four years.

 

WASIM AKRAM'S TEST CAREER WITH THE BALL
Period Tests Wickets Average Strike Rate 5WI/ 10WM
Till Dec 1989 29 94 28.18 65.9 5/ 1
Jan 1990 To Dec 1997 48 240 20.05 46.4 16/ 3
Jan 1998 Onwards 27 80 28.96 66.0 4/ 1
Career 104 414 23.62 54.6 25/ 5

 

During that eight-year period from 1990 to 1997, Akram had the best figures in Test cricket, barring none. There were several legendary bowlers who were at the height of their craft during an era which we now look back on as a golden one for bowlers, especially the fast ones - Curtly Ambrose, Allan Donald, Waqar Younis and Glenn McGrath were all around, but Akram's stats stood out even among them. His average of 20.05 was better than anyone else's during this period (with a cut-off of 150 wickets); in terms of strike rate, only Waqar was ahead.

During these eight years, Akram was Man of the Match in 12 of the 48 Tests he played, an incredible average of one every four games. Eight of these were in overseas Tests, including the game in Melbourne and the next one in Adelaide, when he turned in an outstanding all-round performance, taking six wickets and scoring 52 and 123. At the time it was only the 12th instanceof a player scoring 150 or more and taking six or more wickets in a Test.

 

BEST TEST BOWLERS BETWEEN JAN 1990 AND DEC 1997 (QUAL: 150 WICKETS)
Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike Rate 5WI/ 10WM
Wasim Akram 48 240 20.05 46.4 16/ 3
Curtly Ambrose 57 247 20.50 52.8 17/ 3
Waqar Younis 46 232 21.23 40.1 19/ 4
Allan Donald 36 171 23.27 48.8 9/ 2
Glenn McGrath 36 164 23.42 53.0 9/ 0
Shane Warne 62 289 24.08 62.9 12/ 3

 

Overall, he won 17 Man-of-the-Match and seven Man-of-the-Series awards, both of which are among the highest. Even better, his rate of winning these awards, one every six Tests, is the best among those who've won at least ten such prizes.

 

HIGHEST FREQUENCY OF MOM AWARDS IN TESTS (QUAL: 10 AWARDS)
Player Tests MoM Awards Tests Per Award
Wasim Akram 104 17 6.12
Jacques Kallis 137 20 6.85
Muttiah Muralitharan 132 19 6.95
Curtly Ambrose 98 14 7.00
Imran Khan 88 11 8.00
Malcolm Marshall 81 10 8.10

 

Not surprisingly, Akram remains one of the most potent matchwinners in Tests for Pakistan. In the 41 wins that he was a part of, he took 211 wickets at an average which compares well with the best in the business.

 

BEST BOWLING AVERAGES IN TEST WINS (QUAL: 200 WICKETS)
Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike Rate 5WI/ 10WM
Muttiah Muralitharan 53 430 16.03 42.6 40/ 18
Malcolm Marshall 43 254 16.78 38.1 17/ 4
Curtly Ambrose 44 229 16.86 44.4 13/ 3
Waqar Younis 39 222 18.20 35.0 14/ 4
Dennis Lillee 31 203 18.27 39.0 17/ 6
Shaun Pollock 49 223 18.30 47.5 9/ 1
Wasim Akram 41 211 18.48 42.3 13/ 2
Anil Kumble 43 288 18.75 44.4 20/ 5

 

Like most fast bowlers from Pakistan, Akram too mastered the art of bowling grassless pitches, where reverse swing becomes a most potent weapon. He is one of only four bowlers to take more than 150 wickets in Pakistan, while in the three major subcontinent countries, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, his average was marginally better than his overall career average.

 

BEST TEST FAST BOWLERS IN INDIA, PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA (QUAL: 100 WKTS)
Bowler Tests Wkts Average Strike Rate 5WI/ 10WM
Imran Khan 51 205 20.28 48.8 12/ 3
Waqar Younis 41 191 21.07 39.2 13/ 4
Wasim Akram 57 211 22.67 52.9 11/ 1
Shoaib Akhtar 26 108 24.87 45.2 6/ 1
Javagal Srinath 35 116 26.43 55.0 6/ 1
Chaminda Vaas 71 230 27.54 62.4 6/ 1
Kapil Dev 86 279 29.01 59.8 14/ 2
Zaheer Khan 38 107 38.12 69.2 2/ 0

 

Through most of his career, Akram formed a destructive fast-bowling combination with Waqar: in the 61 Tests they played together, Akram averaged 21.33, with 20 five-fors and four ten-wicket hauls; in the 43 Tests he played without Waqar, his averaged fell to 28.50, and he only managed five five-fors. His wickets per Tests too dropped to 3.07 per match, from 4.62 when the bowled with Waqar. Some of that was also because the periods he bowled without Waqar were also during the first and last parts of his career, when he wasn't at his most potent.

 

AKRAM IN TESTS, WITH AND WITHOUT WAQAR YOUNIS
  Tests Wickets Average Strike Rate 5WI/ 10WM
With Waqar 61 282 21.33 49.2 20/ 4
Without Waqar 43 132 28.50 66.2 5/ 1

 

Akram's ODI career was more even, and his stats stayed within a narrow band almost throughout. He announced himself in his third game, taking 5 for 21 against Australia in Melbourne - a haul that included Allan Border, Dean Jones and Kepler Wessels - during the World Championship of Cricket.

His best period, though, was between 1992 and 1997, when he had an economy rate of 3.76 and took 14 of his 23 hauls of four or more wickets. At the beginning of that period was the 1992 World Cup, in which Akram was an absolute star, taking 18 wickets at 18.77. The highlight was his 3 for 49 in the final, when he derailed England's run-chase with the wickets of Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in successive balls. Even towards the end of his career he remained a significant threat with the ball, and became the first bowler to go past the 500-wicket mark.

Akram played five World Cups over his 19-year career, and finished as the second-highest wicket-taker with 55, next only to McGrath's haul of 71.

 

AKRAM'S ODI CAREER
Period Matches Wickets Average Econ Rate 4+ Wkts
Till Dec 1991 107 143 23.97 3.84 5
Jan 1992 - Dec 1997 131 198 21.86 3.76 14
Jan 1998 Onwards 118 161 25.17 4.09 4
Career 356 502 23.52 3.89 23

 

With 326 ODI wickets in wins, Akram is next only to Muralitharan in this regard. He's clearly one of the greatest matchwinners in ODIs, averaging less than 19 at a run rate of 3.70. Among bowlers with at least 150 wickets in wins, only four bowlers have a better average.

 

BEST BOWLING AVERAGES IN WINS IN ODIS (QUAL: 150 WICKETS)
Bowler ODIs Wickets Average Econ Rate 4+ Wkts
Saqlain Mushtaq 93 188 15.84 3.78 11
Glenn McGrath 171 301 17.94 3.65 15
Muttiah Muralitharan 191 347 18.08 3.63 21
Waqar Younis 149 278 18.76 4.33 21
Wasim Akram 199 326 18.86 3.70 18
Allan Donald 108 195 19.05 3.96 10

 

Akram's genius and his ability to burst through batting line-ups is obvious from the fact that he has taken two hat-tricks in Tests and ODIs, the only bowler to do so. He finished with 22 Man-of-the-Match awards in ODIs, which isn't anywhere near Sachin Tendulkar's 61, but it's a significant number considering the fact that ODIs are usually dominated by batsmen. In fact, Akram and Shaun Pollock (who also has 22) have the highest number of awards among players whose major suit isn't batting.

And then there's the small matter of Akram the captain. In the 25 Tests in which he led Pakistan, they won 12 and lost eight, and his reign included a series win in England, and clinching the Asian Test Championship. His ODI record was impressive too: a win-loss ratio of 1.6, which is the joint-highest for any Pakistan captain who led in more than 50 games.

 

HIGHEST ODI WIN % FOR PAKISTAN CAPTAINS (QUAL: 50 MATCHES AS CAPTAIN)
Captain Matches Won W/L Ratio
Wasim Akram 109 66 1.60
Waqar Younis 62 37 1.60
Inzamam-Ul-Haq 87 51 1.54
Imran Khan 139 75 1.27
Javed Miandad 62 26 0.78

 

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I seriously think OP is trolling or his posts n threads point to him being a child or having an IQ below 10, take off your colored glasses, Akram was a wizrd with the ball, the greatest left arm seamer ever no ifs n buts, he played a lot of cricket on absolute flat, pattas in Pakistan, he had diabetes from a young age, please listen to Lara, Sacin , Richards all greats about who they think is the greatest keft arm seamer ever.

He could seam, swing, reverse, got bounce, also brilliant yorkers of a few steps, pleae watch some videos in ur free time, if you r a true sports fan then appreciate other sportsman, people?

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Trust the uneducated jhaahil crowd from Pak on ICF to expose their pea brains and get worked up over facts and not have an iota of grey matter. 200 million of them...

 

Wicket per match ( WPM) is a decisive key stat in test matches. It takes 20 wickets to win a test match.

 

The sum total of WPM of your 4 bowlers / 20 is a theoretical limit of the test match winning % of a side - because its possible that 20 wickets are taken but batsmen let the team down. Take any settled side and you would see this back of the envelope calculation working almost perfectly.

 

The Aussie side under Waugh and Ponting with ( Mcgrath 4.54 WPM, Warne 4.88 WPM, Gillespie 3.64 WPM , Lee  4.07 WPM) had 

WPM total of about 17 - and they roughly won 17/20 = 85 % of their matches , minus where Aussie batting failed.

 

Most great bowlers average comfortably over 4 wickets a test match.

 

Murali who has carried the Lankan side for over 10 years averaged nearly 6 wickets a test match and won Lanka dozens of test matches at home atleast. Kumble too averaged close to 5 wickets per test match and is  2 times the test match winner for India than Akram ever can be. Kumble has single handedly won India series after series at home.

 

Hell even Bhajji and Ashwin are way ahead of Akram - and its no wonder - they kill the opposition on subcontinental pitches.

 

Dennis Lillee and Hadlee both averaged 5 or above WPM 

 

Akram is less than 4 WPM - for all his " magic " with the ball , the druggie was limited in his ability to run through sides.

 

Stats dont lie...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by narenpande1
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10 minutes ago, narenpande1 said:

Trust the uneducated jhaahil crowd from Pak on ICF to expose their pea brains and get worked up over facts and not have an iota of grey matter. 200 million of them...

 

Wicket per match ( WPM) is a decisive key stat in test matches. It takes 20 wickets to win a test match.

 

The sum total of WPM of your 4 bowlers / 20 is a theoretical limit of the test match winning % of a side - because its possible that 20 wickets are taken but batsmen let the team down. Take any settled side and you would see this back of the envelope calculation working almost perfectly.

 

The Aussie side under Waugh and Ponting with ( Mcgrath 4.54 WPM, Warne 4.88 WPM, Gillespie 3.64 WPM , Lee  4.07 WPM) had 

WPM total of about 17 - and they roughly won 17/20 = 85 % of their matches , minus where Aussie batting failed.

 

Most great bowlers average comfortably over 4 wickets a test match.

 

Murali who has carried the Lankan side for over 10 years averaged nearly 6 wickets a test match and won Lanka dozens of test matches at home atleast. Kumble too averaged close to 5 wickets per test match and is  2 times the test match winner for India than Akram ever can be. Kumble has single handedly won India series after series at home.

 

Hell even Bhajji and Ashwin are way ahead of Akram - and its no wonder - they kill the opposition on subcontinental pitches.

 

Dennis Lillee and Hadlee both averaged 5 or above WPM 

 

Akram is less than 4 WPM - for all his " magic " with the ball , the druggie was limited in his ability to run through sides.

 

Stats dont lie...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wickets per match is just indicative of the fact that the bowler contributed a lot of overs. pace bowlers usually bowl lesser overs than spinners and hence typically have lower wkts per match (Murali, Warne, Kumble, Ashwin, Yasir Shah, Jaddu all have over 4.5 wkts per match). better metric is to look at SR and avg in Tests.

 

Akram was deadly between 90 to 97 (7 years). Prior to that, he didn't bowl many overs and was quite raw. Afterwards, his diabetes kicked in big time and performance dropped. During these 7 yrs, he picked up 5 wkts per match at an avg of 20.

 

If we consider only wkts per match, people like Mehidy Hasan (Bangladeshs), MDK Perera (SL) and Abdur Rehman (Pak) would be considered high quality since they have 4 wkts per match (or very close to it) even though their averages range between 30 to 35+ approximately.

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11 minutes ago, Vijy said:

wickets per match is just indicative of the fact that the bowler contributed a lot of overs. pace bowlers usually bowl lesser overs than spinners and hence typically have lower wkts per match (Murali, Warne, Kumble, Ashwin, Yasir Shah, Jaddu all have over 4.5 wkts per match). better metric is to look at SR and avg in Tests.

 

Akram was deadly between 90 to 97 (7 years). Prior to that, he didn't bowl many overs and was quite raw. Afterwards, his diabetes kicked in big time and performance dropped. During these 7 yrs, he picked up 5 wkts per match at an avg of 20.

 

If we consider only wkts per match, people like Mehidy Hasan (Bangladeshs), MDK Perera (SL) and Abdur Rehman (Pak) would be considered high quality since they have 4 wkts per match (or very close to it) even though their averages range between 30 to 35+ approximately.

 

And it only says that spinners are more enduring match winners in test matches...than pace bowlers - FACT

 

what matters is WPM over a long career not over short term.

 

Is it not a fact that Murali, Kumble and Warne are among the greatest match winning bowlers of all time ??

 

How many of the recent test matches at home -where we have been on an amazing and relentless winning spree , would we have won if not for Ashwin and Jaddu's ability to run through sides ?

 

Waqar Younis has a much lower strike rate than Mcgrath ..but nobody will compare them as match winners over an entire career.

 

Infact Akram should have had a much higher WPM also because he did not have a support cast as stellar

as Warne, Gillespie and Lee consistently to chip in with a lions share of the wickets.

 

Less than 4 WPM is below par for a great.

 

 

Edited by narenpande1
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8 minutes ago, narenpande1 said:

 

And it only says that spinners are more enduring match winners in test matches...than pace bowlers - FACT

 

what matters is WPM..over a long career not over short term.

 

Is it not a fact that Murali, Kumble and Warne are among the greatest match winning bowlers of all time ??

 

How many of the recent test matches at home -where we have been on an amazing and relentless winning spree , would we have won if not for Ashwin and Jaddu's ability to run through sides ?

 

 

Naturally, home wins in SC usually involve spinners (ash-jaddu, kumble-bhajji, murali). however, it's not always true that spinners are more effective match winners than pacers. murali had 19 MOMs in 133 tests (1 MOM every 7 tests). Warne had 1 MOM every 8.5 Tests. Ambrose (pace bowler) had 1 MOM every 7 Tests and Akram had 1 MOM every 6.1 Tests.

 

Hadlee, Imran Khan, Akram, Amby and Marshall also have very good stats in terms of Player-of-Series although all of them are pacers.

 

In terms of consistency, spinners may be more effective (in terms of wkts per match) but genuine match-winning performances are distributed between pacers and spinners.

Edited by Vijy
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3 minutes ago, Vijy said:

Naturally, home wins in SC usually involve spinners (ash-jaddu, kumble-bhajji, murali). however, it's not always true that spinners are more effective match winners than pacers. murali had 19 MOMs in 133 tests (1 MOM every 7 tests). Warne had 1 MOM every 8.5 Tests. Ambrose (pace bowler) had 1 MOM every 7 Tests and Akram had 1 MOM every 6.1 Tests.

 

Hadlee, Imran Khan, Akram, Amby and Marshall also have very good stats in terms of Player-of-Series although all of them are pacers.

 

In terms of consistency, spinners may be more effective (in terms of wkts per match) but genuine match-winning performances are distributed between pacers and spinners.

 

MoM is a stupid comparison and would have expected the cricinfo statician to have more common sense.

 

In stellar team, it is more difficult to get MoM because every other player is a great. While Muralis team had 2-3  batting names who struck gold on most home series, Warne had to contend with tons of other great names in his side. 

 

Sachin having so many MoM for a good part of his career is less a reflection on him and more a reflection on India being a mediocre team for a good part of his career/

 

Kumble has won twice as many test matches for India than Akram did for Pakistan - FACT

 

And Ashwin has already won more matches for India than Akram did in his entire career - FACT

 

 

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Going by the records, there is no doubt that Akram was an ATG fast bowler.Surprised that OP  has termed his stats as 'not great'. An avg: of 23+ after taking 414 wkts for a fast bowler is nothing less than great .But the only problem for  people who believe in fair play is the factor of 'ball tampering'. After all both the Ws were the inheritant disciples of the kaptaan Khan who was the pioneer of that 'wicked art'. Isn't it?

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No one is saying he is not great.

but there are plenty of greater fast bowlers.

 

list of fast bowlers with superior stats

( both strike rate and wickets per match )

over 300 plus wickets.

 

Lillee

Hadlee

Ambrose 

Donald 

Dale Steyn 

McGrath 

Malcolm Marshall 

 

Akram would come in close to # 8 or 9.

 

His only uniqueness was he was a left arm bowler. The above bowlers were superior in terms of strike power and consistency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wasim was a good bowler but as everyone has mentioned above, agarkar was better and way more more talented than akram, wasim never had the swag of sir agarkar. 

 

Sir agarkar even held the record for fastest fifty by an Indian, did wasim score the fastest fifty for pakistan? No!

Agarkar was the fastest to 50 odi wickets so he's got wasim beat even over there, also agarkar has a century at lords, does wasim have a century at lords? NO! !

 

"I wish I could bowl as fast as Sir Agarkar" - Wasim Akram (yes, this is a real quote :agree:)

 

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28 minutes ago, kira said:

Wasim was a good bowler but as everyone has mentioned above, agarkar was better and way more more talented than akram, wasim never had the swag of sir agarkar. 

 

Sir agarkar even held the record for fastest fifty by an Indian, did wasim score the fastest fifty for pakistan? No!

Agarkar was the fastest to 50 odi wickets so he's got wasim beat even over there, also agarkar has a century at lords, does wasim have a century at lords? NO! !

 

"I wish I could bowl as fast as Sir Agarkar" - Wasim Akram (yes, this is a real quote :agree:)

 

 

@kira   Also Sir Agarkar was a follower of the great Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who taught him how to play the game honestly and hard. Whereas Akram was a follower of Imran phateechar jumping jack Khan, a renowned ball tamperer and gold digger.:phehe:

 

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12 hours ago, Bilal78 said:

You have produced no Akram so shut the F up.

 

well done for producing Srinath moderately Faster than the other offies.Do you want a pat on the back?

 

these guys here are such hypocrites.

 

is waz a great?! off course he is, he is the idol of all lefties, could bring the ball back in and take it away landing it on the same spot with a fast action, In England Wasim and Waqar hunted in a pack, the stats have gone haywire because in his last tours he wasnt the same bowler at 36.

 

Greatest Left Arm pace bowler there has ever been and Rated by The best of his time.

 

Alan Donald

Ambrose said he wished he could do what Akram could do

Hadlee

McGrath 

All Batsman.

 

No one gives two Fs what a whimp on this Indian forum has to say.

Why get rattled man?? The op was just pulling your plonkers :p:.

akram was the most talented fast bowler ever ,might not be the greatest (may have underachieved a bit) but certainly had crazy skills and control with the ball (strictly cricket ball :phehe:) and one of a kind .

By the way sir aggy just shades him :giggle:

Edited by adi B
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38 minutes ago, narenpande1 said:

 

@kira   Also Sir Agarkar was a follower of the great Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who taught him how to play the game honestly and hard. Whereas Akram was a follower of Imran phateechar jumping jack Khan, a renowned ball tamperer and gold digger.:phehe:

 

True, almost all pakistani cricketer are low class, unethical gawars. Just look at their ex cricketer, totla miandad -certified criminal, IK- cheat and a ball tamperer, asif and amir- cheats and match fixers, akthar- drug addict and a chucker, the list is endless.

 

Wasim is still one of their decent cricketers, who is very well behaved off the field (these days) but even he has match fixing allegations on him, I guess you can only get this much ethical in phateecharstan

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A great question. Not surprised to see so many responses. And tbh, its a genuine question. I am not going to read all the responses, just my 2 pence. 

 

Why Akram doesnt have such a great stat?

Too many possibilities. However, the first and foremost which I think is, Akram was too talented for his own good. Most of his balls used to be too good for even a top batsman to even edge! And although Akram wasnt an equivalent of Rahul Dravid in bowling ( he was waayyyy more talented than Dravid ), but just like Dravid who would be enamoured by his own technique rather than score runs, I think Wasim used to experiment way too much.

Statistically if you see, the top order batsmen that Wasim has taken will be lower than most of the world class bowlers. He used to thrive on tailenders.  I think he failed to capitalize on top order batsmen for the same reason of experimenting too much and trying to bamboozle batsmen too much. Compare him with Mcgrath. Mcgrath had just one simple technique, never experimented. But he was just way too successful. Exact opposite of Akram. 

 

That my friend, is my very simplistic take on Wasim Akram. 

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In Tests:

 

Akram 5W = 25 , 10W = 5 ( in 104 tests )

Ashwin 5W = 26, 10W = 7 ( in 57 tests )

 

 

Above is the difference between shitty Pak tailunt hype and Indian substance.

 

No wonder Ashwin has taken us to NO1 Test heights for such a long time while Pak was alwyas a shitty 5-7 ranked team under Akram and will almost always remain there.

 

Edited by narenpande1
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